I wasn’t a fan of Malcolm Gladwell’s second effort, Blink, because I didn’t think that Gladwell really explained what he set out to do. However, in Outliers: The Story of Success, Gladwell gives us some concrete ideas and examples that are relevant in a society that worships superstars or, as Gladwell calls them, outliers.
Before we get to the interesting concepts, I will say that my big criticism of the book is that it’s another one of these “single concept” books that you can read in a morning (as I did . . . stuck at an indoor waterpark with three 8-year-old boys). Will it change your business plan? No. Will you become an outlier? Unfortunately, it may be too late for that.
Nevertheless, you will find some “aha” moments that might explain a lot. For example, while I knew intuitively that birth order had a bit to do with sports success, it was shocking to see how most pro hockey players were born in January/February/March. Why? Because many junior hockey leagues have cutoff dates of Jan. 1. This means that players born at the beginning of the year are competing against less “mature” kids. They are bigger, stronger, get picked for the elite leagues and benefit from better coaching, more training and competitive opportunities for the next few years.
But it doesn’t stop there. To be a true outlier, Gladwell found that individuals didn’t just have to make the “team.” They had to put in 10,000 hours of practice. Of course, making the elite team helps put a child on the path to that 10,000 hours.
The sports focus is what stuck with me the most, having just lived through a child not making an elite team. Watching the tryouts, I could see how having a basketball court at your house is part of what makes the difference at this young an age–it allows kids to put in that 10,000 hours. It also made me reflect on how the 10,000 hours I put in on the soccer fields and tennis courts is what propelled me–a somewhat coordinated but not very fast, not very agressive or very strong athlete–to more than my share of championships.
But the 10,000 hours isn’t just relevant in the sports arena. It turns out that the Beatles, Bill Gates and countless other superstars have put in their own 10,000 hours before they hit it big in their industries. For example, Joe Flom, the only living original-name partner of the firm Skadden Arps toiled over 10,000 hours in obscurity doing what was then the “distasteful” work of hostile takeovers before the white-collar firms realized the profits in it.
This is perhaps the main lesson entrepreneurs can take away from the book: There are no overnight sensations. Many of us are putting in the time now to catch a wave that will hit sometime in the future.
There are a few other interesting ideas in the book, such as how when you were born (meaning the year, as well as the month) can also affect your ability to succeed, and how cultural influences can lead to plane crashes.
Top Shelf Bottom Line: For those of us who are trying new things and waiting for the world to catch up, it’s enlightening. And for those of us wiping away children’s tears when they don’t make the cut, it’s validation for when we tell them that they need to practice more than the others if they want to make it the next time. For everyone else, it’s an interesting and fun read. Good for cocktail party banter; but it’s not likely to affect your bottom line, at least not in the near future. Yet you might want to check back after 10,000 hours.
This entry was posted on Sunday, December 14th, 2008 at 3:30 pm and is filed under Nonfiction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.2 Responses to “Outliers–Nature or Nurture?”
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January 5th, 2009 at 11:44 am
Diane, As usual, thanks for the insightful comments! I love reading your book reviews. Lynn
March 23rd, 2009 at 7:58 am
Do you guys have a recommendation section, i’d like to suggest some stuff