You should read "Outliers - the Story of Success"!!

I just finished reading Malcolm Gladwell's latest book, "Outliers - the Story of Success". I love it! So much so that I decided to share with you some of its content.

Gladwell's easy-flowing writing style reminds me of his style in his earlier books, "The Tipping Point" and "Blink". I thought "The Tipping Point", a book on social epidemic, was AWESOME. If you have not read it, I suggest that you should! You will learn a lot from reading it.

In "Outliers", Gladwell tried to distil the secrets of success for people who are literally 'off the charts' in success. And in a typical Gladwell style, he would wow you with counter-intuitive insights, things you have not really thought about before.

For instance, at the beginning of the book, he showed that the best Canadian ice hockey players were mostly born in January, February or March. Why was this? He found that the Canadian ice hockey season started in January every year (making Jan 1st as the cutoff date for selection) - so if you are a good & young player, you have a better chance to be selected for better training (and better boost for confidence etc. etc. in a virtuous circle) compared to your peers in the same age group. That would lead to many young players born in the second half of the year not being selected from a very young age - this is just part of the system!

In international soccer, the cutoff date for selection used to be August 1, and there were significantly more players at world championship level which were born in the three months after August 1 compared to those born in May, June and July!! Insane, isn't it??

Just in case you are wondering, I was born on January 4th. I always felt that I was one of the oldest in my peer group.

The second factor Gladwell outlined which led to success is what he termed "The 10,000 hours rule". In one chapter, he outlined a study of how the best world-class violin players put in more than 10,000 hours of solid practice compared to much less numbers for more average violin players. He also discussed how people like Bill Gates and the Beatles had to put more than 10,000 hours of practice to reach a great level of proficiencies in their field. It took Mozart more than 10 years before he started composing outstanding pieces of music (when he was 21).

So.... there is no way around it. Nothing beats intense focus and hard work in your area if you want to be successful in it!! It doesn't matter whether it is music, sports, business, cooking, anything - you have to spend a lot of time practicing it.... 10,000 hours! "Intensity is the price of excellence," Warren Buffett once said.

Gladwell also showed how too much holidays in the high-school education system could create 'mental retardation' compared to more intense studying regime throughout the holidays. He showed some very interesting results - I won't spoil it here.

Thirdly, he showed that the year you were born could play a role in you becoming an outlier (in the successful sense). He showed that many leaders in IT, such as Gates and Steve Jobs (who invented Apple and Ipod), were born between 1953 and 1955. This was because when they hit the age of 18 - 20, they were exposed to the revolution in computers in the early 1970s that made faster programming possible.

Also, a disproportionate number of the richest men in the world (of all time - after adjustment for inflation) were born in the 1830s. This was because in the 1860s and 1870s, the American economy and industry went through a great economic transformation.

So the year you were born can matter to your chance of becoming very successful economically!

The fourth factor he discussed was IQ, but not in the traditional sense. Above a certain threshold (around IQ = 120), the chance of success is not increased by increasing IQ. So, somebody with an IQ of 200 does not have a better chance to become more successful than somebody with an IQ of 130.

The fifth factor he discussed was how it was not just IQ that could lead to success, but also (using my term now) the need for 'HUSTLE'. This is the ability to negotiate and work with people and talk your way into getting what you want. Here he also described how parental upbringing contributed to this: it was found that children of more well-to-do families on average tend to be more assertive (or have more 'hustle factor') compared to children from poorer families.

The sixth factor he discussed was how the race, background and situation of your parents and grandparents could shape your destiny. This was why many great corporate lawyers in the 70s and 80s, such as Joe Flom, were born in the early 1930s and were Jewish.

The last group of factors he discussed was your ethnic origin could lead to your chance of success and failure. For instance, why did Korean Air become one of the most unsafe airlines in the history of aviation (before it finally got its act together in 2001)? Why did Asian kids seem to be extremely good at maths compared to their non-Asian peers? I won't spoil it by telling you the answers.

So all of these in combination could lead to one becoming a successful 'outlier'. Yes, of course you need a good IQ, and some personality to work with people and 'hustle' when need be. And yes, you will need supporting parents and family to enable you to put in the 10,000 intense hours necessary to master your art or calling. But there are a myriad of external factors that can propel you toward opportunities to reach success - the so called factors of 'luck': when you were born, which month you were born, and which family and what ethnic background you came from.

I find this an enjoyable book to read - very refreshing and like many other good books, it really makes you think!! Hope you will enjoy reading it, too.