A few weeks ago, I finished reading a book by Malcolm Gladwell called Outliers. The premise behind this book was that certain factors contribute to high levels of success in individuals whom he refers to as ‘outliers’ i.e. the very successful. He examines the trends of people who are the most successful in our society today and he points out that “it is not enough to ask what successful people are like, it is only by asking where they are from that we can unravel who succeeds and who doesn’t”[1]. The influence of where someone was born, grew up, their family values and opportunities play a far more important role in how successful they are than we may realise.
Gladwell identifies 4 factors that contribute to successful people:
1. Upbringing – a supportive family structure with strong values and structure provides good grounding for success. Talents are normally identified much earlier in childhood and practice of the talent is encouraged which normally results in more than capable individuals.
2. Practice – as the saying goes “practice makes perfect”, Gladwell proposes that it takes a minimum of 10,000 hours to master a skill and those that achieve 10,000 hours of “practice” will become successful in that skill. The key is to identify one’s skills or talents as early as possible and nurture them to ensure that the “10,000 hours” are under the belt as soon as possible.
3. Opportunity – sometimes all it takes is a bit of luck! Those who are born at the right time, right place, with the right skill are normally more likely to make a success than someone else who is born 10 years later i.e. there can only be one Richard Branson because he was there when his first opportunity arose.
4. Confidence - Gladwell observes that confidence and high self esteem is plays another key element of success. Most successful people have a strong feeling of entitlement and will fight for what they believe in even if means standing up to those in authority.
His analysis of Bill Gates (founder of Microsoft) and Robert Oppenheimer (renowned atomic scientist) are very interesting and illustrate his 10,000 hour theory and confidence. In the case of both men, it was their family’s upper class status and values which shaped their lives early on and presented them with the opportunities that allowed them to channel their talents and perfect their talent. When opportunities or luck came along, they had the tools in the box to make a success.
Bill Gates [2] was helped profoundly by his upbringing. The opportunities he received as a child (encouragement to pursue his interests and the opportunity to practice his skills on a computer (one of the first terminal run computers) at his upper middle class school) were vital to his success and set him in the right direction. The fact that he was also growing up at a time when the information technology revolution was taking off was lucky and allowed him to carve his place in the industry. Clocking up hours and hours of programming (he skipped athletics and snuck out of his house at night to programme), meant that he mastered his skill and placed him on his path towards Microsoft.
With Robert Oppenheimer [3], it was his confidence which was instilled in him by his elite family that contributed to his ability to identify opportunities and play the game all the way to the top and not just his intelligence.
The same analysis can be applied to all those whom we see as successful today and it is interesting to see that in most cases, it was all or most of the 4 things that Gladwell identified that made them a success.
I found this book really interesting because it made me look at success in a totally different light. There are some people who seem to have all the tools in the box and blaze through life achieving success after success. The media and self help books will tell us that we are not one of the “Outliers” because we do not have the 7 Habits or the Winning Factor – their premise is that if we just read the book and think positively we will be successful. As many self help book reader will tell you, it is not that simple and yet we are encouraged to keep reading and as a result we become hooked and keep looking for the next best theory.
There has been a lot of criticism on Gladwell's “theory” – some have said it is too simplistic and dismissive of the idea that anyone can be successful as long as they have a good idea and try hard. This may be true, but if we are honest with ourselves how often does that happen? The Williams sisters are at the top of their game because of intensive practice regime from an early age, supportive family (everyone knows how dedicated their father is to their success), confidence and opportunity (had they been born a few years earlier or later, they might not have made such inroads). The same can be said of Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook – he was programming from an early age, had a supportive family structure (he developed software for his family’s company before Facebook), confidence (defended his product to those who doubted him) and opportunity (he was there at the right time!).
Are there any lessons to be learnt from this book? Well, I have only highlighted a couple of the aspects he deals with in the book and it all makes for some interesting reading. What I learnt was that how we are brought up makes more of an effect on who we are than we may realise. It is not about being from a wealthy family as much as being from a supportive family and it is not simply about having a talent, it is about knowing what to do with that talent, mastering it and then being ready to take on the right opportunities. I guess the only question I have is this – are those of us who did not get the right grounding doomed to just being average?
[1] Outliers: Malcolm Gladwell's Success Story http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1858880,00.html
[2] Bill Gates: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates
[3] Robert Oppenheimer: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Robert_Oppenheimer
No comments:
Post a Comment