Read it: Outliers, by Malcolm Galdwell « Flackrabbit: Public Relations Flack | Digital Strategist

Read it: Outliers, by Malcolm Galdwell

12.16.08Posted by Margie in All posts, Books4 CommentsTags: Books you need to read right now, Early childhood, Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success

malcolm-gladwell-is-fabulous-and-has-cool-hair Just finished reading the new Malcolm Gladwell book, Outliers: The Story of Success. And OMG. You need to read it. Like now.

With its steady cadence of take a closer look beyond the individual to the social norm and culture, it is no surprise Gladwell’s book was a real page-turner for me.

I was fully hooked on page 10. The intro. Not even Chapter One!

“They had to understand the culture he or she was a part of, and who their friends and families were, and what town their families came from,” writes Gladwell. “They had to appreciate the idea that the values of the world we inhabit and the people we surround ourselves with have a profound effect on who we are.”

I’m fortunate to work closely with The Urban Child Institute in Memphis. I do a great deal of early childhood brain development writing for them, so I’m sensitive to research based articles that tout the undeniably important role family, community, culture and environment play in your development as a child and potential as an adult.

Weekly, we beat the drum of nature WITH nurture. That none of us are just born knowing how to learn, behave or react to the world, or how to be a good parent for that matter. These are things we are taught through and by our community. And these lessons are handed down from generation to generation.

This “it takes a village” message is mostly applauded by pediatricians and non-profit leaders, which is why it is refreshing to read a “business success book” with the same mantra.

Now, I understand that these change-the-way-you-think-about-life-and-business books aren’t for everyone, so if you are only going to give it a good skim at least read Chapter Seven. You’ll never look at an airplane the same way and you’ll learn a great communications lesson.

I would give you my copy but Dave’s gotta get it back to the library tomorrow. Sorry. If you have read it – what was your take-away? Was it the same as mine? Did you like the book? Was it a pager-turner for you, too?

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4 Responses to “Read it: Outliers, by Malcolm Galdwell”

Tiffany Gallicano says:

January 12, 2009 at 12:05 am

Thanks for highlighting this book. I loved “Tipping Point” but not “Blink.” Thanks to your review, I’ll check this out next time I’m in the bookstore.
Dawn says:

January 12, 2009 at 8:06 am

Great review, I recently finished this book( and reviewed it at my site). It was a great read, had me hooked from beginning to end. I am now reading “The tipping point”.

But Outliers really made me rethink how I viewed success, I am still trying to get my head around the fact that no matter how hard I work to be successfull I will have to heavily rely on luck and chance.
Margie says:

January 12, 2009 at 9:56 am

Dawn, welcome to FlackRabbit! Thanks for commenting

I agree Outliers both inspires and challenges your view of success. I think a lot of the negative reviews the book receives is based on the latter. Most folks don’t like the notion that success is a combo of work, talent, environment, randomness and circumstance.

I’ll be sure to check out your review today!
Surrounding yourself with kind, encouraging people will make you more successful | Flackrabbit: PR Flack / Writer / Geek says:

February 2, 2010 at 8:22 pm

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