Malcolm Gladwell provides reasons for success that have never been explored before for his ground breaking study known as Outliers. The logic is so clear that there is no attention to these reasons. For example, Gladwell notes that a study of successful hockey players revealed that an unusual number of players had birthdays in January, February, and March. A simple explanation reminds us that these hockey players, introduced to hockey at a young age, were selected for teams in the calendar year in which they were born. So a player born in January, almost a year of maturity and experience in a player born in December. The survival of the fittest theory tells us that the January player triumphs into adulthood, leaving the December player to lag behind or retire. The idea is that a separate league for players whose dates of birth were perhaps added in October, November and December could produce highly skilled players whose careers would last into adulthood.
Gladwell also looks like Bill Gates who was an eighth grader in 1968, long before computers became a household word. His parents sent him to an elite private school in Seattle called Lakeside. Lake Computer Club was asked to try computer software software programs on weekends in exchange for free time programming. An obsession with young Bill Gates began. In the 16th century, he and Paul Allen discovered that the computer center of the University of Washington stopped time between 3 p.m. and 6 a.m., and Bill and Paul use the children’s computer during this time to run thousands of hours on the U. W. computers. Bill Porta has often stated that he was lucky. Yes, he has a lot of luck with the product. Here Gladwell mentions the ten thousand hour rule of success. Any man who spends tens of thousands of hours does work in his field. This applies to Bill Gates and Paul Allen. It also applies to music groups we know like the Beatles.
In 1960, when he was still a struggling high school of rock band, the Beatles were invited to play in Hamburg. , Germany. In Hamburg, they had to play eight hundred hour sessions, seven nights a week. Threads, training, innumerable songs were also had. They sounded back and forth with no one else. Hours of training made a difference and made them Outliers in their field. A lucky break was also chosen for them in Hamburg.
Gladwell visits a Chinese man who worked in the rice paddies of the Pearl Delta. The training required to grow rice is probably not found in any other business. The Asian culture is known the world over for its intellectual achievements, which can be traced back to total work and discipline. families to grow the crops so necessary for their survival. Another aspect of Chinese culture is memory space. Americans, who are given the ability to memorize and repeat seven numbers, are less apt to succeed in this exercise than the Chinese. The Chinese like the numbers four and seven, for example, are shorter. Si and qi are Also, fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen make up the very first number, but when you reach twenty, the reverse of twenty-four, twenty-five, and twenty-six make up the very last number. This makes it more difficult to remember our American numbers, and thus more difficult to succeed in this simple exercise.
Gladwell makes the case for differences in culture, family, generation, race, ethnicity, birth date, place of birth and order. An interesting study on airplanes in Korea has brought to light that Korean co-pilots show as much respect to their superiors as air traffic controllers and their governors should not contradict or correct or confirm their opinion if it differs from the opinion of the Superior. Since Korean airmen have been restrained from this cultural custom, there have been almost no air crashes.
Much more is discussed in this discussion about Outliers, who succeed where others fail. This was one of the most fascinating books I have read in the past decade.
Source:
Outliers – A Success Story by Malcolm Gladwell (2008)
