Outliers – The Story of Success

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Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers is an in depth analysis of success as a whole and those who seem to achieve it. Not one of the tradition approach Gladwell begins his novel with a list of names of the top hockey players including their hometown, height, weight, position, and birthday. Gladwell asks the reader to analyze the chart and find a similarity. Since we’re not all national best sellers Gladwell shows us that the commonality between these players is their birth month. He goes on to show us that 40% of any elite group of hockey players will have a birthday between January and March, yet only 10% will have been born between October December. The analysis of this is what sets apart Outliers from other books and Malcolm Gladwell from other authors. He goes on to tell us that the reason for this distinction is that the age cutoff for youth hockey is in January so that if you are born in January you would then be the oldest… and consequently you would also be the biggest. This, Gladwell argues, allows for a series of advantages that ultimately craft a better player. The largest players, get the most attention and best coaching, they make the best teams and get the best equipment. All this leads to a more successful player but all this began with a simple six month age difference. Gladwell explains in his writing that it is this distinct advantage at even a young age that provides the foundation for a lasting advantage in the future.

I found this perspective to be extremely intriguing. Some believe there is a divine intervention which sets apart the ultra successful but Gladwell argues in his book that it is rather a bunch of small advantages which are continually capitalized upon. In fact Gladwell describes outliers as, “…those who have been given opportunities, and who have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them.”

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Later in the book Gladwell expands upon a different idea. He talks not about opportunities given but opportunities that are taken advantage of. This is how he begins the conversation about the 10,000 hour rule. The 10,000 hour rule is described as the amount of time that it takes to achieve true expertise at any skill.

Gladwell is, without a doubt, one of the best authors of our time. His use of research and examples allows him to simplify complex concepts down to basic truths.