The provocative author of “Tipping Point” and “Blink” both out of the box thinking books, Malcolm Gladwell emerges, and with the same penchant for unconventional thinking.
Gladwell, in his new book, “Outliers”, a quantifying sequel to the other two, scores points by disputing the idea of the self-made person. This is done by his highlighting the fact that the social construction of our opportunities is a critical determinant in our success. For instance, we are often the product of facts that we have no control over — such as being born at the right time — and arbitrary patterns frozen in our institutions and cultures.
Because of his acquaintance with Canadian sports form instance, Gladwell points out that a disproportionate number of similar birthdates of professional sports leaders lead him to conduct research on the ages of the players. He discovered that 90% of the players on the Canadian Hockey team were born between January 1 and March 30.
Great hockey players in Canada are born in January, February, or March. The explanation? In Canadian schools, “the eligibility cutoff date for age-class hockey is Jan. 1. A boy who turns 10 on Jan. 2, then, could be playing alongside someone who doesn’t turn 10 until the end of the year — and at that age, in preadolescence, a 12 month gap in age represents an enormous difference in physical maturity.”
Having spent some time on the 100,000 hour rule of professionals in the arts and sports, Gladwell hurries to deal wit the intricacies of plane crashes. From reading his book, there are five lessons I have learned from his writings:
1. A high percentage of plane crashes take place in bad weather, and when the plane is behind schedule.
2. Planes are safer when the least experienced pilot is at the helm, because the more experienced pilot will speak more forcefully about his/her assessment of conditions.
3. Greater communication takes place in the cockpit when the captain and 1st officer address each other by their first name.
4. In 52% of accidents the pilots were up for more than12 hours, which means that he or she is somewhat lacking in alertness.
5. In 44% of the crashes, the pilots had never flown together before.