Outliers - Book Review and Excerpts

Outliers

Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell wrote his third book ‘Outliers: The story of success’ after extensive research and many interviews of extraordinary successful persons. An Outlier is a person who has achieved something statistically extraordinary. 

‘Outliers’ is a light read and informative book. It makes a point that no one in this world can succeed alone. Everyone needs factors and support of people going in their direction. This book is a good read if you are looking for some answers to the question of success.

The main ideas expressed in the books are:

·       “Self-made” success is a myth. The myth of the “self-made man” is the belief that the successful person has earned his/her success through talent and hard work. This belief lacks foundation. Many unseen factors influence a person’s success, and most of them lie beyond that person’s control.

·       Innate qualities are important but once you reach a certain threshold, increased abilities no longer help you succeed.

Skills and traits are necessary foundations for achievement in a field e.g. you can’t become a leading legal expert if you have no logical reasoning skills. However, once you’ve reached the skills threshold, marginal increases in innate reasoning abilities won’t advance you. Other things – social skills, connections, or even a lucky break – will.

• ·       Hard work is an important factor in the success. The author talks about the "10-000 hour rule", where he claims that to be successful and excellent at any skill, you need a practice of 10-000 hours. 

Not everyone has the opportunity to spend this much time practicing something. First of all, you need the opportunity to start early so you can get in as much practice as possible and secure a head start on the competition.

Also, you or your family has to have the resources to support you; it’s hard to find time for work or chores when you’re spending 40 - 60 hours a week practicing something.

Depending on what you want to do, you might also need access to expensive state-of-the-art equipment.

• ·       Encouragement from family, friends, coaches, teachers and kind strangers you meet on the street helps too.

• ·       The month you’re born in can have a huge effect on what you achieve. Your “relative age” – how old you are in comparison to others in a developmental group – can make or break you.

• ·       How you’re brought up can radically impact how successful you become.

• ·       A far more important factor is whether you have practical intelligence.

Practical intelligence is “procedural” knowledge: knowing how to interpret and work social situations to get what you want – in other words, knowing who to ask what, and when. The ability to interact with and negotiate with authority figures can help inch people closer to their goals.

Wealthier parents instill in their children a feeling of “entitlement” more often than lower-class parents do. In general, they do this by paying more attention to their children, or by at least providing their children with enriching activities that promote intellectual growth.

They teach their children to demand respect and to “customize” a situation to suit to their needs. In other words, they teach their kids practical intelligence.

By contrast, poorer parents are often intimidated by authority and let their children follow a pattern of “natural growth” – there’s less pushing, prodding and encouraging than in wealthier families. This means children from poorer households are less likely to be taught practical intelligence, which radically decreases their chances for success.

• ·       Being in the right place at the right time matters. Many successful software tycoon were born in the years between 1954 and 1956.

• ·       Where you come from – geographically and culturally – can have a particularly large effect on what you achieve.

In Western countries students give up on math problems far sooner than students in Eastern countries do. Asians are generally good at math and it’s part of their cultural legacy. If we recognize the importance of cultural legacy, we can help more people work towards success – and prevent failure.

·        

• If we recognize the reasons behind uneven playing fields, we can create more opportunities for people to succeed.

In schools instead of sitting back and allowing the children of wealthier parents have access to more opportunities, we can create special programs open to students from the extremely low-income area.

Extraordinary success is the result of an often-unlikely series of opportunities, lucky breaks and occurrences that combine to create the precise conditions that allow such achievement.

About the author

A Journalist in New York times, Malcolm Gladwell found success and fame with three best-selling and widely acclaimed books in his achievements. He is known for his honest and direct style of writing. Two of his other books are ‘The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference’ and ‘Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking’ etc. This book was published by Little, Brown and company.

You can purchase this wonderful book here