Outliers: An outstanding take on 'Luck'

"I make my own destiny."

This is what my T-shirt says today. But the book in my hand respectfully disagrees.

'Outliers' by Malcolm Gladwell presents a very compelling case on why successful people are not just brilliant and hard-working, but also 'lucky' to be in the right place at the right time. In fact, as the first few chapters in the books explain, some successful people are 'lucky' even for the month and year of their birth!

Outliers explores both width and depth of 'luck' playing a role in the success stories of people. The first section explains the amazingly wide set of circumstances that, as Paulo Coelho would have said, conspire to make a person fulfill his/her dreams. And the second section goes deep in the history of successful people... in many cases, up to a few generations back in time. And both sections present the same conclusion. Success is as much a matter of chance, as it is a matter of genius.

Talk of equal opportunities for everyone!

This might depressing and dis-empowering, but the book's message is exactly the opposite. And this is where the book itself becomes an outlier among books on success. Gladwell goes on to say that the conclusions simply mean we can 'create' more successes by simply adding the 'luck' factor. In many cases, it can mean doing as simple things as tweaking the circumstances a bit. Like a small change in the rules of how Canadian hockey players are selected for professional leagues can give us double the size of outstanding players, even if the pool of eligible players remains of the same size.

If what the book suggests is true, the impact of making such small changes around us would be so big, that it would be beyond measurement.

At a very personal level, I found the book very inspiring. I finished the book with this thought:
"At the same time when I am carving out a living for myself, I am willingly or unwillingly, knowingly or unknowingly, creating circumstances for others being successful (or failures). I contribute to the 'luck' factor that their genius requires."

And that sounds like true power!