A Unique Perspective on Success

I’m always curious about everything and love reading non-fiction books just as much as I do fiction.  I have a stack of books in my office, bedroom, living room, just about everywhere, and in one of those beautiful dusty piles was Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers.”  I picked it out from under the pile, blew the dust off and thought we’d end our 2016 book club year with “Outliers.”

bfbc-11-16-gladwellI love reading Gladwell’s work.  It’s understandable to a non-scientific rube like me and it’s always fun to discuss at book club.  When I read his work, it’s like I’m sitting down having a conversation with him.  I get it.  Well, most of it. And I remember pieces of it for a long time.

We are a product of our environment – we all know that innately.  We know somehow that we have similarities with Grandma or Grandpa because our parents always told us “you’re just like your Grandmother or Grandfather.”  But after we eye-rolled ourselves out of the conversation with our parents we never gave it much thought.  In “Outliers,” Gladwell not only believes there is a strong connection with immediate family, but also with your ancestors. 

He has such an inquisitive mind and I can imagine him sitting in Central Park, or anywhere, absorbing everything around him, connecting the conversation of the people behind him with a conversation he heard at a lecture the week before, forming a connection then researching and interviewing people until he starts to connect the Legos of our lives building one on top of the other until this his unique perspective is complete.  (more…)