Malcolm Gladwell: Outliers
As hip-hop legend Chuck D insists, “Sense has never really been common.” That’s a thought that repeatedly occurs to me while reading Malcolm Gladwell’s books, the newest of which studies hidden, often mind-blowing reasons why some individuals succeed while others fail.
In Outliers, Gladwell tells a variety of success stories and peels away their seemingly common-sense explanations. Along the way he unravels the myth of the “self-made man” who succeeds strictly through superior work ethic or talents, and he argues convincingly that a more careful look should be taken at broader explanations for individual success.
In one particularly illuminating chapter, Gladwell lists the 75 richest people in human history along with their net worth in U.S. dollars. It’s a fascinating list in which Cleopatra sits four spots below Sam Walton, with Czar Nicholas II of Russia popping up at an impressive #3.
Gladwell goes on to point out that 20 percent of the names on the list came of age in a single generation in a single country–the mid-19th century United States. Gladwell explains how a narrow convergence of economic opportunity and utterly lucky timing goes a long way to explaining the success of tycoons like John D. Rockefeller (#1, born 1839), Andrew Carnegie (#2, born 1835), and J.P. Morgan (#57, born 1837).
In an interview, Gladwell explained his book’s broad theme: “Great people aren’t so great. Their own greatness is not the salient fact about them. It’s the kind of fortunate mix of opportunities they’ve been given.”
Rather than tearing down giants, however, Gladwell is interested in understanding ways to broaden paths to success. In another fascinating chapter he uncovers a stunning statistic among Canadian youth hockey all-stars that aptly illustrates his premise.
Why would 40 percent of the most elite Canadian hockey players have birthdays in January through March and only 10 percent in October through December? Gladwell unwraps this mystery by telling the story of a researcher whose glance at a hockey all-star game program led him to study the effects of the cut-off date for youth hockey programs. It becomes obvious that kids born closer to the January 1 cut-off would be a little more physically and emotionally mature, a little more likely to succeed earlier, and a little more likely to get more and better coaching.
Gladwell points out that by settling on arbitrary cut-off dates for sports, for example, societies lessen the chance of success for a significant part of the population. In a moving epilogue, he also discusses his own family’s relative educational and financial success by means of its random opportunities and “cultural legacy.” In his Jamaican mother’s case, her relatively light skin opened up opportunities for herself and her children that were unlikely for darker-skinned peers.
Gladwell’s books combine fascinating reporting, great story-telling, and challenging themes that often overturn conventional wisdom with his signature thoughtful tone. The audio-books of his other best-sellers, The Tipping Point and Blink, are also greatly enjoyable, thanks in large part to the author’s distinctive and rather mesmerizing speaking voice.
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Comments
Fascinating stuff. My nephew was a big fan of Blink, so I’ll have to check with him on the latest Gladwell works.
It would be interesting to compare this to Michael Hart’s “The 100: A Ranking Of The Most Influential Persons In History.” Hart tells you why the 100 were so influential based on the impact of the changes they wrought and how those changes are still being felt today. Gladwell is interested in the hows and whys of a person’s success.
Wow, Malcolm Gladwell looks nothing like I pictured! He’s so young! I love his books and can’t wait to read this one. I think he’s an awesome storyteller, something that’s hard to do when you are talking statistics.