Outliers,
the Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell (ISBN 978-0-141-04302-9, Penguin
Books, 20090) follows on from his books The Tipping Point (How little things
can make a big difference) and Blink (The power of thinking without
thinking).
The book is in two sections. Part 1 Opportunity and Part 2 Legacy. In this
first part he labors long over 10 year old ice hockey players and discovers
that the top childhood players were born in January, February or March, with
very few elite athletes born in October, November or December. For me, all
that Gladwell has done is to highlight the fact that in any year, those born
in the early months have a physical advantage over those born at the end of
the year, and when you take 10 year olds, this makes a very big difference
in physical and mental development. For me, this was not rocket science, as
having been born in November I can remember just how much bigger and more
mature were my classmates who had that 11 month advantage.
He mentions the work of K. Anders Ericsson, whose research paper entitled
“Toward a Science of Exceptional Achievement” in 2009, gave credence to the
idea that excellence came from 10,000 hours of practice. Nurture defeating
nature. Or is it just defeating your birthday?
Gladwell does write in a very easy and flowing style, posing paradoxical
questions towards the end of chapters, as a ploy to get the reader turning
the pages.
Gladwell also introduces more research into behavior and goes along with the
theory that aggression in young males depends not upon IQ or training, but
depends upon where they came from and suggests geography gives a cultural
legacy.
Gladwell also looks at plane crashes, with Korean Air being the airline that
had one of the world’s worst crash risk statistics, over 17 times more risk
than other comparable carriers. Data from black boxes is given and
dissection done to show that there were miscommunications on the descent
which ended up as a plane crash. And those miscommunications came about
because of cultural factors, where a subordinate cannot question a
superior’s decisions. (This is a Thai cultural fact as well.).
At B. 360 it is a cheap read for you to accept the final concept that you
need to have people around you, as well as being born on the best months,
have a good IQ and know how to communicate when under stress. So if you are
planning on having a bright and successful family, better conceive now for a
March baby.
Gladwell notes that success “is not exceptional or mysterious. It is
grounded in a web of advantages and inheritances, some deserved, some not,
some earned, some just plain lucky,” and at the end of the book, he remarks,
“Outliers wasn’t intended as autobiography. But you could read it as an
extended apology for my success.”
Despite all the accolades I remained underwhelmed by all his graphs and
tables and butterfly approach to subjects. Not my cup of tea, I’m afraid,
but if you liked the Tipping Point you will easily settle into this book.
