CareerSherpas: Climbing the Mountain

Once again I’ve stumbled across a book I need to get through on my reading list, this time courtesy of an article at CIOZone.com. The book in question is “Outliers: The Story of Success” by Malcolm Gladwell which clearly offers some great food for thought on what elements lead to success in the real world.

It’s always hard to pass up a book by someone with Gladwell’s credentials as the author of “The Tipping Point” and “Blink”, however more fundamental is the message that success is a measure defined by the sum of all of our advantages. In my experience it’s very clear that where individuals are successful a number of factors all come together to build both the foundation of and open the opportunities for that success.

While Gladwell sites a number of individuals who were poised to take advantage of the computer revolution, twenty years later it’s clear that the internet revolution produced a large number of similar success stories such as Pierre Omidyar with eBay and Jeff Bezos with Amazon. If one looks at the ages and stages at which these individuals appeared, it certainly adds further credence to Gladwell’s theory.

Perhaps more important for me are the points eloquently gleaned from the book by Ellen Pearlman of CIOZone. Not least among these are the point that the benefits of IQ scores are limited after the 120 mark and that being successful involves having assistance. The trouble that we all have in recognizing that the advantages we are given and the success we achieve are not necessarily bound up in what we do for ourselves has always intrigued me, but to have it spelled out in such a stark manner is a little disconcerting.

The questions I’m left to ponder after starting the book however are a fair bit more personal. What advantages have I received which can be applied now or which I can see applications coming? What advantages can I offer my children as they develop their own wonderful collection of skills?

Peter Fitzgerald is the founder of CareerSherpas.com and is currently working on his first book, conducting high-level business analysis, connecting individuals with ideas and opportunities, and attempting to learn the bagpipes.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 15th, 2008 at 1:25 pm and is filed under General, Success. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.