What is in the making of
personal success
It's rather ironic
use of the term outlier for the title. I do recognise it as a technical term as
oppose to word as it signifies a specific concept in data analysis. Outlier
takes centre stage in data science, concerned with an events or phenomena that
fall outside the normal pattern. The book outlier is a refreshing outlook at a
time when data science not only come to dominate virtual space but most
contemporary literature concern itself with a sobering study of the subject.
The book deals with
the broader context of collective contribution, a concept not new at all and
acknowledged and documented in the work of most geniuses such as Isaac Newton
and Albert Einstein. The book adds its twist by combining it with how the Western
culture view success and its contemporary drivers. The book debunks the
misconception that success is an outcome of personal achievement but rather a
mix of a string of opportunities, concerted effort of communities and families,
luck, dedication and a quirky take on the world.
The book is an eye
opener to rigid individualism and how viewing success in those terms are not
only false but dangerous. We do live at a time which offers great opportunities
and unprecedented potentials but they are only few and it’s important to be
aware of how we view the majority who are unsuccessful. We view our system in a
sentimental way that it rewards hard work with astonishing success and wealth,
this is false the truth is that it only rewards one billionaire Bill Gates and one
billionaire Richard Branson and nobody else can have that opportunity and if
Bill Gates was not born in 1955 plus another series of lucky events the opportunity
would have gone to someone else and only them. This leaves the reader ponder about
our system where the successful and rich get only richer and the poor and
unsuccessful get poorer. Unable to cope with its own contradiction our policy and
politics had reverted to the primitive and nasty habit of assigning blame which
should have no place in modern policy. The poor and immigrants have been blamed
but this didn’t bring any change and now the turmoil is spiralling out of
control threatening the whole liberal system.
After dealing with
what produces successful people the book naturally turns to understanding the
role of culture, the framework that moulds us and shapes our consciousness and
subconscious. Our culture gives us strength but it can also constraint us. When
the Korean Airways have a record of crushes that is 17 times more than other
western industrialised countries and the pattern continues over 1980s while
everything else is held equal then studying the Korean culture and the social
structure it imposes might contain answers. We are squeamish to do that because
the way we talk about culture is unscrupulous and since most cultural ideas are
ill-informed such discourse are often disparaging. East Asians continually and consistently
achieve higher grades in international math scoring competitions. I'm not talking
about achievement by margins but significant that can be represented by standard
deviation. When all else is held equal such difference can be explained by
culture which goes hundred and thousands of years back to rice cultivation. if
you want the full relationship between rice and math then you should read the
book.
This book makes a
lot of sense to me, I know several fellow Afghans who are extremely talented,
educated and driven but yet they make less money, unable to travel or take jobs
they qualify while a British Citizen with below average intellect and high
school dropout makes more money ( several fold), free to travel and access to diverse
occupational opportunities. This modern system surely rewards other things as
well beside personal stamina and talent.
