In an interview by Jennifer Reingold on CNN Money's Fortune, Malcolm Gladwell expounds on the theory explored in his new book, Outliers: The Story of Success - that innate talent is not necessarily what sets legendary CEOs apart from ordinary workers and that the accepted view of the self-made man is a myth.
'Outliers', Gladwell explains, is a technical term that describes a phenomenon outside of normal experience. Gladwell relates that to the extraordinary success of business leaders such as Bill Gates.
Gladwell says: "I just became convinced that our explanations [of what drives success] were lacking. We have the kind of self-made-man myth, which says that super-successful people did it themselves. And we have a series of other beliefs that say that our personality, our intelligence, all of our innate characteristics are the primary driving force. It's that cluster of things that I don't agree with."
Gladwell believes a lot more about success can be learnt by looking at the background of the successful person and how they "have made the most of a series of gifts that have been given to them by their culture or their history, by their generation".
The author also says that talent is something that should be developed and, paradoxically, the current crisis might present the ideal opportunity. "When it's easy to make money, you have no incentive to think about development of talent. Now you're forced to," he explains, and cites Procter & Gamble as a company that has benefited from a policy of investing in people and developing talent.
Secrets of Their Success
Jennifer Reingold, Fortune, CNN Money.com, 12/11/08
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