John Hammond

The legendary music talent scout held up in Talent (Book) (by Tyler Cowen and Daniel Gross) as the archetypal scout. The book uses Hammond’s record to make a core point about spotting talent: top talent is rarely identified by the establishment first, precisely because original creators are doing something new. Guitarist George Benson offered one clue to Hammond’s method — “John Hammond didn’t necessarily care about how many records I could sell; his approach was more along the lines of ‘look at what this talent can do, and I hope you enjoy him as much as I do.’” The lesson Kyle draws from the passage: great scouting means betting on originality before the market validates it.

Where this appears

• Talent (Book) — the archetypal scout whose record shows that top talent is rarely spotted by the establishment first.