Life Lessons Learned from Outliers: The Story of Success By Malcolm Gladwell
Outliers is a phenomenal book with short stories about how people from various fields attained success or became outliers, as Gladwell defines it. It is such a thought provoking book that I want to share some of the knowledge that I gained from it with you. So let’s jump straight into some of these factors that fuel success, as this is a rather long blog post!
1. The Matthew Effect AKA Success Fuels Success
Those with a comparative advantage because they are born earlier in the year or because they have met the cut-off dates for entering into a team are more likely to succeed. They are more likely to succeed because they were born at the right time. Their birth date, specifically, their birth month, has allowed them to have this comparative advantage over their peers who were born later in the year. So a word to the wise potential parents, make sure to create a family plan where your target is to have a baby who is born earlier in the year.  Sounds silly, doesn’t it? Well, unfortunately, this is the reality we live in and cutoff dates are used as a metric of success in this day and age.
2. The 10,000 Hour Rule AKA Practice Makes Perfect
Researchers agree that the magic number for true expertise is 10,000 practice hours. This means that 10,000 hours of practice are required to achieve world class expert level of mastery in any given subject.  It was found that it takes the brain this long to learn all that it needs to know to achieve true mastery in a given field. This theory applies to everyone—from the most genius to the most incapable person on the planet. Ten thousand practice hours roughly translates to ten years! In order to have these practice hours under your belt, you need to have spend a significant amount of time practicing whatever it is you want to truly master. But unfortunately, not all of us have so much spare time and opportunity due to financial or other limitations. So in essence, it is luck at the end that decides who gets to practice for those 10,000 hours!
3. Do all geniuses become successful?
No. Why? Because it is rare to find geniuses who have both a high IQ and are socially savvy. IQ, to some degree is a measure of innate ability, whereas social savvy is a set of skills that has to be learned from our families. And let’s face it: not all geniuses are born with supportive families. So what becomes of those who are not born with supportive families? These geniuses never become famous, they lead a very average life as they fear authority and don’t have the social skills to challenge authority. On the other hand, the geniuses who attain fame are the ones with supportive families and these are the ones who have learned how to be socially savvy from their families. These are the people who know how to get their way; they know how to talk and when to talk.
4. Is there a golden era for lawyers, entrepreneurs and the like?
Yes. There is a right time and place to seize every opportunity. Historically, to become a great lawyer in New York, it was ideal to be born in the 1930s, to have parents who did meaningful work and to be a foreigner. Just as being born in the early 1930s was the prime time for a New York lawyer, being born in 1955 was the magic year for a software programmer and being born in 1835 was the perfect time for an entrepreneur. As you might have guessed, yes the geniuses (e.g. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, etc) in these different fields were all born during the golden period for their field of work. What a coincidence, isn’t it? This also translates to a tragedy for those who are as competent but were not born in the golden years for their intended field of practice.
5. Can cultural legacies define success?
Yes, absolutely! Where we come from plays such a central role on where we end up in life. Because as much as we think our culture, family upbringing and legacy will pass by, they end up staying in our life and leave a lasting impact. Recently, there have been quite a few number of plane crashes and there is a very ethnic reason to explain this phenomenon. The communications among the first officer, flight engineer, captain and others in the cockpit vary depending on their country of origin. In some countries, for example in the U.S.A., the flight engineer can speak very directly to the captain about any concerns that he/she might have about the captain’s decision making and they are both considered on the same level, whereas, in a place like South Korea, where flight engineers can’t really give their opinion directly to the captain because it is not acceptable, socially. These communication differences can cause massive problems when a tired South Korean captain doesn’t understand the indirect messages of the South Korean flight engineer. We might assume that plane crashes happen because of major engineering issues, but instead it happens because of these communication differences between cultures, tired pilots, and other very minor technical problems that when put together can create fatal damage.
6. Is there any logical reason to why Asians are so good at math?
Yes, there is! First of all, in the Asian language, it is easier to think of numbers than in English. Therefore, these linguistic differences makes the Asian numbering system more transparent, more systematic and more regular than the ambiguous and random numbering system found in Western linguistics. Have you ever wondered why there are so many rice paddies in parts of Asia like Japan, China and Korea? Well, they are there because these Asians are willing to put in the time and effort needed to harvest these rice paddies that are so central to the diets of these cultures. Out of all the farming that has been done historically, rice farming has been documented to be the most labor intensive. This translates to the fact that Asian rice farmers are one of the hardest workers in the world. It is also one of the most mechanical and technical type of work. No wonder Asians are so smart in math, it’s because they have been given this technical and mechanical mentality from their intensive agricultural lifestyle. Asians are also likely to stick to a problem until they can solve it for a longer amount of time than Westerners, which obviously translates to a higher level of success in math for Asians. And where did this trait come from? You got it. From the endless hours spent toiling under the scorching sun making sure their harvest this season will give a productive yield.
7. Fact as shown by studies: children from low income families perform just as well as their counterparts from high income families.Â
This shocking fact is absolutely valid when you look at a standardized test that was given to students at the end of the school year right before they go into summer break (this is in the case of U.S.). However, when the standardized tests were given right at the beginning of the school year when students come back from their summer vacation, the students from the high and middle income families outperformed those from the low income homes. Why is that? It’s because of the differences in their family structure. Those kids who come from middle and high income families are often more likely to be attending summer camp to enhance their reading and math ability, have libraries at home where parents encourage reading and of course, their parents are more likely to implement more structured play and study time at home. Whereas, those kids who come from low income families have no summer camp, no library at home, and no structured play/study time so they spend their summer vacation just having fun when their middle and high income peers are making advancements in their education. This is the achievement gap that causes low income students to fall behind. And this is mainly due to the long summer vacation systems that the U.S.A. has in place.
All of these above points are examples of outliers that you have seen in your life at some point. But did you ever think twice about these outliers as much as Malcolm Gladwell has done so smoothly in his profound book? If not, then this was definitely the right place for you to start and I hope you can also glean some insights from these unique and powerful stories.