A couple of weeks ago, I digested the audio version of Outliers – The Story of Success, written by Malcolm Gladwell. In this book, the author tells the story of a couple well-known and also lesser-known individuals that are considered to be successful. But what’s particularly interesting about this book, is the analysis the author makes to uncover the exact reason(s) that make these talented people stand out from the masses.
There seem to be several factors at play. Apparently, being talented isn’t enough on its own (duh). Getting opportunities and taking them, hard work (the famous 10.000 hour rule) and perseverance are just a couple of reasons that pop up regularly throughout the book. But more stunningly are reasons like the month of the year that some of the people discussed are born to even the particular year itself. The author claims that this is the very reason why early geeks like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Paul Allen, Bill Joy, etc. … were so successful. The very year that these guys were born turned out to be a major part of their success.
Interested? Check out this page on Wikipedia that is devoted to this fascinating book. Make sure to pick up a copy. You won’t regret it!
Until next time.