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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
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Outliers summary
Malcolm Gladwell
The Story of Success
16 mins
Brief summary
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell explores the factors that contribute to high levels of success, such as opportunity, cultural background, and practice. It challenges the idea that success is purely based on individual talent or merit and provides insights into how to create a culture of success.
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Outliers
Summary of 10 key ideas
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Key idea 1 of 10
Our culture celebrates the myth of the “self-made man.”
If we meet an excellent mathematician, we tend to assume his talent for logical thinking is, at its core, something he was born with. The same goes for professional athletes’ agility, musicians’ sense of rhythm, or computer programmers’ problem-solving skills.
This is because we naturally tend to attribute an individual’s success or achievement to his or her own efforts and innate abilities.
When Jeb Bush ran for the governorship of Florida, he called himself a “self-made man” as part of his campaign strategy. This is, frankly, ridiculous; he had two American Presidents, a wealthy Wall Street banker, and a United States senator in his immediate family. Nevertheless, as individualism is so important in our culture, he tried this angle anyway.
Jeb Bush’s achievements make him an outlier – a person who has achieved something statistically extraordinary. But just as Bush’s advantageous background helped him achieve success, so too do less external factors help other outliers rise above the average.
We place such a high value on individuals and their “self-made” achievements that we often willfully ignore other factors.
The “self-made man” is a myth – a very, very popular myth.
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What is Outliers about?
Outliers is an examination of individuals who achieve a level of success – in math, sports, law, or any pursuit, really – so extraordinary that it lies outside the realm of normal experience.
We often think these outliers possess some mysterious innate ability that helps them rise to the top of their fields, but other factors, like family, culture or even birthdates, can have a huge effect on success, too.
Best quote from Outliers
Practice isnt the thing you do once youre good. Its the thing you do that makes you good.
—Malcolm Gladwell
Who should read Outliers?
- Anyone who wants to deepen his or her understanding of success and of how to achieve it
- Teachers, coaches and others in training professions
- Consulting professionals and others interested in policy reform
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