An “outlier” is defined as “something that is situated away from or classed differently from a main or related body, or “a statistical observation that is markedly different in value from the others of the sample,” in simple terms, an outlier is something or someone that is extraordinary, or outside of what is considered the norm. In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell examines the factors that determine the success or failure of highly intelligent and motivated individuals. Why are Bill Gates and the Beatles rich and famous, yet others of similar intelligence and ambition do not reach the same high levels of success? Mr. Gladwell examines how family, culture, friendships and the time in history successful individuals were born all contribute to high achievement and accomplishment.
Mr. Gladwell argues that Bill Gates was born at the right time, into the right family, and had exceptional opportunities in his youth to develop the skills necessary to co-found Microsoft and guide the company to becoming the leader in the software world. Gates’ parents were both successful; his father was a successful attorney and his mother came from a wealthy family. Bill Gates was a precocious child, not challenged enough in public schools. When he was in the seventh grade, his parents enrolled him at Lakeside, an exclusive private school in Seattle. During his second year at Lakeside, the school started a computer club. The Lakeside Mother’s Club held fund raisers every year for school projects. In 1968, the club provided funds to install a time-sharing computer terminal at the school with a direct link to a mainframe computer in Seattle. Computer time was expensive and the club money ran out quickly. As luck would have it, one of the Lakeside parents started a computer software company and offered to allow students to test software in exchange for free programming time. Eventually the company went bankrupt, so Gates and the other computer geeks at Lakeside began hanging out at the University of Washington’s Computer Center. Eventually, they discovered Information Sciences Inc., which allowed them programming time in exchange for working on software programs. Bill Gates had the remarkable opportunity to learn programming in his youth during the late 60s and early 70s. How many other individuals in the entire world had the same opportunities?
In addition to family, timing and connections, throughout the book, Mr. Gladwell refers to the “Rule of 10,000,” based on a study by Andres Ericsson, that showed evidence that true greatness requires a minimum of 10,000 hours of practicing or performing a specific task. Gladwell claims that true success, fame and greatness requires that individual devote enormous amounts of time practicing and perfecting skills. Gladwell refers to many successful individuals, including famous violinists, Olympic medalists, scientists, musicians and others who are “outliers” in their field due to spending huge amounts of time perfecting their skills.
In Outliers, Mr. Gladwell writes that "success is grounded in a web of advantages and inheritances, some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky." Did this book change your way of defining "success?"
Discussion Questions
1. Mr. Gladwell feels that our current understanding of success is “really crude” and that we need to come up with a better understanding of what defines success and how successful individuals become "outliers." Do you agree with the explanations he offers in this book?
2. What is Mr. Gladwell’s explanation for the success Asians have in mathematics? Do you feel that school systems in this country could learn from the Asian cultures and adopt some of the ideas presented to improve student achievement in mathematics?
3. Do you have any personal experiences that prove or disprove some of Mr. Gladwell’s theories for what makes individuals successful?
4. Gladwell feels that there is no such thing as a “self-made” individual. Do you agree? Do you know any individuals that are truly “self-made?” What made them successful?
5. Did you have any “aha!” moments as you read this book? How could you use what you learned in either leading your staff to success, or for self-improvement?
Gladwell's thesis about there being more than hard work associated with the creation of exceptional success is interesting and he gives plenty of examples of some of these factors. One interesting application to the library environment is in his description of the elements that motivated some of these very successful individuals or groups successful keep persevere to excellence. He argues that people work hardest and are most successful at their jobs if they think their jobs are meaningful, which occurs when the level of effort has some correspondence with their results, when the job provides some level of complexity to engage their interest, and when the job provides some degree of autonomy. We encountered similar observations in Daniel Pink’s Drive.
ReplyDeleteThe challenge for libraries is to adjust duties and work environments, where possible, to increase some of these elements that make work meaningful to staff. An example of the effectiveness of making adjustments to make up for factors that might work against success, was the KIPP school program, which helped students who did not have enriched weekend and summer experiences at home by giving them a chance to learn during longer days over a greater part of the year. Similarly, Koran Air managed to change corporate culture to improve performance where a cultural legacy of not speaking up was hurting their safety record.
On the one hand it's disappointing to think that hard work isn't enough but on the other hand I like the idea that sometimes if someone fails to succeed it isn't because they didn't work hard enough or that they weren't qualified, it might just be a product of their circumstances. I love the way Gladwell uses scientific experiments to justify his claims. It gives more validity to the book than if it were just his ideas.
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