Wolf Review(Outliers. The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell)

(Contents)

Outliers. The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell is strange because it challenges the traditional thinking of what we would normally associate with the secret sauce for success. One will naturally attribute success to place of birth or the friends you mixed with. The book throws up some very interesting findings. A person with a higher chance of success in life can be attributed to a simple fact of coming to this earth in the correct month. If anyone thinks success is due to personal attributes only, think again. 

He cited example of the Canadian junior hockey league where 17 out of 24 players were born in the month of Jan to March. Naturally, opportunities were given to the more mature students who had a head start in life as far as 12 months. The relative age effect is also known as the “Matthew effect”. It was discovered by a Canadian psychologist in the mid-80s. To summarise, those born in the first 3 months of the year will have their brain and maturity developed faster than those born after. It is common for successful sportsperson to be born in the first three months of the year. The early birth advantage doesn’t dissipate over time. Those born in the first 3 months of the year continue to keep that advantage over their peers in their lifetime. Statistically to a tune of 11.2%.

The 10,000-hour rule. To achieve mastery in any field, one must be willing to put in a minimum of 10,000 hours on the subject of study. In the book, the author gave an example of the top pianists in the world having at least 10,000 hours of practice under their belt at a very early stage of their life. Does the outperformance happened in the field of sport only? It happened in the world of tech too. Bill Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystem, got the opportunity to learn about programming during his years as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan. The university was in the forefront of computing. They are one of the earliest universities to install a computer in their lab. Bill Joy had 24 hours unlimited access to the computer. His programming skills were way ahead of his peers. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, had access to a free computer in the 60s when he was an eighth grade. He had the opportunity to learn coding, averaging 8 hrs a day, 7 days a week. 

The pop band, Beetles, had the opportunity to perform in front of an enthusiastic crowd in Hamburg for 8 hrs a day. That period of intense work, gave them confidence in their ability and also laid the groundwork for their eventual success in the pop music scene. 

Readers will learn how different kids from social economic status were taught to ask questions and interact with adults. Affluent kids are taught to challenge the authority at a very young age which ultimately set them on a path to be successful individual.

There is a strange phenomenal about what a badge of honour mean to a northern and southern American. The people from the southern lands are more likely to defend their honour with brut force than people from the northern parts. Most Southerners came from the branches of Scottish-Irish descent where most engaged in sheep herding. In the 1800s, southerners in order to show toughness against thieves of their livestock had to kill intruders and to set the record straight, they were not to be messed with. The mentality has been programmed in the mind where defending personal honour by force is the “correct way of life”. It partly explains the high homicide rates in the south. This is one example the author cited cultural legacies might have on the outliers.

The strange phenomenon of an air accident always happens during a shift of a captain. Readers will get an in-depth understanding of the term “combating mitigation”. Some airlines do away with formal protocols in cockpit to make flying safer by allowing all officers to address each other in name. In that instance, it lower the power distance culture, thus lowering accident rates.

How about language having an impact on success in mathematics? The author gave examples of Asian kids especially the Chinese, having a head start over their western counterparts due to the way numbers are written and learned in Chinese. It is not surprising that countries like Singapore, South Korea, China, and Japan from wet-rice agriculture and meaningful work traditions always came out tops in Math Olympic and TIMSS study. 

Outliers. The story of Success goes onto Lone Wolf Investor’s highly recommended list for its orthodox look at other small and unusual aspects that contributed to the success of an individual. The author challenged conventional wisdom that defined success. It is one of the better books I have read over the last few months. I had a lot of joy reading the book. God Bless.

Please consider following us on telegram for the latest update on Lone Wolf investor by clicking on the link below. No form filling, no payment required, no collection of data, no data mining, no hard selling, no obligation. 

https://t.me/joinchat/oCgkD3sQFRMzMWM1

Disclaimers 

All investments is highly speculative in nature and involves substantial risk of loss. We encourage our reader to invest very carefully. We also encourage reader to get personal advice from your professional investment advisor and to make independent investigations before acting on information that we publish. Much of our information is derived directly from information published by companies or submitted to governmental agencies on which we believe are reliable but are without our independent verification. Therefore, we cannot assure you that the information is accurate or complete. We do not in any way whatsoever warrant or guarantee the success of any action you take in reliance on our statements. All information provided are for education only. Buyer beware,do you own due diligence.