April 10

Outliers
By Malcolm Gladwell

What makes one person (e.g., Wayne Gretzky? Yo Yo Ma?) so wildly successful?  Is it simply genius and hard work?  Gladwell enumerates a long roster of factors - from birth date (born early in the school year, thus among the older, taller, more cognitively developed, etc students in the classroom) to cultural heritage (dedication to work ethic, etc), to number of practice hours (10,000 hours seems to be a minimum number for great success), - to show that no outlier achieved success on his own - that it was actually a combination of many factors, including in some cases, chance and timing.  Bill Gates, for example, came of age just as computers came into use by business and schools; he had opportunities to "practice" his new craft that were not available to many kids - his intellectual curiosity and his parents' support were also critical.  In another case, the Beatles got to hone their skills for years while on tour in Germany; few groups got to perform every night, but the Beatles took their show on the road early and when they were ready for prime time, back in the UK, they were ready.  Thus, while some of the brightest and best came by their success partly by chance and by the "accident" of where and to whom they were born, still practice and dedication were crucial in every case.  Very interesting!