Outliers: The Story of Success

Tom Suddes | December 9, 2008

Malcolm Gladwell, of TIPPING POINT and BLINK fame, writes an interesting book (Outliers: The Storry of Success) on what separates the ‘highly successful’ from everyone else.

Here are his five steps to SUCCESS:

Find MEANING and INSPIRATION in your work. (That’s easy if you’re working at a For Impact Organization!)
Work hard. (That seems to be a given in the 3rd Sector.)
Discover the relationship between EFFORT and REWARD. (This is where we need some work. 97% of funding comes from 3% of our people. Lions, Mice & Antelopes. The Triple Ask.)
Seek out complex work to avoid boredom and repetition. (I’m all about avoiding boredom and repetition. I’m not sure about the “complex” work. Think Big. Build Simple. Act Now. You won’t be bored.)
Be autonomous and control your own destiny as much as possible. (For Impact Leaders, Social Entrepreneurs, Entrepreneurs in General, Intrapreneurs, etc.)

Special Note: This may be the major reason I enjoyed this book. Gladwell writes that talent and IQ don’t matter as much as we think they do (vis-à-vis success). That means I’ve still got a chance.

Pick up this book. Gladwell’s style is easy to read, and full of insights.

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Peter Schrappen - December 9th, 2008 4:27 pm

Tom, I’m reading “Talent is Overrated”, which is a nice companion to Gladwell’s latest and, as the title indicates, downplays talent as a single indicator for success.

A couple of take always already:
-Stresses the imp of practice, practice, practice. Think Michael Phelps, Ozzie Smith, Ted Williams and his bloody hands from swinging a bat.

-This practice flies in the face of that Ben & Jerry’s bumpersticker: “If it’s not fun, why do it?”. Colvin’s answer is that if you only do the fun stuff, everyone else is doing that as well. It’s the deliberate practice that separates you from the rest of the field.

It’s not about the “fun” or reacting to each adversity thrown at you, it’s about committing to a plan. As JFK said, “When it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change.”

More here: http://tinyurl.com/5ot867

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Phil White - December 10th, 2008 12:44 pm

Tom
Just wanted to get a note off to you to underscore my appreciation for yesterday’s seminar. You are ’spot on’ with the wisdom, passion and insights God has given you. Keep trucking as your message needs to be heard by all.
On the drive home with Raul and Chris Reyes (Pres. and ED of Life Network), they shared that your’s was by far the most meaningful of the development seminars they’ve taken in over the years (that’s 25+ yrs. and counting). That’s a huge endorsement. FYI, the three of us are also involved with Life Resource Group (LRG, formerly ‘The Amigos’) a group of mega-center pregnancy resource center directors from all over the U.S. We’ll be sharing some of the pearls of wisdom you shared with us and encouraging them to consider a seminar as well.
I won’t need to go to any other development seminars. I resonated with every main point you made starting with, ‘Money Follows Vision’. Hopefully, you can schedule Life Network for some time the next scheduled time you’re going to be in Colo. Spgs.
Anyway, great job!
Phil White
Life Network
P.S. Your statements on Boards was also very timely and helpful.

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Tom Suddes - December 15th, 2008 3:36 pm

@Phil White,

Phil,

Great to meet you and great to hear from you. It always feels good when I can connected with someone who believes I’m ‘spot on’.

I was especially appreciative of your comments from Raul and Chris regarding development seminars and training.

Please pass along to them as well that there are a lot more resources at http://www.forimpact.org.

Phil, we have what we call a one-day TRANSFORMATION that may be a good fit for what you’re trying to do at Life Network. It’s a combination of Custom Training and actually working with you and the team on the Message, Model and Math.

If you and Raul are interested in this, please let me know. Either my partner Nick or I will be back out there and maybe we can schedule a day.

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Tom Suddes - December 15th, 2008 3:39 pm

@Peter Schrappen,

Peter,

Good to hear from you. Thanks for the takeaways on TALENT IS OVER-RATED.

I’m a big believer in PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. Something we rarely do in this NONPROFIT (FOR IMPACT) WORLD.

Tom

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