Outliers

By: Malcolm Gladwell

What measures success?

Who are the “outliers”?

GENERAL OVERVIEW OF OUTLIERS

 THE ROSETO MYSTERY – Roseto Valfortore, Rome; where people died of old age and no
incident of heart attack under 65 years of age; no difference in diet or exercise or way of
living EXCEPT in the community-centered effect in health: WHERE ONE IS LIVING IN A
NON-STRESSFUL, FRIENDLY AND HARMONIOUS COMMUNITY, PEOPLE TEND TO LIVE
LONGER. 

OPPORTUNITY: FIRST FACTOR

1. THE MATTHEW EFFECT – Matthew 25:29; In the field of sports, success is determined
with what one has been initially endowed with since birth. Whether time of birth (i.e.
Canadian Hockey League) as this affects selection in some teams; height, etc.

2. THE 10,000 HOUR RULE – Success is not only determined by what one has been initially
endowed with, it is also largely determined by PRACTICE and honing of those skills.
Formula: Extraordinary talent (heightened by practice hours) + extraordinary
opportunities = success (i.e. THE BEATLES, BILL GATES, etc.)

3. “GENIUSES: Divergence Test and Imagination” – Intellect (IQ) and achievement (success)
are far from being perfectly correlated – Lewis Terman; children not just with high IQ
but those with high imaginative cognition processes (divergence tests vs. IQ tests)
usually succeed in life.

4. “GENIUSES: Practical Intelligence” – Chris Langan vs. Robert Oppenheimer; Practical

Intelligence – knowing what to say to whom, knowing when to say it and knowing how
to say it for maximum effect; procedural; knowing how to do something without
necessarily knowing why you know it or being able to explain it; knowledge that helps
you read situations correctly and get what you want; general and practical intelligence
are orthogonal (presence of one does not necessarily imply the presence of the other).
Where does practical intelligence come from? Family background. The way parents treat
their children have dramatic effect in their future success. Middle class parents have
their way of raising children through “concerted cultivation” (sociologist Annette
Lareau) giving them a sense of positive entitlement to make them go through life able to
apply a better kind of practical intelligence. Formula: Genes + (nurturing) Family
Background = Success
5. JOE FLOM:
6.