Outliers 1

Overview ofOutliers: The Story of Success

by Malcolm Gladwell

Jim CampbellBlack Cat Web, Inc.

Web Solutions for Small Businesseshttp://www.blackcatwebinc.com

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10 March 2009 Overview: Outliers 2

About Malcolm GladwellMalcolm Gladwell is a highly accomplished journalist and author who comments on social phenomena. Outliers (late 2008) is his latest.


About Malcolm Gladwell (continued)

• Canadian-born on 9/3/1963; both Jamaican and British by descent

• Steady career in journalism since 1987

• Outliers debuted at #1 on New York Times non-fiction bestseller list

• Books have common theme of exploring subtle themes and patterns in individual and societal behaviors


About Malcolm Gladwell (continued)

The Tipping Point and Blink, his first two books, remain popular titles, years after publication; accepted as academic reading; studied avidly in sociology, psychology, and business.


About Malcolm Gladwell (concluded)

Informative links about Gladwell and his works:

• His website: http://www.gladwell.com• Here is a link to Gladwell’s Ted Talks lecture on the lessons of spaghetti sauce: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIiAAhUeR6Y

Now, to Outliers …

http://www.gladwell.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIiAAhUeR6Y




Formal Definition

out·li·er \-,lī(-ә)r\ noun:

1: something that is situated away from or classed differently from a main or related body

2: a statistical observation that is markedly different in value from the others of the same sample


Gladwell’s Outliers

• Sometimes, individuals not only succeed but stand far outside the norm – they are successful beyond even wild expectation

• What does it take to become an “outlier”? Are there patterns we can see? Are there behaviors we can emulate?

• Gladwell shows us the mystery, and unravels it, chapter by chapter


Introduction: “The Roseto Mystery”

• Founded in the late 19th century by Italian immigrants, Roseto, Pennsylvania was a small quarry town, named after the hometown of its founders

• In early 1960s, an amazing discovery was made about this town. Sociologist John Bruhn: “These people were dying of old age.

That’s it.”


Roseto, PA: An “Outlier” in Health

• Heart disease was an epidemic in the late 1950s, early 60s; American diet was high in fats and cholesterol, while medical solutions were very limited

• Roseto, PA had a remarkably low incidence of these problems; virtually NO ONE under age 65 had heart disease!

• Longevity and health are tied to good physical habits, such as diet, exercise, abstinence… was this the reason?


Investigation of Roseto

• Dr. Stewart Wolf and others tried to find causes. Strangely:– Eating & exercise habits were ordinary;

typically Italian-American after many generations

– Smoking, alcohol consumption, obesity were at normal rates for time

– No genetic patterns of longevity found


Was Roseto a “supernatural” phenomenon? Something out of The Twilight Zone? Star Trek?

“Submitted for your approval: Roseto,

Pennsylvania!”

“Dammit, Jim- these people

don’t die ! I can’t explain this!!!


The answer was… ROSETO!• The culture of Roseto was very positive,

supportive, social nurturing; a transplant from their Italian village and still in the mode of community support necessary for a hard working immigrant community

• Visiting, sharing was a daily ritual

• Work, church, family, entertainment all entwined, community experiences

• Optimism, openness always encouraged


Could Roseto, Pennsylvania be a model for contemporary healthy living?

Recent study: optimism is key to longevity. Didn’t Roseto already tell us? http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29535635

Discussion

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29535635/


Part 1: Opportunity

Opportunity, we assume, is equal for all; hard work, dedication, and discipline are all we need to reach our goals.

But is this true?

The next few chapters explore.


“The Matthew Effect”

“For unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance. But from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.” - Matthew 25:29

Sociologist Robert Merton claims that social advantages or disadvantages, even arbitrary ones, tend to compound, often unnoticeably.


Canadian hockey is unfair?

• Hockey in Canada is wildly popular and competitive. Only the very best can rise the ranks to professional stature and then to stardom.

• Canadian hockey players are among the best in the world.

• But- the system has a built-in flaw, leaving many qualified players out of consideration.


2007 Medicine Hat Tigers – anything strange here?


The critical first year

• Selection into Canadian hockey teams happens at a young age

• During selection, child players who are older will tend to be more competent since they are more developed than younger counterparts

• In Canada, eligibility is determined by age; “cut-off” in placement for birthdays on January 1st


Example

• Player A born January 1st, 1999 is eligible for the first year of hockey playing in 2008

• Player B born December 1st, 1999 is considered for the same class

• Player A will be noticeably more developed than B, since at the age of 9 or 10, age differences are significant

• Player C, born in December 1st, 1998, is too old to be considered in this league


Older hockey players are served by“Matthew Effect”

• The older player “A” is noticeably better developed at age 9, and he achieves more in that first year than the younger “B”

• Player “A” makes the “rep” squad (all-star team) in hockey; player “B” stays back

• Next year, difference between two players is more pronounced; cycle repeats year after year


Differences brought by birthday compound

• The few months age difference, which can play a fundamental role in ranking hockey players in their first year, compounds

• A player who is more accomplished in his first year is more easily considered for key challenges in the second… then the third… all the way to the pro levels

• Professional Canadian hockey players therefore tend to be born early in year


An example

Wayne Gretzky

Born: January 26, 1961


Discussion: how personal is success?

• It took decades before anyone noticed these patterns in pro-hockey.

• What if Wayne Gretzky had been born in November, instead of January?

• Is it really fair to blame ourselves 100% for every failure? Credit ourselves 100% for every success? Or is the deck sometimes stacked in ways we cannot see?


“The 10,000-Hour Rule”

• Hard work really does matter; in fact, it is absolutely necessary

• Many “outliers” went through a period of intense, passionate, and often punishing work, that often had no certain reward

• Gladwell’s rough calculations imply that 10,000 hours of labor investment, usually at a young age, is the minimum needed for “outlier” success


The Beatles in Hamburg

• The Beatles took several trips to Hamburg Germany between 1960 and 1962 to play at strip clubs

• The schedule was grueling, demanding them to play often for eight hours in a row, seven days a week

• The day was filled with group meetings and song-writing; how did they manage?


Beatles in Hamburg,1960


Why did the Beatles succeed?

• There were many singing groups around, inspired by American pop stars, especially Elvis

• The Beatles were extraordinarily diligent, rebuking their Liverpool roots and jumping into the very competitive rock-and-roll scene

• Their fortitude was tested by playing to the roughest, most hostile crowds in Hamburg


The Hamburg “Gauntlet”

• The Beatles found themselves routinely booed, with beer thrown at them. Club owners would easily fire them for not performing adequately.

• To fill out sets, they would work during day to perfect technique and flawlessly imitate songs; they also began to write their own music


Imitation and tenacity was key to success

• Bobby Vee, Take Good Care of My Baby, #1 in January, 1961

• Beatles, covering same song, on January 1st, 1962, without any musical theory

• This demo record was rejected, but they kept at it – they were on the Ed Sullivan show two years later


“Trouble with Geniuses, Part 1”

• Notion of “IQ” was developed by Lewis Terman in the 1920s as predictor of competence and success

• Actually, all sorts of factors are involved in predicting success

• Evidence suggests that once IQ passes a certain level, the differences matter only slightly


“Trouble with Geniuses, part 2”

• Huge differences in achievement exist based on home environment and the response to authority, which is directly predicted by economic and personal circumstances in childhood

• Example: J. Robert Oppenheimer was named head of Manhattan Project without any major credentials


“The Three Lessons of Joe Flom”Jewish lawyers, doctors, and businessmen in late 20th century New York succeeded due to three factors:

1. Being Jewish meant they could not and did not follow “conventional” paths

2. Being born in 1920s – 1930s, with good economic possibilities

3. Legacy of meaningful, entrepreneurial work


Part 2: Legacy

Continuing the themes from the early part of the book, “legacy”, that is, the person’s origins, play a major role in determining potential


“Harlan, Kentucky”

• Famous American “family feuds” clustered in Appalachian Mountains in 19th century

• “Culture of honor” was present due to origins of peoples (the rocky, rugged coasts of England, Scotland, and Ireland, where fertile land was rare)

• “Innate” tendencies are actually cultural


“Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes”

• Gladwell profiles certain plane crashes as having been caused by human error that is directly attributable to cultural issues

• Korean Airlines, rooted in the deferent culture of authority in Asia, had bad crash record

• Crashes disappeared after such practices were eliminated in cockpit


“Rice Paddies and Math Tests”

• The very precise, demanding methodology required for wet-field rice cultivation means that the culture would idealize proficiency in mathematics, measurement

• Asian students do better at math than Western counterparts due to the languages and the structures of their culture


“Marita’s Bargain”

• Profiles a very demanding school program in South Bronx (KIPP) aimed at intensive education

• The idea is that students are demanded to put in 12 hours a day- even from a young age- to overcome the more destructive tendencies of their culture


“A Jamaican Story”

• Gladwell cites his own family’s story as a series of lucky breaks brought on by both advantages and disadvantages

• Civil strife in Jamaica, rooted originally in slavery, had everything to do with how his family relocated to England and his parents met


Gladwell’s summary statement is (almost buried) in the last chapter

“Their success is not exceptional or mysterious. It is grounded in a web of advantages and inheritances, some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky – but all critical to making them who they are. The outlier, in the end, is not an outlier at all.”


My Summary Statement

No one who reaches for a major goal, even the so-called “outlier”, knows where it will lead. The point is to invest in our dreams with passion, even when there are major obstacles and no guarantees.

Outliers 1

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