Review of ‘Outliers’ by Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers is a solid read that explores success in our society.  On the whole, I agree with the positions that he takes, particularly that success is more than individual hard work.

For the first half of the book, Gladwell explores factors that relate to success.  He gives credit to natural ability, but only to a point.  I appreciated the great care he took to include relevant and interesting case studies to demonstrate his point.  He did not limit himself to just the ‘big names’ such as Gates and Jobs, though they are discussed.  Gladwell weaves in narratives of well-known and no-name people to illustrate his discussion.

Outliers left me with an odd taste in my mouth.  It is an excellent book, but after finishing its pages I felt a bit off.  I find myself questioning why we believe we can measure success, why we give so much credit to the individual, and why we don’t ask questions about success and just assume it happens.  But beyond those issues, I am wondering what Gladwell believes for the rest of us.

Gladwell makes it very clear that achievement is the right combination of hard work, circumstance, history, culture, opportunity, and luck.  But what about those who might not have the right timing?  For instance, Gladwell frequently returns to the issue of one’s birth year and the expanding industries that exist by the time someone hits college.  He softly advocates better birthday cutoffs for school and sports, but what if the year I was born in just doesn’t happen to be the perfect year?  Am I doomed to a life of failure compared to the rare outliers Gladwell venerates?

Thinking through these questions, it is important to remember that Gladwell is not trying to predict success.  He is only offering an examination of its history for when it has happened.  But for all of the practical examples he provides, I am still unsatisfied with the idea of achievement and success in our society.

Currently I am surrounded by the idea of redefining success.  Universities, businesses, and people talk about finding fulfillment in work, about how fame and money are not everything.  Research is even telling us that humans are happiest when they are allowed to be creative and work on their passion.  But we still chase the almighty dollar.

Our definition of success and all the debate surrounding this idea boils down to a few, large issues.  In my understanding of the topic, the way we measure success is the key to describing it.  We need to choose, as a society and as individuals, whether we prefer happiness and creativity or a big paycheck and a nice title. 

Both sides, of course, have their merits.  Wealth is certainly very useful, while having an enjoyable day at work is powerful for the mind.  But we cannot compare success across the gap, not yet.  If our passion is in a job that will not pay seven figures but still provides for our family, are we less successful than the rich executive?

As for me, I know that I want to support myself.  But the question of needs and desires comes into play.  Wealth, for me, is based more on the experiences we have, the opportunities we take hold of, and the excitement we feel upon getting up in the morning than it is on living an unfulfilling but financially fantastic life. 

The idea that Outliers leaves me with is that opportunity and circumstance play a major role in the course of our lives.  Whether or not those make us successful, in the sense of enjoying our life, is up to us.  We get to choose which paths we take, but I agree with Gladwell that we should do our best to provide those opportunities to more people than we do currently.  We ourselves might not deny others the chance for fulfillment, but we live in a society that does.  The question we are left with is whether or not we will do anything about it.