BOOK: Outliers (Malcolm Gladwell)

I finished the book 7/27/2020. I was given this book by a friend and I brought it to the beach and two days later I had finished it. I have not finished a book that fasts in very long. This book was incredible and would recommend it to anyone.

Quick Recap:

The point of the book is simple: he wants to shed light on the idea of success as more than a brilliant mind, or hard work, or grit. It's more nuanced than that and that's what Gladwell excels at. He knows how to tells stories that bring his point across while also backing it up with data. He tells an intricate story and then explains what that engaging story means for his point. At the end of the book every time he tells a story you know his explanation for their success is coming. The idea is that people don't just rise from nothing. There are cultures, birthdays, circumstances, histories, societal factors, and many more things that contribute to success. It's something that is refreshing because we get stuck in a world so frequently of "wow he's a genius, of course, he built a large company" or "it was true determination and hard work". These types of comments fail to recognize the underlying factors that contribute to success. For example, Bill Gates had access to a computer in middle school at his rich private school, Lakeview, at a time when most people in college didn't have access. It gets even more interesting when you look at their birthdays because you see how close Gates, Jobs, Bill Joy, and other tech phenoms were born in terms of date. The reason their date of birth is so important is that it could be the difference between being too early or too late to get on the tech wave. It's the compiling of circumstances and factors that creative genius. In many cases, it's not just one break or two, it many breaks. It can also be that the hard work and determination was crucial, but other factors absolutely contributed. They give the example Robert Oppenheimer who was the head physicist for the Manhattan project at a young age despite having almost murdered one of his teachers years earlier. They contrast the brains of Robert from that of Chris Langan who had a crazy high IQ but because of his poverty wasn't as "entitled" which in the case isn't necessarily bad, but instead offers able to stand up for himself and ask for what he wanted.

Lessons Learned:

1. The Matthew Effect

The basic idea of this chapter is "success begets success". It's something that I have heard before, but the story that Gladwell focuses on is so fascinating. It's this structure of story telling and psychology that meshes to create a thrilling experience that has you saying wow after every page. This chapter focuses on Canadian Hockey youth players. When you look at their birthdays you can see a pattern: a great majority are born in January, February, and March. He leads with this story because it shows just how much of the success we see has underlying reasons and circumstances. In this case, it's being older and bigger than the other kids that allows kids born in early months to make the team. This effect becomes multiplied as each season more and more kids are shed off with the best staying. So when you are initially selected because your bigger that advantage becomes greater as you get to play with the better kids and coaches. It's something I find interesting as someone who played hockey and has a December birthday. I have always considered myself an incredibly mediocre hockey player and was never good enough. But as I read this I thought about how even these broad statements fail to recognize the nuance. This questioning of success and broad claims of genius or brilliance is what makes this book so compelling and engaging.

2. 10,000 Hours

It takes 10,000 hours to master a discipline. The chapter tells the story of Bill Joy, Bill Gates and the Beatles who were able to get so much practice in their fields that they were able to be successful. My favorite part of this chapter is that it's not just about reaching 10,000 hours, but rather the opportunities that allowed them to achieve this. Especially with Bill Gates, who was given access to computers at his middle school in Seattle before most college kids had access. By the time he reached college, he had surpassed 10,000 hours and was able to start his own business and become a huge success. However, just think where Bill Gates would be if he hadn't been given access so early to computers. It's also his timing in terms of the industry that was so key. By the time he started creating his company, everyone was looking for software and technology. It's also why when you look at the ages of the young tech entrepreneurs and the industrial entrepreneurs of the 19th century they all fall extremely close to each other. This shows that so much of their success and much of our success has to do with trends and matching up with them. For example, if Bill Gates was born a couple years earlier or later he would have either to early or too late for the boom that created the rise of tech companies. For the Beatles, it was being able to practice and practice in Hamburg and those hours of practice made them outstanding performers and masters of their craft. This 10,000 hours concept makes it feel so attainable for anyone and to a degree that is true (chase your dreams!), but you also have to recognize the insane opportunities that some of us are afforded to let us achieve that 10,000 hours.

3. The Trouble with Geniuses (Convergence Questions vs. Divergence Questions)

In a similar manner as his earlier chapters, Gladwell dismantles the idea that IQ is an end all be all for intelligence. He also dismantles the idea of "genius" for me. It's something that I do so much calling this person or that person "brilliant" or a "genius". He starts with the story of Chris Langan, a so called "genius" he explores his life and all the failures and missteps and explains how IQ is an empty picture. The termites, a group of high IQ kids selected by a famous psychologist, also failed to produce the insane results you would expect from the "smartest" people in the world. It also further shows how IQ fails when you look at the kids that did succeed in the termite group. They overwhelmingly came from Rich families and it just further proves the importance circumstances has in our lives. I love though that Gladwell, chooses not to make generalizations like those who are poor are less successful than those are rich. No instead he actually gives examples of immigrants whose upbringing and inability to be selected by the waspy law-firms actually enabled them to do business in acquisition law and hostile takeovers which ended up becoming one of the most profitable law sectors in the US. It's this approach of looking at circumstances that paints a more nuanced picture of what it means to achieve success. With Chris Langan though she also brings up the idea of EQ being crucial and upbringing as well of course. My favorite examples he gives for upbringing is the Alex william's story. A psychologist took two groups of kids, one rich and one poor and followed them. The findings were amazing because little things meant a world of difference in terms of how kids acted and behaved. They give the example of a doctors appointment where the Alex, the "rich kid" is told by his mother to think of questions before hand and ask the doctor. When it comes time, Alex speaks to the doctor clearly with no fear of authority and explains to him a rash he has under his armpit. It's this "entitlement" that many wealthier kids exhibit that means they are not afraid of authority and more willing to ask for what they want. It's an interesting dynamic to Katie Brindle, "the poor girl", who is more submissive and wildly independent. It's simple interactions of "how was your day" that wealthier parents ask that makes a child more willing to articulate and not afraid to speak up. While the lack of those interactions and parenting from a poorer child may mean a different set of skills and attitudes. It's this upbringing and then subsequent attitudes that are created by it that I find so intriguing. It obviously makes me think a lot about what I would be like as a person if I wasn't born with so much privilege. It's also evident for me too the difference in attitude when I am with my cousin who is fiercely independent because my uncle, a construction worker, couldn't spend the same time that my parents were able to.

4. Cultural Legacies

This one is so cool. They explore the hatfield and the mccoys and the other fighting in Kentucky that found to be a result of shepard's lifestyles taken from their ancestors in Scotland. Shepards are fierce, and clans-like and violent towards others who may steal their sheep or cows versus farmers who are completely different. It's this simple occupational fact and also the fact that geography didn't permit many in Scotland to farm. This legacy continued into their life in America as evidenced by the deadly brawls and lifestyle of the era. Cultural legacy is powerful!

5. Plane Crashes and "mitigated speech"

First of all didn't realize that Plane crashes are most commonly a result of many failures. It always seems like one of those things that is one big failure not multiple ones that add up. However it makes sense, our planes are so safe at this point that many things need to go wrong for all systems even back up ones to fail. But on to the point of the plane story. The fact that certain cultures could mean a difficulty in managing problems during an emergency is crazy. I love how he brings up the cultural differences and uses the metric of PDI which showed certain cultures deference to authority which can have a huge effect on just the simple language in the cockpit that is so crucial. Language is so key in this case. Especially the idea of being direct and indirect, and it also explores the measures taken to improve this culture by requiring English and making sure that they understood the procedures so that second officers were willing to take over if they had to. The final thing that made this overall discussion powerful was the taboo that the NTSB tried to walk around in placing blame on things as culturally wrong and messed up. In this case, examining culture and saying okay we recognize this is different is an important step in helping us stop plane crashes and death. As Gladwell says "who we are cannot be separated from where we are from".

6. Rice Patties and Math Test

So I have been rambling on these points, so I'll make this one quick. The dedication, preparation and manual labor required to do a Rice fields has passed on for generations and meant Chinese, and to a greater extent South Korea, Japan, are incredible at math test. Math at the end of the day feels like one of those things we are good or bad it, but it's really much more. The example they gave at the end was the researcher who asked kids to fill out a questionarre of like 120 questions. The number that kids filled out without skipping directly correlated to the performance of those kids on the test. Thus proving to a degree that math is really only about determination, and very little of the natural skills that people focus on. You could know how someone would do on a Math exam without ever having to have people do math and this is an insane concept.

7. Education and KIPP

KIPP is a school that makes kids put an insane amount of time into school. The hours are longer, by an insane amount and it has summer classes. It operates for lower income kids in the Bronx and has become a shining example of how schools can get kids in these neighborhoods into the some of the best schools in the country. It also further explore the rich and poor divide that for various reasons is exasperate in the US with our long summers which means rich kids will get smarter outside of school with parents who teach them or send them to programs vs. poorer students who don't get those same opportunities. it makes me think a lot about our education system and key things that could be done to improve it, especially when if done the right way the difference between rich and poor could be negligible which in a perfect world is the way education should be. Education is one of the most important things in this world and this chapter proves how it doesn't matter where you come from for you to be succesful in the classroom. Generally, it's not the kids who are dumb, its the circumstances that create the disparities. I think of the example of ACT tests. I like many of my peers at Tufts had a tutor, and expensive one at that and couldn't imagine not having one. This thing that seems small is a huge advantage and just one of the best concrete examples of how the system is less about your individual merit, but the systems that have allowed you to accomplish that merit. Gladwell really offers great solutions for reform of a broken education system that excite me.

Final Chapter:

He talks about his story and his own opportunities and circumstances. This brings it completely full circle of me. It;s the most beautiful part of the book because he spends so much time focusing on other people and stories and reports, but he finally ties it all up by explaining the people, the blessing and other aspects to his current success that are possible because of those before him.

Quotes:

"It tells us that our notion that it is the best and the brightest who effortlessly rise to the top is much too simplistic. Yes, the hockey players who make it to the professional level are more talented thank you or me. But they also got a big head start, an opportunity that they neither deserved nor earned." - (Talking about Hockey players birthdays

"Theirs was supposed to be a pure meritocracy as well. Only it wasn't. It was a story of how the outlier sin a particular reached their lofty stays through a combination of ability, opportunity, and utterly arbitrary advantage." -(Speaking about the computer industry and those who made it having certain opportunities- getting the ability to practice)

"This was Terman's error. He fell in love with the fact that his termites were at the absolute pinnacle of the intellectual scale without realizing how little that extraordinary fact actually mean"

"He'd had to make his way alone, and no one-- not rock stars, nor professional athletes, not software billionaires, and not even geniuses-- ever make it alone"

"Their world --their culture and generation and family history-- gave them the greatest of opportunities"

"Can we learn something about why people succeed and how to make people better at what they do because of cultural legacies"

"No one who can rise before dawn three hundred sixty days a year fails to make his family rich" (Chinese Proverb--shows how much of their lifestyle is"

"Marita just needed a chance"- (A chance can really simply change someone's life)

"These were history's gifts to my family-- and if the resources of that grocer, the fruits of those riots, the possibilities of that culture, and the privileges of that skin tone had been extended to others, how many more would now live a life of fulfillment in a beautiful house on a hill" - (His last remark in the book)