The first part of the book deals with opportunities in successful people’s life. The author argued that those elite sport teams are selected based on unfair cut-off birth date. For example, Canadian junior hockey team selection is confined to children aged between 9-10 years old. Usually the cut-off date is on 1 Jan. Other countries may have different cut-off date, 1 Aug in US. So for the same batch of children who were born in the same year but in different months, that matters. The author has observed some interesting statistic of the players which showed most of them have birth month from Jan - Apr, if the cut-off date for the selection is on 1 Jan. Why are those children born in early of the year so special? The fact is they are physically better and more mature than their peers who were born in later months of the year. Their physical agility has made them to stand out among the group. And so, with little effort, they are very likely to be selected to join the elite team. Once they are in the team, they have all the facilities and trainings needed to nurture them. Ultimately, with more practices, they excel. Those who are not selected are denied for such privilege (in terms of training and facilities available). They are not given the opportunity at all. And their talent is wasted. This phenomenon is called “the Matthew Effect”, based on a biblical verse in the book of Matthew: “For unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance. But from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath”.The same also applied in school. Those born in the first half of the year can pick up lesson quickly. With slightly better in physical and more mature, they learn faster and may outperform those born in say Nov and Dec. They may have advantage when come to scholarship and elite school application. But of course, they are those successful person born in the second half of the year. However, statistically, they are fewer. So for those father- or mother-to-be, plan your child birth month if you want your kid to be successful in future.
The author continued to argue that such success is also fueled by hard work (a.k.a. 10,000-hour rule). To be a master or specialist, one needs to have 10,000 hours of practice in a specific task. This conclusion was based on a study performed by A. Ericsson where the study found that human brain tends to get familiarized if activities are practiced or repeated up to 10,000 hours. To name a few, Beatles had accumulated jamming session of that amount of hours before they released their first album. Bill Gates had accumulated programming time up to such amount when he was 13 (but that when he was given the opportunity to use the computer which was few at that time). A professional pianist would have such amount of practice hours if he/she starts playing since young. The message is consistency and hard work do pay.
Then the author emphasized on the problem of genius. He picked an example, a genius from rural area. Without help, nobody had discovered that genius. He had to find a way that he had such talent. To sum up, in order to success, one has to be born at the right moment (or year), to the right family, and then he/she has to really really work very hard (the 10,000-hour rule), with a little bit of luck/ opportunity (emphasis added). Why to be born at the right moment matters? The author picked a list of history wealthiest persons. Many of the richest persons were born right when industrial revolution was picking up in America. Also most software billionaires were born between 1952 and 1958 (Bill Gates included), just right when the computer was introduced in late 60's. Although such statistic does tick, to be wealthy you need not to be born in a specific year. But again, to be super-wealthy, time and opportunity matters. It is also crucial to see if one is born in a family where culture and constant nurturing are the centre of the core family. In one particular survey, middle and upper class families tend to occupy their children's time with lots of activities. Piano lesson, sports, ballet, tuition, you name it. On the contrary, the lower class families do not provide such environment as the parents themselves go out to work, leaving their children ample time and freedom to decide what they want to do. The former is beneficial in shaping the children's talent while the latter able to produce children who are independent and not demanding. So when you think of genius kid, it matters where he/she born to. The author picked another example - Oppenheimer. Due to his family background and culture, he walked his way up to a high profile job (the head of atomic bomb project even though he was just an expert in theoretical physics). He earned that position because he acquired such good persuasive skill (I think it is more to communication skill). So a genius equipped with good culture and communication skill can get you to the top. By comparison, a normal genius person may not be successful as we thought (there was a study on a group of genius which surveyed their career success. It turned out some geniuses did badly in their career.). Too high IQ may not get you where you want. You just need a good enough IQ, like basketball player. At certain height, it is advantageous. Beyond that, everything goes down to skill and speed.
Then the author emphasized on the problem of genius. He picked an example, a genius from rural area. Without help, nobody had discovered that genius. He had to find a way that he had such talent. To sum up, in order to success, one has to be born at the right moment (or year), to the right family, and then he/she has to really really work very hard (the 10,000-hour rule), with a little bit of luck/ opportunity (emphasis added). Why to be born at the right moment matters? The author picked a list of history wealthiest persons. Many of the richest persons were born right when industrial revolution was picking up in America. Also most software billionaires were born between 1952 and 1958 (Bill Gates included), just right when the computer was introduced in late 60's. Although such statistic does tick, to be wealthy you need not to be born in a specific year. But again, to be super-wealthy, time and opportunity matters. It is also crucial to see if one is born in a family where culture and constant nurturing are the centre of the core family. In one particular survey, middle and upper class families tend to occupy their children's time with lots of activities. Piano lesson, sports, ballet, tuition, you name it. On the contrary, the lower class families do not provide such environment as the parents themselves go out to work, leaving their children ample time and freedom to decide what they want to do. The former is beneficial in shaping the children's talent while the latter able to produce children who are independent and not demanding. So when you think of genius kid, it matters where he/she born to. The author picked another example - Oppenheimer. Due to his family background and culture, he walked his way up to a high profile job (the head of atomic bomb project even though he was just an expert in theoretical physics). He earned that position because he acquired such good persuasive skill (I think it is more to communication skill). So a genius equipped with good culture and communication skill can get you to the top. By comparison, a normal genius person may not be successful as we thought (there was a study on a group of genius which surveyed their career success. It turned out some geniuses did badly in their career.). Too high IQ may not get you where you want. You just need a good enough IQ, like basketball player. At certain height, it is advantageous. Beyond that, everything goes down to skill and speed.
Later the author showed some distinct factors that determined the state of the success for most of the lawyers in the country. The similarity traits in most of the lawyers were largely determined by their race (Jews to be exact), their parents' occupation (most a family grown business which evolved into big industry - garment industry).
Part two of the book deals with the cultural influence towards change and success. Taking example of American Southerner (especially those with roots from highland) which easily enraged by challenge, it is the same cultural practice that distinguished the Asian children superiority in Maths. According to the author, Asian children (especially Chinese) tend to do well in Maths partly because of the language itself (which I agreed). Chinese language has the shortest syllable of number (mostly one syllable). This enables the kids to memorise numbers faster compared to their peers whose mother tongues are non-Chinese. Another reason is the culture which inherited from rice planting in southern China (the author argued that Southerners have better Maths score partly due to limited statistical reference). In the past, the Chinese would ensure every inch of land yielded the highest crop output. Thus, a rigorous calculation and field monitoring were required in rice planting (now, I am not quite sure about this. None of my ancestors were involved in rice planting in China as far as I know). Not only that, it required long hour of labor in the field, and it was a whole-year job, unlike the farmers in the west where they rested during winter. This kind of long resting culture is assimilated into school system where the Americans have long summer break (3 months I guess) compared to Asian school break system. However, if one can utilize the break properly (i.e. with learning and resting), the child could perform better in the coming new semester. This again is pretty much determined by the opportunities given and family background of the child, as explained in part one.
To be continued....
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