Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcom Gladwell (review) - Chapter #16
by Miguel on 09/07/09 at 11:49 am
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Are rags to riches stories not really as impressive as they sound?
Malcolm Gladwell looks at the ingredients to create a Bill Gates, a band like the Beatles or any kind of extremelly successful individual.
The author raises some strong points in his new best-seller… but is this a pill for mediocre people to justify themselves?
Score: 8.0/10
Books mentioned:
Quintana
Jul 9th, 2009
I reviewed Outliers for another venue and, while I don’t think it’s an excuse for mediocrity, it does send a pretty bleak message: Work your ass off, and even then it probably won’t be enough. On the other hand, there’s the arguably more inspiring message of “If you work hard enough, you’ll be prepared to take advantage of any opportunity that presents itself.” Who knows what trends are currently brewing right this minute?
Miguel
Jul 10th, 2009
Quintana,
the fact that you may “work your ass off” and still not make it big, makes me think of the importance of focusing on the path versus the destination. If you have given your all for a worthwhile purpose, then you will still be better off (both internally and externally) than slacking despite not becoming an outlier.
Your second point reminds me of Picasso’s quote “Inspiration does exist, but it must find you working”.
Thanks a lot for your comment!
Linda
Jul 10th, 2009
Whatever happened to hard work and ingenuity, or character and perseverance? All these traits are a result of countless hours of practice, repetition, and rehearsal of a skill or a talent that one may possess or at least have enough passion to commit the enormous amount of effort and time to. Gladwell’s book clearly highlights the fact that most sociologists and researchers saw the raw training and practice that these world-class concert pianists, billionaire software engineers, etc had devoted their lives to and that the ‘innate talent’ we sometimes fall back on was seemingly obsolete in these case studies. Individuals with the defeatist attitude will never be able to simply even ‘get in the door’ with that sort of “it’s never enough” attitude. Gladwell petitions that it takes at least 10,000 hours of practicing one skill to afford an opportunity at becoming very successful later on in life - how many people do we honestly know have ever spend 10,000 hours of their lives doing anything but sleeping or sitting on their bums infront of the tube? It’s not a simple act of passivity to get there, every single hour counts. And just as Gladwell points out, even every detail of an individual’s birth, life, and upbringing aids in the evolution of success as well. It’s not as simple as as what a so-called “book review” may make it appear to be.
Miguel
Jul 10th, 2009
Hi Linda,
First of all, thanks a lot for taking the time to write your thoughts.
It wasn’t my intention to make success seem simple, hence my mention of the 10,000 and the emphasis I’ve put on the hard work involved. If you saw the whole video and got that impression it means -I- need to work harder and persevere to improve my communication skills
For a take on success focused “character and perseverance”, you may want to check out chapter #12 on Mastery.
Thanks again for your contribution!