Outliers: The Story of Success

I was a little worried this book was going to another "dress for success and destroy your competition" kind of book. instead it works on many levels and ultimately has a story that is personally relevant to most people.

In the first chapter, Malcolm Gladwell, tells the story of a very successful ice hockey team. He points out most of the members of the team have January birthdays. The ice hockey league uses Jan 1 as a cut off date for eligibility which means a player born in Jan will be "bigger and more coordinated players, who have had the benefit of critical extra months of maturity". These kids will always have the advantage in their league and then go on to try out for college and/or professional teams. They will be the "successful players".

Gladwell suggests, why not have a second team that has a birthday cut of June 1 so you'd have a second group of "successful" players. Why not increase the success. Why do we always set limits?

Culture in the cockpit. The other really memorable chapter describes how the culture of a flight crew can impact the success of a flight. He tells the story of a disasterous Korean Airlines flight that ends up with the jet crashing in to a mountain. The pilot had flown the same route recently and he was tired. His crew gave hints that things weren't right but since he was the captain, "in charge" he wasn't obliged to listen to members of his crew. The "culture' in other Korean cockpits was studied and changes were made so the crew communicated in a more professional manner.

I liked this book because in the end Gladwell tells the success story of his own mother. She was a black born in Jamaica but by good fortune and work she was able to travel to England for "formal education". He's emphasizing a person's success is built on relationships with people, work and lots of time luck, good fortune...an important "ingrediant" we don't have any control over.

This book offers a variety of stories. I've picked out the three that made the biggest impact on me. Someone else could read this book and take away a different experience.

And then we can always end by asking "so what is the definition of success? Is it the same for everyone?"