Have you ever thought about what distinguishes Bill Gates from thousands of other IT entrepreneurs?
What distinguishes the Beatles with thousands of bands from England?
What distinguishes Joe Flom - a prominent corporate lawyer, with thousands of other lawyers in America?
Gates, Flom and also the Beatles are Outliers. In statistics, outliers are the results of observations that can not be grouped in the main group because it is very different from the main group.
In his latest book, "Outliers: The Story of Success", Gladwell, who co-authored the book "Tipping Point" and "Blink," revealed the very sociological role of the sociological environment that gave rise to the overwhelmingly successful Outliers.
If we've been reading the biography of successful people and their heroic stories, the inherent impression is how they have succeeded in realizing their success from scratch, their relentless struggle, and so on. It is as if all their success is solely of themselves. In Outliers, Gladwell actually provides a counterweight, that in addition to their own ability factor, there are sociological factors outside of themselves that play an important role in their success. These factors have made them Outliers.
Instant vs. 10,000 hours of success
Many people read Bill Gates's biography wrongly. They just saw the moment where Bill Gates decided to get out of Harvard and set up Microsoft with Paul Allen. As if Bill Gates's capital at that time was only determination and enthusiasm. Yet long before that, Bill Gates had prepared himself by "practicing" writing programs for approximately 10,000 hours. Do not believe? Bill Gates has been writing programs since high school, thanks to his parents' group of college kids who are thinking ahead by buying expensive "time sharing" computers. And after high school, Gates who lives near the University of Washington can use their unemployed computers between the hours of 03-66 am. How much is Bill Gates' total "practice" time before starting Microsoft? It could be around "10,000 hours".
What about the Beatles? The most successful band in the world to this day. Many see the Beatles only when they are famous with legendary albums such as "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hard Club Band "or" White Album ". But really, long before they got their first record deal, they had undergone a long and difficult marathon training. During 1960 - 1962 the Beatles played for clubs in Hamburg Germany and had to play for 8 hours a day, up to 7 days a week. Longer duration causes them to extort creativity, play various song genres, modify old songs, to create their own songs. If not, then the audience will be shouting out of boredom. These "10,000 hours" in Hamburg are the ones who have forged John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison with the skills they need, growing chemistry among them, and the almost limitless creativity that will make Beatles music have a very wide spectrum .
In conclusion, Gates, Beatles and also professional sportsmen, have a better chance, because they have also honed their skills longer than the average person. Gladwell provides a very thorough illustration, how professional Hockey players are mostly born in certain months. Simply because at the time of being recruited at an early age, they are several months older than their competitors. As a result they are considered more capable, gain privileges during school, and practice longer than their peers. They get their 10,000 hours faster than others.
Genius Only Is Not Enough
Is Bill Gates a genius? Is John Lennon a genius? Can be. But it might not. What is clear Christopher Langan is the most genius man today. IQ reaches 190. Imagine, Albert Einstein alone is only 150. To test the genius of Langan is not even enough with a standard IQ test, but must with a special test for IQ is very high. Langan's intelligence is extraordinary. His speech is orderly and traceable, knowledge is generally very broad, his memory is very strong, solve math problems easily, and so on. What do you think is the current profession of Langan? Experts make rockets? No, he is a horse breeder.
Genius's genius hardly means anything, because throughout school failure for failure to experience it. Unlike Bill Gates who supported his family and friends. Langan goes through his teenage years alone. And tried hard to get into the college he liked, alone. And Langan never succeeded. It turns out the genius was successful to also need support. In Gladwell: "no one - not rock stars, not professional athletes, not software billionaires, and not even geniuses - ever makes it alone."
Christopher Langan has advantages over the average person. That is his intelligence. But the intelligence did not bring him into a person different from the average person. Of course, we all need a level of intelligence enough to achieve success. But the intelligence that is able to bring you to school is enough. If your IQ is above your average schoolmate, it is an advantage, if you can take advantage of it. Just as Bill Gates used his computer at his expensive school back then, or the Beatles took advantage of the opportunity to play in Hamburg.
Successful People Edge
What if we are not as fortunate as Bill Gates whose parents are "coincidentally" rich, or the Beatles who "happen" live in Liverpool?
Joseph Flom is a descendant of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe living in New York. Very bright, Flom graduated from Harvard Law School in 1948 with a cum laude. But is it easy to get into a leading law firm for a Jewish descendant? No. Even the reality can not. At that time the leading law firms in the United States only accepted white lawyers. If accepted by Flom would be a "strange creature" in the midst of lawyers who are "uniform" in the culture. Joe Flom finally made it to the newly established firm, and has no clients, Skadden & Arps. When Flom asked the firm to specialize in any case, the firm owner replied, "any case coming from the front door ..."
That is, Flom finally worked on any case. Primarily cases that will not be handled by big firms: Proxy fights. Proxy fights are steps that a company shareholder can take, asking other shareholders to designate him as a proxy for taking certain steps, such as a change of management, etc. These are "dirty jobs" not done by big firms. Flom is a hotshot in this field, because without a competitor. And along with the rise of hostile takeover, Flom's reputation is increasingly flying. Entering the 1970s, mergers and acquisitions began to take place on Wall Street. At that time, only one name was known to have enough experience: Joseph Flom.
Joseph Flom is a Jew who is marginalized in the United States legal community. However, this makes it "forced" to specialize on things that are not done by others. And when the bigger chance comes, he's already there. He is Outliers.
Heritage
Gladwell also does not deny that there are "ancestral heritage" attached to our culture that can greatly influence success.
Korea Air (KAL) is one of the famous airlines with high safety. A member of the SkyTeam alliance, since 1999 KAL has no record of safety. Even in 2006 received the Phoenix Award for his transformation. Whereas previously Korea Air is known as a flight with a high accident rate. The most famous is the KAL 801 Flight crash in Guam in 1997. KAL successfully transformed by evaluating and making changes to all possible causes of high accidents, and one of the most crucial points is: Culture.
Modern aircraft are designed to be flown by more than one person. Therefore, the Pilot will be assisted by co-pilot and Flight engineer. What does it have to do with culture? In Korean culture, it is abstinence to deny a leader. Therefore, a co-pilot will obey and dare not oppose the Pilot. Even if opposed, they dare not deliver to the point, but in an ambiguous phrase. In an 801 flight crash, from the tape of a conversation in the cockpit it was clearly heard that the co-pilot did not dare to express his opinion. By the time the pilot decided to make the landing visually, the flight engineer simply dared to comment that "Captain, weather radar really helps us". Instead of stating: "Captain should not make a visual landing."
KAL proves, culture can indeed greatly affect the success. However, we can also make changes to cultures that are not conducive to achieving success.
Is the Asian culture in general not conditioned towards success? Of course not. Even today the world strongly recognizes the ability of Asians. At least in Math. Yes, in every Mathematics contest and Olympiad, Asian students are certainly far superior to western students. This is also one of the effects of the ancestral heritage: Agricultural Culture.
Rice farmers in Asia, thousands of years work differently than the Europeans. In a four-season country, practically farmers can only farm on 2 seasons, and the rest of them are unemployed. Likewise in countries with longer nights, farmers work shorter. Not so with farmers in Asia. Rice growers are highly persistent people, able to work from dawn to dusk, throughout the year. Persistence and also a language that is more familiar to the numbers is the key mastery of Asians in Mathematics. Just try to compare the way pronunciation of tens and dozens in English and Indonesia. English has more irregularities in pronunciation.
The perseverance of the Rice Farmers in the Asian cultures is a source that will bring Asia's advancement in the future. As the old Chinese saying is quoted by Gladwell: "No one who can rise before dawn, 360 days a year, fail to make his family rich.