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jdgray 's review for:
Outliers: The Story of Success
by Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell tells a compelling story in each chapter and makes distinct and memorable points. This book makes me consider and re-evaluate my own track record with success. However, to make each chapter as clear as it is, Gladwell cherry picks examples to support his hypothesis. I see this slightly as a necessary evil of writing a book on the subject, rather than writing a library.
The chapter that keeps coming back to me is the haunting one about the formerly gruesome rates of crashes by Koren airline pilots. The chapter is interspersed with text from black box recordings right before the crashes. Gladwell dissects the conversations to show that even when their lives are on the line, crew subordinates do not challenge or question their superiors. When their system gets turned around from one of structured authoritarian hierarchy, to one where the playing field is more level, the communication between the crew becomes useful and death takes more of a holiday. Even though this is discussed in the book in terms of cultural differences, I feel that it can be applied fairly broadly to differences in types of leadership everywhere.
Even though he does look at how race and creed effect opportunities for success, I would have liked to have seen at least one example that made even the slightest mention of how ideas about gender have been influential. Other chapters point out other factors of success, namely: luck, lessons from heritage, obsession, and of course, opportunity. This book is a fun read that is useful for planting small seeds of thought that can grow beyond its limited scope.
The chapter that keeps coming back to me is the haunting one about the formerly gruesome rates of crashes by Koren airline pilots. The chapter is interspersed with text from black box recordings right before the crashes. Gladwell dissects the conversations to show that even when their lives are on the line, crew subordinates do not challenge or question their superiors. When their system gets turned around from one of structured authoritarian hierarchy, to one where the playing field is more level, the communication between the crew becomes useful and death takes more of a holiday. Even though this is discussed in the book in terms of cultural differences, I feel that it can be applied fairly broadly to differences in types of leadership everywhere.
Even though he does look at how race and creed effect opportunities for success, I would have liked to have seen at least one example that made even the slightest mention of how ideas about gender have been influential. Other chapters point out other factors of success, namely: luck, lessons from heritage, obsession, and of course, opportunity. This book is a fun read that is useful for planting small seeds of thought that can grow beyond its limited scope.