Outliers: The Story of Success
Posted in Book Review, Personal Development on January 20th, 2010 by Shane Gill – 3 Comments
The self-made man and his rags-to-riches struggle is often glorified in our society, especially in Australia. The most endearing is the story of Donald Bradman: his relentless practise with a cricket stump and golf ball leads to one of the most illustrious careers in sporting history.
The Don is a perfect example of an outlier. His batting average is a freakish 4.4 standard deviations above the mean, a statistical anomaly that hoists his success well above any other sporting hero. Michael Jordan has nothing on Donald Bradman.
The story of The Don is also typical of an outlier. He emerged from Australian bush leagues to make a lasting mark on international cricket. His habit of hitting a golf ball against a water tank has become part of Australian lore. We attribute The Don’s success to the hard work he put in as a youth - he is self-made. In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell contends that there is much more to success than a bit of hard yakka.
read more »