Finished: December 31, 2023
Why I read this
So far the two Malcolm Gladwell books I’ve read I had a challenge to read while at the same time wanting to note so many things down. His analysis and conclusions are always filled with small wisdoms and clever observations, usually about a subject that is interesting. What’s even more impressive is that he does so for subjects that many people wouldn’t even find interesting and makes them interesting, like in What the Dog Saw. Regardless, his writing style, and scientific method of analysis force you to think while you read which always makes the books fly by.
So since I like his writing I wanted to pick this one up when I saw it at the second-hand book store, but more than that I really like the premise of it. If you’ve been following my reading you’ll know that I am someone interested in bettering myself. That goes hand in hand with the idea of success, whether it means reducing your bad habits, earning more money, having more freedom, or simply being happier, its clear there is a ton to learn on this road to success. Things like learning how to be a better business person, learning the phycological nuances of human interaction, discussing methods of how to implement habits or change, or simply reading complex novels about deep characters all add to it, but may not cover it all. So a novel about why might the most successful people in the world be that way written by someone I find fascinating was an easy book to pick up.
What I learned
This will be a hard one to keep short. While I was reading this on vacation I found myself constantly interrupting my poor fiancé from whatever she was doing to share “hey look at this”, or “wow did you know this?”. I felt like I couldn’t stop taking little notes and making small comments. Ideas like how an “arbitrary” cut-off date for sports or education can snow-ball a person into enormously greater opportunities for success are baffling, and how for certain industries they can be seen so clearly when you know what to look for. As usual Gladwell’s ideas and how he ties them to the broader implications for some of our critical systems was excellent, for example with schooling or youth sports having different leagues or tracks to group kids closer in age could help us out with some of our continuing challenges like education (note it was written in 2008, and it seems that no-one listened to the lessons because pretty much everything is the same as it was then, granted I’m not so familiar with the tracks of elementary schools). Regarding this point of age however, I do wish that there had been some further research on Gladwell’s part. Are colleges accepting a larger percentage of students born during a certain part of the year? How about competitive private high schools? Are valedictorians graduating at higher rates who are born close to the cut-off date? With a bit more support I think the idea could really take hold beyond the example provided for sporting organizations.
Next we had the idea of becoming a master in 10,000 hours of which we are mostly all familiar. All of us have heard this idea a number of times, and it appears that for certain activities (I found it interesting that a lineman apprenticeship program in the US takes about 8000 hours to complete, showing another example of this common number) it is very true, but as Gladwell mentions numerous times it is not 10,000 hours that make us great, but everyone who is great has at least 10,000 hours, and I think it is a very important distinction. I would love to see how this example goes further in our modern culture now. For example there are very often children these days that are playing video games 6+ hours every single day, probably more on weekends, meaning something like 2-3 thousand hours a year easily for all of highschool. So what do they need to be doing to be professional videogame players? What are the practice times you see for those who are doing these things professionally?
Third was an idea that I am pretty familiar with. It was kind of a mix between the law of diminishing returns and my theory about choosing things (I think if you are making a choice you should define the important criteria, define the minimum acceptable values, then choose the first option presented that meets the criteria. For example if you want a restaurant go on google and search for something that is open, 4.5 stars with 100+ reviews, and not to far away, I guarantee you’ll be happy with your meal every time). Gladwell’s idea was simply that being “good enough” at something is usually sufficient, and other soft factors determine more of the outcome. His key example being you just need enough IQ, then whether or not you have other skills or opportunities will determine if you are successful. I find this to be very true with my own life. I was never the smartest in my class, but I was always smart enough, and now I feel I’ve been decently successful mostly because of the other skills that I have beyond being just smart. These emotional intelligence factors are hard to absorb and capture and it is interesting to see how they work in practice. We all know that one person who got a job or promotion because of their connections, and they likely have those connections because they understand how to act with people, they have excellent soft skills. So if I want to continue to be successful that is where the work needs to be done. I’m smart enough, now I’ve got to work on “social savvy” and “social savvy is knowledge. It’s a set of skills that have to be learned”.
Getting into the latter half of the book I found the ideas very compelling, but much less supported. The overall broad ideas such as “it is those who are successful, in other words, who are most likely to be given the kinds of special opportunities that lead to further success”, and that these opportunities can be absolutely intertwined in culture are irrefutable, and ultimately feel a bit obvious. If I am born into a group of people that prepare me for a certain field better than other groups or cultures of course I will have more opportunity in that field. And unfortunately it is the case with a lot of people in the world these days because being successful, in most definitions of the word, requires people to play by the well established rules of society, and if your group does not teach you those rules, you cannot play the game. However, this portion of the book I felt myself finding counter arguments and examples and thought that maybe some cherry picking was done with examples or fields that simply prove the points that Gladwell wanted to find. It is a fact that it is easier to start a software empire if you were born in the 1950’s, however the 10 or so people that he provided as examples are such a small sample size of the thousands and thousands of major contributors to the enormous success of Silicon Valley today.
Ultimately, I feel the book was an excellent summary of showing the privelage of those who are successful. I think it highlights much constructive interference works in wave mechanics. If two waves that have peaks at the same time merge they will add their heights together. If they merge while one is at a peak and one is at a valley they might subtract the values. Being successful is like having all the waves of your life line up at their peaks, and most people have little or no control on where most of those peaks land. However, the second important part is that although some people may be given more opportunities than others you must also have the drive and the will to work hard to be successful. Those are the two factors, luck and drive.
What I didn’t like
I remember having an argument not to long ago where someone had told me that Malcolm Gladwell was not a very solid source, and I remember a certain indignation because I thought that what I had read so far was well established and valuable from him, however reading this I can say I understand more the criticism although I still do not agree. Too much in the book was built on circumstantial evidence. When we are talking about thousands of lawyers in New York and you have 10 examples in the book of Jewish ones that rose to the top with similar backgrounds it is certainly interesting and makes me believe there are parts of Jewish culture and the time periods described that assist someone in becoming a lawyer, and probably a lot. But I imagine that there are a lot more ways to become a lawyer than just that.
Many of the other ideas are similar. Maybe the Korean airline pilots did have a bit of a culture problem, but also maybe simply using the international airline language of English more often helped them even more. It’s a case of correlation does not mean causation, although I believe these things are linked. I just wish for these types of arguments there was a bit more support even if the main idea is something to keep thinking of.
Finally, I wish there had been some additional thought or discussion about how to implement some of these ideas to change the flaws in our existing systems. For example its easy to say “lets just do 3 hockey leagues for kids in Canada”, but where are you going to find the coaches and the rinks and the equipment and everything you need to administratively run three times the activity? It’s a great start, but what’s the next step? I think there is much further we can go on the topic.
Questions I asked
What areas of expertise are affected by the 10,000 hours hypothesis? Where does it not apply? And what happens for fields where people regularly surpass this limit, is there a large difference in skill for 10 vs. 20 thousand hours?
What happens when the opportunities in life are so concentrated at the top that there is nothing left for anyone else?
If the conditions of one’s birth dramatically change the likely outcomes of ones life (which of course they do), can we really say that all men are created equal? How can people born with inherent privileges be more fair to those who aren’t?
My Favorite Quote
“Those three things – autonomy, complexity, and a connection between effort and reward – are, most people agree, the three qualities that work has to have if it is to be satisfying.”
Malcolm Gladwell
Books I liked like this one
Nudge: Richard H. Thaler, Cass R. Sunstein (for how we can design systems better to serve people best)
Mindset: Carol S. Dweck (for the obvious connection about how your mindset affects your success.)
Book Reviews for Mom 