ABSTRACT

This review of the book, THE OUTLIERS argues that the true story of success is very different, and that
if we want to understand how some people thrive, we should spend more time around them- at such
things as their family, their birthplace, or even their birth-date. The story of success is a lot more
interesting than it appears.

INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OF THE BOOK

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The introduction talks about how an illiterate and poor group of Rosetans in Rome migrated to New
York and settled near Bongor and turned it into their own city called Roseto.
Stewart Wolf a physician at the University of Oklahoma got to know about the rare patients who
visit doctors in the vicinity with cases of heart disease which was epidemic in US. He decided to
investigate with the support of his students and colleagues from Oklahoma. After preliminary
investigation, he found that virtually no one under the age of 55 had died of heart attack or any signs
of heart disease. Further investigation revealed no suicide, no alcoholism and very little crime. For
wolf Roseto city was an outlier.
With in-depth analysis it was found that the Rosetans had created a powerful, protective social
structure capable of insulation them from the pressures of the modern world which was responsible
for such phenomenal health amongst them.
Outliers elaborates on what is common between Bill Gates and Beatles, how Asians are
extraordinarily successful at Maths, why New Yorkers have the same resume, and the secret behind
the advantages of star Athletes.

STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

This study is undertaken to understand the applications of various principles of Individual Dynamics
and Leadership and link the applications to the theory that had been taught in the class room. The
only objective is to map theory and application and mould the concept properly in our minds.

METHOD OF STUDY
After a thorough reading of the book individually, we all sat together and delved into the various
aspects that makes out this product, process, management and the organisation unique. Care had
been taken that the book has to be read from the perspective of the IDL theory that had been taught.
A detailed chapter wise summary had been prepared for chapters followed by Theoretical
Framework and linkage to actual story. Finally our learning and conclusions had been provided with.
Throughout this reading, a conscious attempt had been made to understand and analyse the varied
pattern of human behaviour.

CHAPTERWISE SUMMARY

PART ONE: OPPORTUNITY

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CHAPTER 1: THE MATHEW EFFECT

The skewed age distribution amongst Canadian hockey players exist wherever three things happen:
selection, streaming and differentiated experience. If the separation of "talented" from the
"untalented" happens at an early age, and if talented is provided with a superior experience then we
end up giving a huge experience to that small group of people born closest to the cutoff date for
selection in the hockey team. This opportunity that the hockey players neither earned nor deserved
is called Mathew effect. Basically, success is the result of "accumulative advantage" that happens
over a period of several years and not just a day.

CHAPTER 2: THE 10,000 HOURS RULE

Bill joy founder of sun micro-systems and Java Language reached the status where he is today
through a combination of handwork, ability, opportunity and an arbitrary advantage. A psychologist
Ericson found that amateurs had totaled to two thousand hours by the age of 20 over the course of
time. However professionals had totaled to 10000 hours by then. Ten thousand hours of practice is
an enormous amount of time. In order to reach that number, you need external support by the time
you are a young adult.
However is 10,000 hours rule a general story of success? The story of Bill Gates and the Beatles
proves that by the time you reach young age, you need an extra ordinary opportunity that would
help you to attain 10,000 hours of practice. And 10,000 hours rule can be considered a general rule
of success.

CHAPTER 3: THE TROUBLE WITH GENUISES PART I

A genius is a purest form of an Outlier. Malcolm in this chapter digs deeper to find out if
extraordinary achievement is the less about talent than it is about opportunity. He considered the
example of Chris Langan who won 250,000 $ on a popular show 1 vs 100 through sheer IQ.
However later after thorough analysis of geniuses, he concludes he needs to know a lot more about
Chris to see if he is a true outlier.
Malcolm proved that a group of geniuses called Termite formed by Lewis (a psychologist) might
not do so well in their career as expected by Lewis. Lewis had fallen in love with the group and
thought that Termans would always outperform whatever they choose to do in their career.
However, Malcolm observed that the Nobel laureates from various universities were not outliers in
their career throughout. A perfect opportunity is all they got to be awarded with such a prestigious
stature.

CHAPTER4: THE TROUBLE WITH GENUISES PART II

This chapter, through real-life examples establishes the importance of practical intelligenceknowing what to say to whom, knowing when to say it, and knowing how to say it for maximum
effect.

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It illustrates examples of those outliers who could succeed due to their practical intelligence
complimenting their analytical intelligence and also those who could not achieve the expected level
of success despite having a high IQ owing to their lack of social savvyness.
It also links the middle-class parenting style of concerted cultivation to the personality
development of their children and the poor class parenting style of accomplishment of natural
growth as hindrance to the development of social skills of their children, robbing them of the
opportunity to enhance their practical intelligence.

CHAPTER5: THE THREE LESSONS OF JOE FLOM

This chapter explains various hidden opportunities responsible for Outliers success.
Lesson Number One: The Importance of Being Jewish
Owing to the antecedents of the Jewish community, even the brightest ones had to accept less
famous organizations handling less famous jobs like litigation rejected by top-notch firms.
But when hostile takeovers became common, litigation handling market boom had started and
ironically the less famous organizations and its extra-ordinary Jews were available with 10,000
hours behind them!
Lesson Number Two: Demographic Luck
In the 1930s when the Great Depression struck, owing to economic hardship, families stopped
having children. The babies born in the 1930s was in effect a small batch size than both the
generation that preceded it as well as followed it. This less crowded generation derived ample
benefits at all places-facilities like schooling and education, job opportunities.
Lesson Number Three: The Garment Industry and Meaningful Work
The garment industry provided the Jews with challenging and engaging job of an entrepreneurial
nature-manufacturing, negotiating, sales etc. Job complexity, autonomy added to their practical
intelligence.
Their children ended up being doctors and lawyers-having high IQ as well as practical intelligence.

PART TWO: LEGACY

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CHAPTER6: HARLAN, KENTUCKY

Gladwell shifts his focus from circumstantial good fortune and serendipitous timing to the cultural
legacies we inherit from our forbears.
This chapter follows a discussion of what is called the "Culture of Honor," a social and behavioral
pattern specific to, among other places, the American South.
People are always willing to defend those they love, their family. People will also become apart of
their culture and defend it when it is attacked.
The chapter also traces the ancestral lineage of people and explains the reasons behind their
impulsive behavior after identifying patterns.

CHAPTER7: THE ETHNIC THEORY OF PLANE CRASHES

This chapter explains how cultural legacy can affect ones response to different situations and
change ones attitude.
As it turns out, most plane crashes occurred due to one technical error followed by six human
errors. In certain cultures, such as Korean or Columbian, one is taught not to speak back.
Co-pilots use highly mitigated speech and avoid confronting the main pilot when necessary,
increasing chances of plane-crash.

CHAPTER8: RICE PADDIES AND MATH TESTS

The chapter opens up the idea that hard work and dedication leads to prosperous outcomes in any
case.
Asians are faster and better at Maths compared to their Western counterparts as Asians have a more
logical counting system compared to the irregular ways that numerals are spoken in English.
Growing rice paddies requires the most intricate planting process which entire Chinese families
partake. Constant, tedious work is required to keep the plant alive. "Working in a rice field is ten to
twenty times more labor intensive than working on an equivalent size corn or wheat field.
Because rice cultivation forces greater innovation, the nature of the work is far more challenging
and complex. It's also more meritorious, because the harder you work, the greater the harvest.
Therefore, they became smarter in time management and overall self discipline so they could
improve their fields.

CHAPTER9: MARITAS BARGAIN

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The chapter shows that poor students in schools in the USA fail not because they are less capable of
learning or because the schools are failing to teach them, but because they lose out on reading skills
during the long summer vacations.
During vacations rich kids have enough resources to continue learning (e.g. books, summer camps
etc.) but poor kids actually unlearn things they have learnt in school the previous year.
Schools in the eastern world have shorter vacationsanother reason why eastern students might
do better at mathematics.

EPILOGUE
A JAMAICAN STORY
The epilogue to Outliers is deeply personal to author Malcolm Gladwell because it describes his
mothers own story and pathway to success.
Gladwell also explains that, in the 18th century, a white plantation owner in Jamaica bought a
female slave and made her his mistress. This act inadvertently saved the slave and her offspring
from a life of brutal servitude. As one of the slave's descendants, this turn of luck led to Gladwell's
relatively successful position in life.
In some ways, Gladwell himself is an outlier.
Summarizing the publication, Gladwell notes that success "is not exceptional or mysterious. It is
grounded in a web of advantages and inheritances, some deserved, some not, some earned, some
just plain lucky,".

LINKING OUTLIERS WITH INDIVIDIUL DYNAMICS AND LEADERSHIP

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EMOTIONS AND MOODS

Emotional intelligence is the ability to detect and to manage emotional cues and information.

LINKAGE TO THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Practical intelligence of Robert Oppenheimer mentioned in the book is basically his emotional
intelligence-knowing what to say to whom, knowing when to say it, and knowing how to say it for
maximum effect., unlike the IQ which measures analytical ability.

PERSONALITY
It is the dynamic organization within individual of those psychological systems that determine his
unique adjustments to his own environment. In other words it is sum of total ways in which
individual reacts to interact with others. Various personality determinants some of which are internal
(heredity) in nature and others are attributed to external factors. Multiple models are used as
personality assessment instrument. Mayer Briggs Type Indicator and Big Five personality model are
the most commonly use model across the organizations. Extraversion, agreeableness, openness to
experience, emotional stability and conscientiousness are the five factors judged in big five
personality model. Even though these model cannot claim to be 100 % accurate model but it does
provide some sense of personality of an individual.

LINKAGE TO THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Big Five Personality Model
1)Conscientiousness-A highly conscientious person is responsible, organized ,dependable and
persistent. Persistence, attention to detail and setting high standards are characteristics of hcighly
conscientiousness people.
2)Openness to experience-The openness to experience dimension addresses range of interests and
fascination with novelty. Extremely open people are creative, curious and artistically sensitive.
The 10,000 hours rule suggests that Outliers were conscientious enough to slog for 10,000 hours
and also open to new experiences-be it Bill Gates (software programming was a relatively new
concept during his time) or Beatles (willing to experiment with rock at various clubs).
3)Emotional Stability-The emotional stability dimension taps a persons ability to withstand stress.
People with positive emotional stability tend to be calm-like the Northerners, while the
ones with high negative scores tend to be anxious and neurotic-like the whimsical Southerners.

PERCEPTION
It is a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give
meaning to their environment. Various factors are their which affect the perception of an individual.
Perception of a same object may vary from person to person due to kind of experience, interests,
motives, expectations that an individual possesses. Various theories such as attribution theories,
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selective perception, contrast effect, halo effect, stereotyping explains about the cause of the specific
perception of an individual.

LINKAGE TO THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

In can be easily inferred that every chapter is about the perception of what actually success is and
how can we perceive success from the point of view of outliers. In the introduction, Rosetans
succeeded in defeating the epidemic and endemic heart diseases. They perceived society of vital
importance for the existence that helped them form a bond with each other, impenetrable by external
pressures and threat. In the following chapters Malcolm used the perception of various
psychologists like Lewis who considered Termans supremos in any task they took up or Ericssons
study on famous musicians as to find the secret of their success to prove his perception and views
on success story.
1)Stereotyping error -Asians are faster and better at Maths compared to their Western counterparts.
This is a typical Stereotyping error-the entire Asian community is stereotyped as better at maths
compared to their Western counterparts, on the basis of trend/ones perception though some
Westerners might be exceedingly better at Maths than Asians.
2)Halo Effect-Linking an individuals success solely to his hard work, disregarding other crucial
factors like opportunites presented, his ability to jump at the opportunity, personality of the
individual is a typical example of Halo Effect(selective perception).
Malcolm has made a strong attempt to persuade the readers of this book to change their perceptoin
about the success personalities and how they attain a status of such high recognition. Molcolm
argues that its the extraordinary opportunity that drives a person successful and not his talent alone.
Even I as a reader always thought that a talented person is sure to come up with fly colors by the
study on the Nobel laureates has affected my take on how one actually becomes successful.

MOTIVATION
The garment industry provided the Jews with challenging and engaging job of an entrepreneurial
nature-manufacturing, negotiating, sales etc. Job complexity, autonomy added to their practical
intelligence.
Their children ended up being doctors and lawyers-having high IQ as well as practical intelligence.

LINKAGE TO THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

THE JOB CHARACTERISTICS MODEL
The job ranked high in terms of the below parameters:
1)Skill variety-Job was of entrepreneurial nature-manufacturing, negotiating, sales etc.
2)Task identity-Designing of garments.
3)Autonomy- Job was of entrepreneurial nature-manufacturing, negotiating, sales etc.
4)Feedback- Their sales was an indicator of how well they were groomed to excel in the garment
industry.
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CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The author has remarkably captured the essence of the story of success through outliers. The author
seemed focussed in his goal and streamlined in his approach. In the preface itself it was clear,
Malcolm has embarked on goal of changing the perception of the readers, that there is more to talent
when it comes to success. It was earlier odd to read that we need to look at things working around
the successful people like their birth place, their schooling even their birthdates. Introduction was
not just about Rosetans but the very idea that a social structure is capable of insulating a community
from the pressures of what lies outside its little world.
As author progressed with his sightings and research he proved that the billionares like Bill Gates
and Bill Joy is not their ingrained talent but the opportunity that they barged into which paved the
way for 10,000 hours of practise and hence a successful personality. He goes a step further to prove
that the purest form of outliers genuises may not be as successful in their career as they should be if
they find an extraordinary opportunity.
Also, other unconventional factors like background, time and place of birth also matter a lot.
It is questionable as to whether we have examples of successful people who didnt find a suitable
opportunity or just pure talent is what helped them to be there where they are. However an
extraordinary opportunity is vital for a person to be successful.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1) Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
2) Organisational behaviour by Stephen P Robbins, Timothy A judge and Neharika Vohra