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Outliers, The Story of Success

Malcolm Gladwell’s book

Outliers?• Something situated or classified away from the main

body.• A statistical observation that is marked differently in

value from others of the sample.

Why the Roseto’s are much healthier?• No one under the age of 55 died of heart disease. Why?• The secret is the community itself.• The town is not stressful, old ones are given commanding

respect, people are talking to each other, visiting, cooking for one another. The church have the unifying and calming effect on the community. They have created a community which protects from the pressures of the modern world.

• Therefore, in success we have to look beyond the individuals. What kind of situations that create successful people?

Success came from:

• The Matthew Effect• 10000 Hour Rule• The Trouble with Geniuses• Three Lessons of Joe Flom

OPPORTUNITY(Extraordinary circumstances)

• Harlan, Kentucky.• The Ethnic Theory of Plane

Crashes• Rice Paddies and Math Test• Marita’s Bargain

LEGACY (Cultural legacies)

Situations that create success

• The Matthew Effect

• 10000 Hour Rule• The Trouble with

Geniuses• Three Lessons of

Joe Flom

OPPORTUNITY

(Extraordinary circumstances)

• Personal qualities explain on how people reach the top, and people doesn’t rise from nothing. The idea is always that people rise from poverty to riches, one hero defy all odds to success. But, it doesn’t work solely.• Talent, passion, hard work is the ingredients for success

at highest level. Now, what make people slowly rises from below?• Beneficial hidden advantages, cultural heritage,

extraordinary opportunities are things that allow people to learn, work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot.

The Matthew Effect• The person who are successful, is the most likely to be

given special opportunities that lead to further success (accumulative advantages). The rich gets largest tax break. The smartest gets bigger attention and help.• People who are successful obtain accumulative advantages in their rise to success, be it in terms of hidden advantages, cultural heritage, and extraordinary opportunities.

10000 Hour Rule• Achievement = talent + preparation. However, in terms of gifted

people, talent plays smaller role while preparation is the larger role in play.

• In studies of violinist:

• The pattern repeats in other expertise as well (sports, music, technical works).

• The magic number of true expertise: 10000 hours (~10 years). • Works in conjunction with The Matthew Effect.

Level Amount of hours

Elite performer 10000

Good students 8000

Future music teachers A bit above 4000

• However, the true path to success is not only having extraordinary talents, but also having extraordinary opportunities:

• Birth, time and place does matter in a person’s success.

Case study Their extraordinary opportunities

Born in Important events in the

era

Phase during important

events (Age)

Bill Joy University of Michigan, 1971

1954

Personal computer

revolution in 1975

Teenage (19-20 yo)

Bill Gates Lakeside Computer club,

1968

1955

Steve Jobs Mountain View, ~1970s

1955

The Beatles Hamburg, 1960-1962

1940 (Lennon, Starr)1942

(McCartney) 1943 (Harrison)

British Invasion into America’s music scene in

1964.

Teenage (Middle 20s)

John D. Rockefeller

America, 1860s-1870s

1839 America’s economic

transformation in 1860s-1870s

Teenage (21-25 yo)

Andrew Carnegie

1835

J.P. Morgan 1837

• We always thought that the true outliers, the ones who succeed are the ones blessed with great deal of IQ. Genius, as we call them.

“why he’s so successful today is because he’s a genius.”

• However, what we only understood so far is only the significance of high intelligence and not a real outlier is.

The Trouble With Geniuses• In 1921, Lewis Terman starts his life work which will be

the most famous psychological studies in history; Genetics Studies of Genius with a grant provided by Commonwealth Foundation. • Kids in elementary schools are tested for their IQ

standard, and those who have not reached the genius standard (>140) are rejected. These selected ones progresses are then tracked and recorded from childhood until their adulthood.

• Terman believed that his selected, very high IQ group is the one “we must look for in production of leaders who will advance science, art, government and social welfare generally,” destined to become the future elite of United States.• This central idea of success remains until today is;

that only the ‘gifted’, the very top of IQ scale have the greatest potential. That was also thought by Lewis Terman in 1921.

• In the book Bias in Mental Testing (1980) by Arthur Jenson, the relationship between IQ and success works only up to a point. Once someone’s IQ reached somewhere around 120, any additional points in IQ doesn’t seem to translate into any measureable real world advantage.

• IQ have a threshold in terms of success.

• In simple words: • A scientist with an IQ of 130 have the same chances to win

Nobel Prize as another with IQ of 180.• To be a good basketball player, you just need to be tall

enough. Not too tall or too short. (Michael Jordan is only 6’ 6’’).• Einstein IQ 150 vs Langan IQ 180. Langan does have 30%

more IQ, doesn’t mean 30% smarter than Einstein. However, in terms of thinking about really hard things such as Physics, both are smart enough.

• Knowledge of a clever boy is of little help if you are faced with a formful of clever boys.

• Once someone is smart enough, then other things starts to be taken into account.• In basketball, once you are tall enough then agility, dribbling, shooting, passing starts

to matter.

Results of Terman studies: • some of his genius subjects did grown up as he imagine: become scholars and

successful businessmen. Yet, none are nationally known figures.• Majority have only ordinary careers, while a surprising number ended up in careers

that are considered as failures.• None of his subjects are Nobel Prize winners, yet two person who are actually tested

went on to win Nobel laureates – William Shockley and Luiz Alvarez – rejected because their IQ weren’t high enough.

• Thus in producing success, IQ is only the threshold factor. He or she must be smart enough. From there, many other critical traits that matter in determining success.

• To get into idea, what is this ‘other crucial traits’ required other than smart enough?• Practical intelligence, as explain by Robert Stenberg

as:• “Knowing what to say to whom, knowing when to say it, and

knowing how to say it for maximum effect.”

• You can either have a lot analytical intelligence, a lot of practical intelligence or you can have both, like Robert Oppenheimer.• To learn these, it mostly came from the culture you

find yourself in.

• Back to Terman’s 1921 genius studies, he further looked in the records of 730 subjects and classified them into 3 groups; A, B and C. • Top 20% (150) are in A group. The true success stories. 90% of them

graduate from collage and 98 of them earned graduate degrees. • Middle 60% (430) are in B group. Doing satisfactorily.• Bottom 20% (150) are in C group. Judge to have done the least with their

superior mental abilities. Postal workers, people with no jobs and bookkeepers. • 1/3 (50) are collage dropouts. • 1/4 (40) had a high school diploma.• All together of C group, they earned 8 graduate degrees.

• In his conclusion, “intellect and achievement are far from perfectly correlated.

• What is the difference between A and C group?:

• In the end, almost none of the genius in C group make a name for themselves because they lacked of a community that prepared them properly for the world. • They lacked a culture with a lot of practical intelligence, proving that successful people don’t come alone and defy the odds.

A group C group

• Overwhelmingly came from upper and middle class.

• Half of the fathers have collage degrees and beyond.

• Have their house full of books.

• Mainly lower class.• 1/3 of the parents are collage

dropouts before 8th grade.

Three Lessons of Joe Flom.• Lesson One: The Importance of Being Jewish.

• Jewish are heavily discriminated in 1940-1950s. A Jew like Joe Flom who just came out of law school, cannot land a job with big firms and joined second-rate, downtown, upstart law firm, doing business that big firms doesn’t want.

• In 1950s-1960s, the big firms at Wall Street have one specific work, which is become corporate lawyers. They only do taxes, handling legal work behind issuing stocks and bonds, settle disputes in conference rooms for large companies.

• Thus, Jewish law firms takeover the works that these white-shoe law firms doesn’t want. That includes “proxy fights”, hostile corporate takeover, litigation works.

• When 1970s came, markets become internationalized. Federal regulations were relaxed, lending was easy. Investors were aggressive. Litigation, hostile corporate takeovers, “proxy fights” increased in number and size.• All of a sudden, litigation, hostile corporate takeovers,

“proxy fights” – is the dream job of any law firm. The expert in those area – the second tier Jewish law firm whose started 10-15 years earlier – are now in demand.

• What started as adversity becomes opportunity.

• Lesson Two: The demographic luck.• The events that occur from 1910-1940s:

• Flu epidemic (1918)• First World War (1919-1921)• The Great Depression (1930s)• Second World War (1942-1945)

• In response to economic hardship during these time, people stopped having children, marking a smaller generation.

• Given the smaller numbers in demographic, opportunities are abundant, up for grabs.• Able to enroll into best schools due to low number of applicants.• Easiest time in job market.

• Success not just came from inside us or our parents. It comes from our time: from particular opportunities that our particular place in history presents to us.

• Lesson Three: The Garment Industry and Meaningful Work.• Borgenicht was his own boss, the work engaged his mind and

imagination and there is relationship between effort and reward.• The garment industry (or Borgenicht) is teaching autonomy, complexity

and connection, three things that work has to have for it to be satisfying. • It not about how much money you can make between 9 to 5. Its about

whether the work fulfills us, and work that fulfill those three criteria (autonomy, complexity, connection) is called meaningful work.

• Hard work is a prison sentence, only if it does not have meaning. Once it does found its meaning, hard work is satisfying.

• Imagine what the children who live with parents who do satisfying work learn: if they work hard enough and assert themselves, and use your mind and imagination, you can shape the world to your desires.

• Louise Farkas in 1982 did a study on Jewish family during the great wave of immigration and construct a family tree for each family that she studied.• What she found out was that most of the early immigrant family

trees shows that the family expanded and their children and grandchildren become educated professionals (lawyers, doctors)• They become professionals because of their humble origins.

• Their generation, culture and family history gave them the greatest opportunity.

Cultures that create success

• Harlan, Kentucky.• The Ethnic Theory

of Plane Crashes• Rice Paddies and

Math Test• Marita’s Bargain

LEGACY (Cultural legacies)

• Does tradition and attitudes we inherit plays a role in our success?• Can we take advantage of cultural legacies to make

people better at what they do? Yes, we can.

Harlan, Kentucky• Crimes in the South is mainly due to what sociologist

called ‘culture of honor’. The culture of honor says that a man’s reputation is at the center of his livelihood and self-worth. This helps in explaining the distinctive crime rate between North and South.• Crime rates are high in the South compared to North because

violence in the South wasn’t done for economic gain, but mainly for personal reason. People fought for their honor. Until today, southerners tend to be angry easier than northerners.

• To understand what happen in a certain area, you have to look at what the cultural legacies of the area.

• Cultural legacies have deep roots, long lives and they persist through generations even though the condition that spawned them had vanished. They play a role in directing attitudes and behavior, the same way speech pattern was passed down through generations.

The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes• Plane crashes are rarely caused by major malfunctions on the

plane, but mainly due to an accumulation of minor difficulties and trivial mistakes.• In a typical plane crash, common errors involved:

• Poor weather (not terrible, but bad enough to cause pilot to be stressed).

• Behind schedule (pilot hurrying)• Pilot has been awake for >12 hours (tired, create stress)• Pilots never flown together before (not comfortable with each other).

• A typical crash usually involved seven consecutive human errors, and these errors rarely problems with knowledge and skill. Mainly, errors of teamwork and communication.• Avianca Flight 052.

• A crash can be avoided if communication occurs. Not just communicate in issuing commands, but also negotiating, encouraging, cajoling, calming, sharing information in clearest and most transparent manner possible.• What blocked communication is usually the power distance

between two person which is what we inherit from our culture.• Therefore, mitigation is really important to all aviation

personnel to communicate clearly and assertively. • Between junior and senior staffs.• Between pilots and air traffic controllers.

• By reducing power distance in the cockpit, communications can be done effectively and plane crashes can be avoided.

• To solve these problems, we cannot blame the cultural legacies that we inherit. It have been remain there for centuries, becoming powerful, pervasive and persist through time. At times, we need to shed some part of our identity to create opportunity for success.

• We need to be honest about where we come from and willing to confront aspects from our culture that did not suit the world, and create change.

Rice Paddies and Math Test• It is a tradition that the Chinese cultivates rice. This tradition

among Chinese creates a culture of hard work and create meaningful work for them. • In comparison between European peasants and Chinese

peasants, the Chinese worked harder than the Europeans.• Europeans only worked from late spring until early autumn. In winter,

they hibernate.• Chinese peasants worked on paddy fields everyday, some say 3000

hours per year. In winter, they make hat, or create something from bamboo to be sold at the market.

• The Chinese parents done meaningful work. Therefore, their children learn that they can shape their own future, as long as they work hard.

Marita’s Bargain• In 1994, an experimental public school called the KIPP

Academy is opened. Just over 10 years, it has become one of the most desirable public schools in New York City.• The school is most famous for its student’s

achievement in Math.• By taking cultural legacies seriously, we can overcome

the difficulties of our children.

• In the past, US educational reformers are concerned with children get too much schooling.• Edwards Jarvis published report on “Relation of Education to

Insanity”, where he found out that 205 out of his 1741 cases of insanity is due to “over-study”. He concluded that “Education lay a foundation to a large portion of the causes of mental disorder.”

• Horace Mann also believed that working students too hard will create a “most pernicious influence on character and habit….Not infrequently is health itself destroyed by over-stimulating the mind”

• On those days, there are constant worries about overtaxing the students or blunting their natural abilities through too much schoolwork.

• Therefore, the steps taken are:• Reduce time spent studying.• Eliminate Saturday classes.• Shortening the school days. • Lengthen the vacation.

• Rest are presented as opportunity to increase cognitive and analytical skills.• The idea is – effort must be balanced by rest. A mind must be

cultivated, yet too much then it gets exhausted.• What is the remedy for dangers of exhaustion? What is the

effect of summer vacation on students learning pattern of present day?

• Poor kids may outlearn rich kids during school year, yet during summer vacation they fall far behind. • Poor kids learn nothing when not in school, yet rich

kids learn while they are not in school. Rich kids not necessarily smarter, they just outlearn others by putting solid studying months in summer.• Differences in parenting styles provide to those

different consequences:• Plenty of books to read at home.• Goes to special programs, summer camp.• Parents that keep them actively engaged in the world.

• Given an all year round school days, the performance of rich and poor kids would be the same, and that is what KIPP Academy does: extra school days. KIPP students will have 50-60% more learning time.• The extended amount of time give teachers chance to explain things,

going on slower pace. As a result, better understanding, more retention, more relaxed. It makes mathematics more meaningful to the kids. • The amount of time spent studying = opportunities to change lives

out of poverty.

• Present to kids with a chance, plus the meaningful work that they did will spring success.

Epilogue – A Jamaican Story• The writer tells about the story of his mother and how

the opportunities and legacy plays in her success.• Opportunities of success for his mother came from:

1. His grandmother, when she insist to sent her mother to private school.

2. The “all-island” scholarship opportunity the came for brightest student in the island that year happens to be for a girl; which received by her aunt. His grandmother borrowed money from Chinese shopkeeper to sent her mother to university.

3. Legacy of privilege: How the skin color has avoided their family’s generation from being enslaved, becoming free men and women. (Lightly colored will be favored at the expense of others)