Outliers

There's a quote by E.B. White, the man who wrote the children's classics Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little, that goes, "The time not to become a father is eighteen years before a war."

As parents we want the best for our children and to put them in the best possible position to live long, happy, and productive lives. We try to predict the future our offspring will face and prepare them for it. While it's impossible to foresee and eliminate all the hardships and tragedies that will stand in their way, we encourage, protect, and corral our children towards success.

Ask someone how to achieve success and they'll most likely tell you that the answer lies in hard work. Society has bought into the belief that hard work is the solution for everything, it is after all at the core of the American Dream. If someone failed, it's simply due to the fact that the person didn't really work for it. As a teacher I've seen my share of good intentioned parents pushing their children harder than a pack of mules. It's assumed that hard working kids become talented and intelligent adults who are essentially guaranteed success. If that were true the man with the highest IQ ever measured, Chris Langan, would be a world leader instead of a bouncer at a bar.

In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell examines what separates the super successful from the sub-par. While talent plays a major part in success, it is rarely the most important factor. This is illustrated in how a majority of professional hockey players have winter birthdays, why many of the richest people in the history of the world were born within just a few years of one another, and what makes children in Asian countries perform so well in math. It's not very often that you can thoroughly enjoy reading a book full of theories and statistics, not to mention feel just a tad bit smarter from the experience however this seems to be Gladwell's forte and the only qualm I have with him is that he has only written three books thus far.

As Gladwell explains, success is almost entirely about being at the right place at the right time and taking advantage of the opportunities if they happen across the person's path. So while William and Mary Gates raised their son in an upper-class home where they supported and provided for him, as it turns out the biggest reason Bill Gates (who as Gladwell illustrates is a prime example of having the rare opportunities that lead to success) is one of the most successful persons in technology/business today, is that his parents decided to start a family in the mid-fifties. As parents we can try to give our children the world, but ultimately what will have the biggest impact is what the world gives to them.