Outlier_Beyond Generalization. (Blog 1)

 

‘Outlier’ is something or someone that lies out of the commons. We usually use it synonymous with outstanding and when we think of the word what hits us is the stories of highly successful people with extraordinary intelligence, talents, hard work. We assume them to be highly gifted but in the book “Outliers” the author Malcolm Gladwell stresses these stories beyond what we usually see, i.e., to their cultures, families, societies, their ancestors and circumstances.

The author outlines the fact that a person is not merely the sum of his/her talents and abilities, rather a product of opportunities, environment into which one is nurtured and the time in to which one is born.

 

“It is not the brightest who succeed, Nor is success simply the sum of the decisions and efforts we make on our own behalf. It is, rather, a gift. Outliers are those who have been given opportunities — and who have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them.”

 

 The book begins with the story of a community of immigrants from Roseto, Italy who settled in the USA. The people here were found to be outliers in health conditions despite being in the hub of cardiovascular diseases, in the era which had most people dying of heart ailments, the people in this particular settlement had no one with heart problems. On research and study it was found that it was not because of the genes or the environment, nor was it due to the food habits or working conditions. The reason was found out to be the culture and practices the group followed. They had great social bonds and stronger relations, social gatherings and prayers, friendships and celebrations that part of the day today life. This community was outlier in true sense. This particular example makes it clear that the individual success is of little or no worth unless it is experienced by the society as a whole. So as rightly said by some great personality (need not to mention, hope you know!) that “Powerful people come from powerful places.” holds true to good extent but there are even many factors which equally matter.

 

The book talks about ‘Mathew effect’ which is quite obvious but we usually tend to ignore. On observing the birth dates of all the basketball players from junior national team of US the author observed something peculiar which holds true for almost all games, it was observed that most of the players (about 70-80%) where ones born in first three months of the year i.e., January, February and March. Does it mean that it is lucky to be born in these months if you want to be a basketball player or a footballer? The answer lies in the cut off criteria for selection of players, which is to have completed 9 years before January 1^st, so if a player turns 10 years old on January 2nd would still be playing alongside someone who would not be 10 till the end of the year and a gap of 9-10 months at the age means a lot more maturity, kgs of weight, inches of height and more strength. So the elders are more prone to be selected on the team. But it does not end here, these players are then made to practice harder, provided more opportunities to play, offered best facilities and more experience until the actually turn out to be the best players. This is not true for sports alone but in almost every sector including education.

 

Moreover, there is not just best months to be born but also best era to be born to excel in any particular field. With this goes the story of Bill Gates who was born to a wealthy family. His father was a wealthy lawyer and his mother was a banker. Bored with academics in a public school he was sent to a private school of elites called ‘Lakeside’, where during the second year of his being there a computer club was set up and he got enchanted with it, and gradually took control. Then he was able to access the computer programming facilities available at the University of Washington, which was at walking distance from his place. He further got added opportunities for coding and programming and we know that the story ended with setting up the largest techno giant ‘Microsoft’. Similar stories go with Steve Jobs and Larry Page.

 1970's was a decade when most software revolutions came up, Silicon Valley was at its maximum growing rate. Being born in 1955 or 1956 so that one could be in early 20 and then exposed to such immense opportunities ultimately yielded people like Steve Jobs (born on 24th may 1955) and Bill Gates (born on 28 October 1955). More familiar example is that of TISCO(Tata Iron And Steel Cooperation of India) which was blessed by World War first, with decrease imports, increased demand for railway tracks, supply for war and cater to industrialization.

 

 But not everyone born in 1955 ended up being Bill Gates because not everyone was born into the wealthy Gates’ family, nor was everyone lucky enough to be at ‘Lakeside’ school or had University of Washington at the walking halt.

Study conducted on selected group of students with highly gifted extraordinary IQs, where everyone was believed to be with potential to accommodate highest positions, turned out to be that as elders only few of them ended up being successful. And all those who became successful had one thing in common, that is they all belong to highly gifted families with rich cultures and had been provided many opportunities. That there high IQs were nurtured with good collection of books, engaging routines, high valued courses and prestigious Institute of Education and that made them ‘Outliers’ in true sense and not just that IQs.

 So in the first half of the book the Author covers all the individual aspects and traces back to family and legacy. We get to know about the unseen side of the coin, in the individual centric view. There are certain conditions which we inherit while others can artificially be brought up and nurtured. Success attracts success, while the other way down also holds true. So the key lies in whether to get trap in this we vicious cycle or not.

 

 But can we imagine this stories beyond individuals and families to continents and countries? Do our genes or the professions of ancestors anywhere matter? or why are Asians better at maths? and why are Asian countries more prone to plane crashes than the Western ones? These aspects like beyond the individuals and shape the culture and future of places. “Outlier” by Malcolm Gladwell provides deep insights into these aspects which would be upturned into next blog on the same topic. The explanation might even seem obvious but we usually turn a blind eye towards them, on reading the next blog it would hit us have even such things really have great impact on the course. 

 

As Gladwell writes:

“Superstar lawyers and maths whizzes and software entrepreneurs appear at first blush to lie outside ordinary experience. But they don't. They are product of history and community, of opportunity and legacy. Their success is not exceptional or mysterious. It is grounded in a web of advantages and inheritances, some deserve, 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.”