Difference with Gladwell’s Outliers is that through meticulous research he looks behind the spectacular results enjoyed by business giants, sports stars and musicians and explains the exceptional success with, at times, astonishing connections.
The premise of Outliers is that when we really try and understand success we start with false assumptions. We ask wrong questions like: What is that person like? How did they do it?
Questions such as these are sustaining themes of the get rich quick and personal development industries, where attempting to emulate and model the behaviour of successful people is the mainstay of the industry’s educational values.
What would Sir Richard Branson do? It’s as if people could be magically transported to a path of prosperity by seeing presentations at a three-day seminar that mention the qualities of Sir Richard Branson (what he did, when he did it). Such presentations are inspirational, but that’s about it.
Real role models are people who have a direct and sustained influence on your life, not someone you meet on a big screen as part of a seminar presentation.
Real success is a complex goal. It’s a mercurial mix opportunity meets preparation, of how and when you grew up and most of all, HARD WORK. Talent and intelligence play a role but these qualities are not as dominant as myth would have it.
According to Gladwell, the idea that excellence at performing a complex task requires a critical minimum level of practice surfaces again and again in studies of expertise.
He quotes neurologist, David Levitin: “The emerging picture from such studies is that 10,000 hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert in anything.
“In study after study of composers, basketballs players, fiction writers, ice skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals and what have you this number comes up again and again.
“Of course this doesn’t address why some people get more out of their practice sessions than others. But no one has yet found case in which true world expertise was accomplished in less time. It seems that it takes the brain this long to assimilate all that it needs to know to achieve true mastery.”
10,000 hours; that’s a lot of time to spend practicing. It’s 250 weeks of a 40 hour week. It’s more than one year of practicing 24/7. Of course not everyone wants to be world-class in their field but based on the 10,000 hour rule you could reason that 5,000 hours of practice would be minimum to achieve the level of mastery for a good lifestyle.
Of course practice isn’t the ONLY thing that leads to success. Success arises out of a steady accumulation of advantages, tactically leveraged. Personal qualities such as empathy, cunning and shrewdness play a role.
Among the advantages is the support network you have. When and where you were born, what your parents did for a living and the circumstances of your upbringing all make a difference to how you succeed in the world, according to Gladwell.
In my current role as editor of WSBA and in previous roles I have been struck by culture’s fascination with success and the mythical qualities often attached to business leaders, entrepreneurs and entertainers.
True, there are people and events that make our jaws drop in awe such as extraordinary acts of kindness, succeeding against tremendous odds or extraordinary beauty. But success, as defined by cultural and social expectations, is different.
At the end of the day success is what you want it to be. Everyone finds their own level according to context, situation and personal or collective ambition….and, of course, the 10,000 rule.
OUTLIERS – The Story of Success by Malcom Gladwell is published by the Penguin Group, 2008.
