Outliers

Firstly, I want to acknowledge how well written this book is, Gladwell was able to provide clear evidence and anecdotes that proved an undermined correlation between the success of an individual and the society that produced the right opportunities that fueled that success. He emphasizes the idea that success is a medley of the right opportunities, cultural background, and hard work- not innate talent. It is baffling to see that this seems logical yet we haven’t acted upon these findings, I would like to believe that with this knowledge we can create more opportunities for everyone and in effect allow everyone to succeed in what they want to succeed in. This whole book I feel, is a call to action as Gladwell questions how many more Microsofts we would have today if a million teenagers had been given the same opportunity as Bill Gates, “our world allowed only that thirteen-year-old unlimited access to a time-sharing terminal in 1968”(268).  It is sad to see we continue to use useless exams to determine intelligence levels in which we base our ideas of success and continue to use systems in which we limit opportunities so that only some succeed. I really think we should implement some of Gladwell’s ideas into our society like creating classes based on birth dates instead of rank and see how it might play out just like KIPP did.
Chapter seven, “The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes” was one of the chapters that caused me to think more deeply about how culture plays into how we respond to certain situations and how that can lead us to failure or success. It was interesting to  learn about the “Power Distance Index” in which cultures are examined to see attitudes towards hierarchy and the amount of respect given to authority. Gladwell explains that the reason most plane crashes occur is because of cultural miscommunication and he provided examples like the Avianca crash where the subordinate, Klotz failed to report his state of emergency. Gladwell says this can be due to the high power-distance of Colombians as he was probably frustrated that the captain was not doing his job and he was using his own cultural language to express himself to the ATC. Klotz’s society values authority and speaking up against let’s say the captain or talking to the ATC would not be something he would be comfortable doing. America falls under the low power distance category and Gladwell notes that “no American would have been so fatally intimidated by the controllers at Kennedy Airport” and that their “American-ness” means they would be most likely to take control as they see the air traffic controller as an equal. This was weird to me because I identify as “American” as I have been born and raised in an American society however, I also identify as Mexican and I indulge in its culture but these countries are at opposite ends of the PDI.  I often find myself speaking up even with authority figures. I do not necessarily think this is because of my American society but from just the idea of being affiliated with different cultures. If the whole culture thing was relevant then I would be less in command because of the Mexican culture I had always been surrounded by. The thing is my experiences oppose the whole PDI ideas because at home I was taught that I am an equal but in school and in other interactions in the American society I was taught to respect authority. Is this being some sort of an outlier? I think America in general is an outlier in culture tests because we have created an American culture but it is not prominent as a whole in America because there are also a lot of different cultures represented, this would mean that not everyone would respond the same as we are all attached to a different culture.