The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, published by Allan Lane

Gladwell has established his reputation with previous books, particularly ‘The Tipping Point’ which covered consumerism in the modern age. This book is very different but no less thought provoking. It looks at the factors that cause people to be successful in business and in life generally and challenges many of the assumptions that underpin our actions around selection and development of people. In particular he makes the point that innate talent, while obviously important up to a minimum level, is much less of a factor in success than is generally believed.

He starts by providing convincing evidence that, in sport and other aspects of life, the birth date cut-off periods for selection have an amazing impact on eventual performance. He quotes examples of sports squads made up almost exclusively of those who were born in the first quarter of the year, because they were older and better at the initial selection time. This superiority is then compounded by the extra attention, training and practice made available to the elite squads, making it almost impossible for those with later birthdays ever to catch up.

He then develops the theme of practice by suggesting that, in most fields of achievement, 10,000 hours of practice – as achieved by the selected elite – is essential for success. This seemed initially convincing but is stretching credibility when applied to the Beatles success as a pop group! This led me to a suspicion that Gladwell tends to construct stories to fit his theories and he would have been more convincing if he had not tried to develop the theory beyond those where there was firm evidence.

Another interesting theory is that the year of birth has been a key factor in the success of a number of prominent people, particularly business leaders. The most striking example is the group of entrepreneurs who were born in the mid 1950s and were therefore around at the right age in the mid 1970s when the opportunities in computer technology were at their most favourable. Bill Gates of Microsoft and Steve Jobs of Apple are the most high profile examples but many more are added to a list that produces a convincing argument that talent has to be around at the right time.

There is also an interesting debate around the impact of conventional intelligence on success, backed up by some fascinating research about the achievements of highly intelligent people. The conclusion is that intelligence is a necessary condition of success up to an IQ level of 130, but beyond that point other qualities like creativity and social abilities become more important.

The book is full of stories though the latter half seems to lose its way rather, by telling rather too many stories that make the same fundamental point – that success is driven by a number of social, demographic and opportunistic factors that are highly complex and interwoven, and that it is as much about these as it is about God given talent. There is not much guidance about how this new understanding can lead to action to improve business performance but it is clear that the implications for people development are potentially enormous. Just as those basketball players with December birthdays were forgotten, how many people do schools and companies write off because they failed the initial selection process? How many people are assumed to be star performers just because they happened once to be in the right place at the right time?
This book is strongly recommended as an entertaining and thought provoking read. It might also allow you to say – if only I had been born in the right month or year, I could have achieved so much more!!