Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, has always been highly recommended by a close friend. Her conversations around this book circled around the 10000 hour rule and how it makes sense for a Ballet dancer to invest in effort to practice one's craft. As a result, I have been intrigued by this book for quite some time now. When I finally got the chance to read it, I gleaned important lessons for life regardless of what your career or vocation is:
1.) Outliers are born at the right time
Mr Gladwell mentions the importance of being born with respect to a certain cut off date for a certain sport or undertaking. While observing Hockey players in Canada, he noticed that those who excelled where born a few weeks immediately after the cutoff date for tryouts. If you have a bunch of 9 year olds, closer to 10 would be at a physical and experiential advantage. Their slight edge is noticed by coaches so they are given the extra classes and training because of perceived talent when in fact it was just a matter of age. The perception becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. I guess I will have to consider it when planning entries to competitions, etc.
2.) The 10000 hour rule
The book attributed the success of the Beatles to spending more than 10000 hours playing. They regularly crossed the English channel to play in Hamburg, Germany for 8 hour straight gigs. At the end of the period they were excellent. Also cited was the experience of Bill Gates who as fortunate enough to access a time share computer and just kept working at it many hours a day until he became very good at it. Excellence comes with a price, we should clock it 10000 hours to be great in something.
3.) IQ is not equal to success
A comparison is made between Chris Langam, considered the smartest man in America, and J. Robert Oppenheimer, the director of the Manhattan project. Despite being the man with the highest IQ in America, Chris Langam does not have high academic degrees nor does he have a high paying job. He is working class and lives in a farm. J. Robert Oppenheimer was appointed head of the World Changing Manhattan project ( aka Build the Atomic Bomb) despite his being junior and being a Theoretical Physics rather than an Experimentalist or Engineer. The difference is that the latter had the benefit of being guided and supported by his upper class parents who exposed him to formal and informal learning opportunities giving him the social skills to work with people. Chris didn't have that because he was abandoned by his father and grew up in rural America.
4. ) Ethnicity and meaningful work
A discussion on the plight of Jewish immigrant is in this book, stating how they were willing to work long, inhuman hours with the vision of improving their lives. They did not shy away from difficult work other people dismissed as menial. This ethic eventually led to the Jewish domination of law and business in the US. Specific examples were given on how the American Jews mastered hostile takeover law practice. By the time takeovers became common place, Jewish partnerships we practically on top of the law system. I guess the lesson here is that opportunities come to those who are not picky.
5. ) On Culture and Plane Crashes
The book mentions the importance of recognizing cultural legacy and how it can affect the way you work. It goes on to state how cultural legacy played an important factor in the 1997 crash of Korean Air flight 801 in Guam and the 1990 crash of Avianca flight 057 in Long Island. Mr Gladwell then narrates how, Korean Air changed into an airline at par with the World's safety standards. This was accomplished by developing a new culture which started with the mandatory speaking of English in the cockpit. It broke the cultural bias and allowed all crew members to function the without hierarchical problems of their culture.
6. ) The importance of rice
The culture from the rice cultivating regions of the world invokes the idea of harvest being proportional to the amount and quality of work you put in. The nature of the rice crop, leave farmers very little idle time as opposed to other cereal cultivating cultures. The complexity of the crop also forces farmers to be innovative to ensure they make most of the harvest. It also brings about a governance structure where the landlords only claim a fixed rent thus rewarding farmers of the excess. I guess this is why we Filipinos are ma-diskarte in many aspects good or bad.
In summary, Outliers succeed because they were given opportunities and grab these to advance the status of their families. This book is really an inspiration to me.
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