Everyday, people experience success and people experience failures. Which one is the most effective? Well, up until I read the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, I had every reason to believe that learning from failure was more effective than learning from success. Throughout this book, Gladwell describes story after story about how men work their way from being poor, unemployed people to inheriting more money than God. Gladwell puts simply that being an outlier is “something that is situated away from or classed differently from a main body or related body OR a statistical observation that is markedly different in value from the others of the sample” (Gladwell, 1). Now, when I read this, I had absolutely no idea what the definition meant. Despite lacking knowledge of what the title meant, I read for about an hour. After that hour, I completely understood what the definition stood for. Successful is not the word to describe an outlier. Ultra-successful hits the nail on the head. Some outliers that are more famously known are Bill Gates, Bill Joy, Robert Oppenheimer, even the Beatles made the list.
Out of all the books that I read this summer, I have to say that Outliers was the most informative and enjoyable book to read. Prior to reading this book, I
One of the stories that I found most interesting was the story of Canadian hockey players. Now, living in New Canaan, Connecticut has made it perfectly clear how corrupt sports could be. But after reading about how the Canadian hockey system is run, I can cope with how the sports in New Canaan are operated. In the book, Gladwell posted a two page chart on Canadian hockey players, what position they play, how tall they are, and when they are born. What makes these hockey players special isn’t because they are from Canada, or that they are extremely tall or are right handed or left handed. What makes these players special is what month they are born in. “in any elite group of hockey players--the very best of the best--40% of players will have been born between January and March, 30% between April and June, 20% between July and September, and 10% between October and December” (Gladwell 23). Not one psychologist could come up with a prediction or hypothesis on why the most talented hockey players were born in the beginning of the year. Is it because they have more time to practice then those born in November? More months of maturity? Well, the logical reason happens to make perfect sense. The cut-off for age-class hockey is January 1. Therefore, someone who has a birthday, let’s say January 2, could play against someone who doesn’t turn the same age until November. One year makes an enormous difference in physical strength and emotional strength. Just think of it as when you can send your child to Kindergarden. For example, I was born on November 17, 1994. Everyone in my grade is born in 1994, I was just born months after them. Therefore, when my parents enrolled me in Kindergarden, I was only four years old when everyone else was five years old. For me, I didn’t have any disadvantages or advantages, speaking academically and physically. Actually, I’m happy that my parents put me in Kindergarden early because I have one extra year on everyone else (even though I still won’t be legal to drink until I graduate college...the irony!).
Now, the underlying theme throughout this whole book is opportunity. Whether you are at the right place at the right time, or whether your uncle’s wife’s niece’s husband is the coach of an elite hockey team in Canada, opportunity is the number one pathway to success. Without opportunity, you have no practice or background in whatever you are working for. The phrase “rags to riches” is much too simplistic, which Americans have lived by for decades. Of course the hockey players that were described by Gladwell are much more talented then you or I will ever be, but they also had something that we don’t: opportunity. It doesn’t matter whether they deserved that opportunity or not, they still had it. That is why they are successful.
Robert Merton, a sociologist, calls this the “Matthew Effect” after the New Testament. “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 best students who get the best teaching and more attention. It’s the biggest nine and ten year olds who get the most coaching and practice” (Gladwell, 31). I agree with this statement one hundred percent. Yes, you are a successful hockey player, he’s better then all the other players on his team. Now that success opens up a door for more opportunity, which repeats itself a million times until that hockey player becomes an outlier. Just by being a little bit better then the other players, being born just a few months before the goalie, and he’s an outlier. Is this luck or fate?
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