Malcolm Gladwell is a Canadian journalist, public speaker and best-selling author. His heroic books include: The Tipping Point (2000), Blink (2005), Outliers (2008), What the Dog Saw (2009), David and Goliath (2013), Talking to Strangers (2019) and The Bomber Mafia (2021).
I have read: Outliers, The Tipping Point, David and Goliath. Let me whet your appetite about the three page-turners: Outliers is a story of success, which is a function of persistence and doggedness. In that treasure-trove, the penman points out: No one rises before dawn, 360 days a year, but fails to make his family rich. This implies that people access success through discipline and diligence.
Canada is the most hockey-crazed country. Coaches start selecting players at the age of 9 or 10. They go through tough training to entice and evince excellence. The idea that excellence in any sphere requires a critical minimum level of practice, features for the umpteenth time in sedulous studies of expertise. Careful researchers settled on what they believe is the magical number for any marvellous mastery – 10,000 hours. In order to rise to stardom, the 10,000-Hour Rule comes in handy.
In this regard, hockey players who rise to the acme of their game flex their muscles through ample preparation and practice. They also have a big head start. An opportunity presenting itself through sheer luck and work. The opportunity that follow those who already have is what the sociologist Robert Merton famously christened as the ‘Matthew Effect’ after Matthew 25:29: “For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”
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In The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell talks of how small things can make a big difference. Lending credence to the wise words of Mother Mary Teresa of Calcutta, who once averred, “You do not have to do great things, but just do small things in a great way.”
Then, there is the Stickiness Factor, the Power of Context and the Law of Few, which are quite applicable in several spheres of life. The stickiness means that a message makes an impact and sticks in memories. The Power of Context postulates that human beings are quite sensitive to their environment. The Law of Few posits that we are friends with the people we do same things with, as much as we are with the people we resemble. Ideally, we do not seek out friends. Instead, we associate with people who occupy the same small, physical, spaces that we do.
Consequently, there are three category of people: Connectors, Mavens and Salespersons. Connectors know plenty of people. They have a foot in so many different worlds, and so they bring people together. They are people who we can reach because they occupy many different worlds, sub-cultures and niches. Their ability to span many different worlds is a function of something intrinsic to their personality: Some beautiful blend of curiosity, self-confidence, sociability, synergy, strategy and energy.
Mavens are people with plenty of information on products, prices or places. They are important people in an economy because the market place abuts on information: People with plenty of information are important. Mavens are data-banks that provide the message. Salesmen wield skills of persuasion, when we are unconvinced of what we are hearing. They are critical to the tipping of word of mouth epidemics.
Finally, David and Goliath is an allusion and allegory of the Biblical story (1 Samuel 17). It is a tale of underdogs, misfits and the art of battling giants. The book steers clear on what happens when ordinary people confront ‘giants’ — powerful opponents of all kinds — armies and mighty warriors, and so on and so forth. These are stories of different people — famous or unknown, ordinary or brilliant — who have faced outsize challenges and been forced to respond: Should I play by the rules or follow my own instincts? Should I persevere or give up? Should I strike back or forgive?
The most important concept therein, is the Big Fish Little Pond Effect. It posits that the more elite an educational institution is; the worse students feel about their own academic abilities. Sometimes, it happens, students who should emerge at the top of their class in an iconic institution can really fall at the bottom. Most parents and students make their school choices for the wrong reasons. They think that going to an academically selective school is the be-all and end-all. It is not true. For this causes some to welter like water.
By Victor Ochieng’
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