This is a powerpoint presentation of Malcom Gladwell's book "Outliers". This book epitomizes story of success of various famous personalities. It analyzes various reasons and circumstances that propelled them to achieve great heights in their careers.

2. INTRODUCTION “THE ROSETO MYSTERY”
Outlier: It is something that is situated away from or classed differently from a main
or related body
The people in Roseto were dying of old age. That‟s it.
University of Oklahoma Press, 1979 published the Roseto Story which emphasizes on
the influence of Human relationships on heart disease.
Roseto became an Outlier owing to their value system and cultural heritage.

3. THE MATTHEW EFFECT
Matthew Effect
• For unto everyone that hath shall be given and he shall have abundance . But from him that hath not
shall be taken away even that which he hath.
Implication
• It is those who are successful in other words, who are most likely to be given the kinds of special
opportunities that lead to further success.
Relative age effect
• In teenage years a difference of 6-8 months makes a huge impact on the physical ability of a kid.
This was an advantage for the Canadian Junior Hockey League champions because most of their players
were born in January-March where as rest of the teams had a majority born in the later months of the
year. Thus the physically stronger kids were given better opportunities at the sport whereas the rest
missed the bus because they were born a few months late.

4. THE 10000-HOUR RULE
10000 hours of practice is required to achieve the level of
mastery associated with being a world class expert- in anything
Bill Gates born on October
28, 1955 which is considered
a perfect birth date for
software professionals since
they were experienced enough
with 10000 hours of practice
in computer programming when
the software industry took off
in 1986.
Bill Joy born on
November 8, 1954,
went on to establish
Sun Microsystems is
also a gainer due to his
birth date.
Beatles got an
opportunity at Hamburg
to perform 8 hours
every night for 7 days
a week for 3 years.
This is how they got
their 10000 hours of
practice.

5. THE TROUBLE WITH GENIUSES, PART 1
“Knowledge
of a boy‟s IQ is of little help if you are faced with a
formful of clever boys”
The average person has an IQ
of 100, Einstein one fifty,
Chris has an IQ of 195
Christopher Langan
Intelligence is of little use if we want to understand someone‟s chances of
being a success in the world. The likelihood of someone becoming a true
outlier lies in the opportunities presented to them by the world.
IQ is lot like height in basketball. You need to be atleast six
foot or six one to play basketball. Its probably better to be
six two than six one and better to be six three than six two.
But past certain point height stops mattering. A player who
is six foot eight is not automatically better than someone 2
inches shorter. A basketball player has to be tall enough and
same is true of intelligence. Intelligence has threshold.
Langan‟s IQ of 195 doesn‟t make him smarter than Einstein
whose IQ was 150.

6. THE TROUBLE WITH GENIUSES, PART 2
My mother was supposed to fill out a parents‟
financial statement which she neglected and then I
lost my scholarship at Reed college.
Christopher
Langan
Robert Oppenheimer, an American physicist who famously
headed American effort to develop nuclear bomb during world
war 2 was very much like Langan in terms of intelligence.
Then Chris enrolled at Montana State University.
He wanted to shift from morning batch to afternoon
batch due to car issues, but his request was rejected
owing to which he had to quit education.
Robert went to Harvard and then to Cambridge to pursue
doctorate in Physics. He struggled with depression for his
entire life. He became so despondent that once he tried to
poison his tutor But guess what he was put on probation and
continued his stint with regular psychiatric help.
Practical
Intelligence
Robert
Oppenheimer
• Considering both cases of Chris and Robert. Chris had to quit education due to failure of financial aid and timing issues due to
car problems. Whereas Robert tried to kill someone and still got away with it and continued with elite education. Though Chris
and Robert possess the same analytical intelligence, Robert had an added advantage of practical intelligence. Practical intelligence
is a skill that allows you to talk your way out of murder rap or convince your professor to move you from morning to afternoon
session. Practical intelligence comes from concerned cultivation in the childhood, which generally happens with wealthier or higher
middle class. Robert had this advantage whereas Chris lacked it.

7. THE THREE LESSONS FROM JOE FLOM
• Jews were not considered as someone from right background to work in high profile law firms of Wall Street.
Lesson No. 1:
Consequently Joe had to join a smaller, second-rate, upstart law firm of Marshall Skadden and Leslie Arps.
The
• Mergers and acquisitions and takeovers were considered hostile by big time law firms of new York and hence
Importance of
such litigations were handled by Joe‟s firm. Suddenly the scenario changed with the investors becoming more
Being Jewish
aggressive with dollar figure rising enormously. It was during the mid 1970‟s to the end of 1980‟s. by this
time Joe had developed a skill in this arena and was suddenly very valuable.
Lesson No. 2: • Flom was born in a decade when „The Great Depression” had struck America. Owing to which his generation
was smaller due to demographic trough. He was exposed to best of the facilities right from the hospital where
Demographic Luck. he was born, his schooling ad upto his college education.
Lesson No. 3: The
Garment Industry and
Meaningful work
• He belonged to a family of garment manufacturers who migrated to America from Eastern Europe. Garment manufacturers had
the best of the occupational skills which became the need of the day in America. Their business took off and their next
generation was the beneficiary of all the skillsets. Most of the jewish kids from younger generation took to law or medicine as
their profession.

8. HARLAN, KENTUCKY
Harlan, Kentucky were the two counties popular for
their family feuds. They could easily cause blood shed
in the name of defending their “culture of honour”
Success arises out of steady accumulation of advantages:
when and where you are born and what your parents did
for living and what are your circumstances of your
upbringing. Also a the success quotient depends on what
you take from your cultural legacy and how it helps you
to excel

9. THE ETHNIC THEORY OF PLANE CRASHES
Korean Airlines went through a leanest patch in the aviation history when their planes were
crashing one after the other leaving the safety of passengers in jeopardy.
The main reason for these crashes was lack of comfort in communication between the Captain and
the first officer.
This happened due to the cultural baggage of tolerance and its ambiguity. The captain being a
senior in stature, the rest of the crew would not directly communicate with him even during
turbulent times.
When they realized this, all the crew members were trained to effectively communicate with each
other regardless of the seniority thereby shedding the unwanted cultural ethos and they became
an outlier in aviation industry.

10. RICE PADDIES AND MATH TESTS
“No one who can rise before dawn three hundred sixty days a year
fails to make his family rich”
Farming in west is mechanically
oriented whereas in Asia it is
skill oriented. Farmers in Asia
do not have money to buy
modern equipment and extra
land. So rice farmers became
smarter by managing their own
time and making better choices.
Asians have a built-in advantage
when it comes to math. They
have outperformed their western
counterparts time and again.
Difference between the number
systems suggest that being good
at math is also rooted in group‟s
culture.
Asian countries always top the
lists in math Olympics because
there is shaped by the
tradition of wet-rice
agriculture which is laborious
as well as complex like math.

11. MARITA’S BARGAIN
Poor kids‟
extra time
spent in
school
Reduced
vacation
Daily
Homework
Group
studies and
extra
curricular
activities
On par with
Wealthier
students
This goes in sync with the rice paddy principle where the students from a poor background are made to put extra effort in school. Being from
a poor background they are unable to get a desired support in education from home as their parents themselves had dropped out of schools at
some point in their lives. Schools like KIPP become an oullier by bring such poor kids on par with students with decent family background.

12. A JAMAICAN STORY
white
Less black
Black
Brown
The offspring born to a black lady who was a slave to a white man would be born as light, brown or less black or less
coloured. These offspring became outliers in Jamaica because they were freed from slavery. They got all the
privileges of whites. They could educate themselves in the universities in UK or US. During that time getting
yourself less colored partner was considered a blessing as it would ensure privileges for your next generation.
Light

13. OUTLIERS
Opportunity
O
U
T
L
I
E
R
S
Legacy