Reviewing Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers: The Story of Success

I have this untested theory that it was easier to get married and settle into family life in pre-colonial Yoruba land because children mainly did whatever trade/occupation their parents did and of course, communal living. Entering into the family business meant a child was immersed in the business from birth. Consciously and unconsciously, it is a part of that child so if you met someone then named, let’s say, Agbeloba, at 22 years old, he’s actually very knowledgeable about farming and has been actively involved in farming since at least 9 years old. Gladwell terms it the 10, 000 hours (of practice that distinguishes the successes and failures).

I recently decided to check out what the fuss around Malcolm Gladwell’s ‘Outliers’ was about and men, my knowledge base about successful parenting must have expanded by 40%. This guy gets it.

***The main thrust of the book is to prove that SUCCESS, like disasters, is a combination of many different things, including technological advancements; that genius isn’t enough, the focus on intelligence and ambition isn't a complete picture, and how people contribute to lift others up. But I read it with the intention to bring out points to work with personally.

If you can, please read this book.

My Takeawaysx

Role Preparation (for your children) is a must.

Excellence at performing a complex task requires a critical minimum level of practice surfaces again and again in studies of expertise.

Practice isn't the thing you do once you're good. It's the thing you do that makes you good.

A lot of outstanding achievers had clocked 10,000 hours before they were recognised. As a parent, start early to help your child put in his 10,000 hours.

If you can, schedule the birth of your children to be early in the year.

Give them every opportunity you can to help them practice in their interest areas

Practical intelligence: IQ is a measure, to some degree, of innate ability. But social savvy is knowledge. It's a set of skills that have to be learned. It has to come from somewhere, and the place where we seem to get these kinds of attitudes and skills is from our families.

Annette Lareau calls the middle-class parenting style “Concerted Cultivation.”

Concerted Cultivation is an attempt to actively “foster and assess a child's talents, opinions and skills.”

The three qualities that work has to have if it is to be satisfying: autonomy, complexity, and a connection between effort and reward.

People don't rise from nothing. We do owe something to parentage and patronage. The people who stand before kings may look like they did it all by themselves. But in fact, they are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot. It makes a difference where and when we grew up. The culture we belong to and the legacies passed down by our forebears shape the patterns of our achievement in ways we cannot begin to imagine. It's not enough to ask what successful people are like, in other words. It is only by asking where they are from that we can unravel the logic behind who succeeds and who doesn't.

Success is the result of what sociologists like to call “accumulative advantage.”

It is those who are successful, in other words, who are most likely to be given the kinds of special opportunities that lead to further success. It's the rich who get the biggest tax breaks. It's the best students who get the best teaching and most attention. And it's the biggest nine and ten-year-olds who get the most coaching and practice.

Perhaps the most haunting section for me is the story of Chris Langan. You know you can do this, you know you want to, you just need the door to open but the gatekeepers keep slamming the door shut. Why? You just can't figure it out.

I don't have Langan's extra-ordinary IQ but I sure know what it is to be socially awkward with a good dose of reluctance to engage. Sigh.

I enjoyed reading this stimulating book.