Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Gladwell begins Outliers with the premise that humans have the curse of assumption when it comes to success. We see success and concoct rational explanation, which his research shows are untrue.

Introduction: a group of immigrants has rare cases of health problems and seem to live a long time. After extensive genetic, dietary, etc. research, it is concluded that the lifestyle of those in this small town contributes to their healthy life.

Chapter 1 - After looking at Canadian Youth hockey leagues, Gladwell observes that there is a disproportionate number of youth born in January, February and March on the league elite teams. His conclusion is that this is due to the size of the children when they are trying out. Those who are upwards of 11 months older than the same "level" children are seen as more adept and given more opportunity.

Chapter 2 - Building on chapter 1, Gladwell draws conclusions about experts. His observation from interviews with highly successful people in various fields is that it takes about 10,000 to become an expert in something. Because of that, he shows how those given opportunity to log in ridiculous numbers of hours in breakthrough technologies are the current leaders of the technology sector.

For further thought: what am I interested in logging in 10,000 doing? What would I like to see my children do for 10,000 hours?

Chapter 3 - Gladwell investigates research about Geniuses. He observes how we assume that raw intelligence should make all of the difference. However, he demonstrates that is a faulty premise. Imagination, he explains, makes a significant difference. Additionally, in this chapter he explores the idea of thresholds. The premise is that once a particular threshold is reached in height of an NBA player or intelligence in a businessperson, then more height or intelligence is offset by other skills (like ball handling or imagination).

For further thought: how does the threshold idea apply in ministry? Are there some with enough raw talent, charisma, etc. who should be invested in while others are without it? How do we know what the threshold is?

Chapter 4 - Gladwell continues to investigate geniuses. He looks at a rancher in Montana and compares him to Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb. The gist of the chapters is that the rancher has never really found success because he was raised in a poor family and never learned any social intelligence. Oppenheimer on the other hand was raised in Manhattan and was given privilege and self-respect. Gladwell makes the case that kids need to be taught a healthy amount of "entitlement" and "customization."

Chapter 5 - The book is becoming less useful in this chapter. He goes into great length to show how Jewish immigrants joined the fabric industry while their children became doctors and lawyers. He also demonstrates how Jewish lawyers were successful in the 1970s and 1980s because they were willing to be a part of corporate takeovers. It was a mixed argument of success based on ethnic background and the right timing of birth.

Chapter 6 - Here Gladwell argues that Southerners come from a society of honor that finds in origins in the shepherding industry of Scotland and Ireland. Interesting idea that shepherds had to fight each other off, therefore are more likely to operate on honor, whereas farmers did not, and are more genial. Yet again, I'm not sure how the Outliers concept fits into this.

Chapter 7 - Finally back to useful information, Gladwell examines a number of airline crashes where members of the cockpit crew knew something was wrong, but did not speak up in time. His point is that various cultures train speakers in the art of subtlety, and give a great amount of respect to those in positions of authority. Gladwell's point is that in a crisis situation, there is no room for subtlety. So, some cultures predispose individuals towards negative behaviors in various situations. But he hints that those behaviors can still be changed.

Chapter 8 - In this chapter Gladwell explains why Asians are typically better at math than Westerners. There are two explanations. First is language. Asians numbers are single syllable, their system is logical (10-1 instead of 11), and even their fractions explain the idea (3 of 5). The second reason is that their culture has a higher value on hard work. Gladwell attributes this to growing rice instead of other grains. He explains that there is a correlation between a students ability to push through difficulty and their math performance. And the correlation is 1 to 1. It reminds me of the best explanation of why students should learn math - because it is like taking your brain to the gym to lift weights. It isn't an end in itself, but it makes you stronger for every other task.

Chapter 9 - In this concluding chapter Gladwell draws some excellent ideas and combines them with his classic spurious reasoning. He has slipshod logic. He tells the story of a school in the Bronx that goes all summer and gives kids long hours of teaching and homework. His conclusion, which I wholeheartedly agree with, is that with more hours of work, most students will succeed. He demonstrates that rich kids do better in class after summer break and suggests this is because rich kids have access to books and other learning opportunities. However, his concluding thought is that if more people had access to the exceptional opportunities that his examples of outliers did, there would be more exceptional people. I agree that average performance could increase. However, the definition of exception is that it is the exception. So it would simply increase the access and opportunity of those who are not exceptional now.

Epilogue - Gladwell find himself as an outlier of history based upon some chance and circumstance. An extra school scholarship and the kindness of a couple of individuals. Although his reason is suspect at times, I agree with is conclusion - we must look at circumstances to help explain success, and not just as gumption and inherent skill.