Outliers — A Universal Phenomenon

Recently I came across the book — Outliers. It’s one of the most phenomenal books that I have come across in recent times. Though I am still halfway through my read, there are a few observations that I made and they were not only unbelievably true but also so apt in the situations that I have been in.

Outliers — What the book says?

Outliers is a book that changes the way we look at success. Most of us define success based on individual merit. However, Malcolm Gladwell very exhaustively illustrates that success is a product of the environment that a person grew up in — the year or month that they were born, to whom they were born, the neighborhood that they grew up in, the school that they went to, their country and so many incidental factors which are far from only individual merit. Don’t get me wrong, this has nothing to do with astrology or stars but about the opportunities that knocked on a person’s door, the ones that they took advantage of and the ones that they didn’t. It’s really about being at the right place at the right time. Gladwell takes examples from across fields — sports, tech, music, academics and more to illustrate that this phenomenon is not only true but also majorly overlooked.

A Conversation

I was recently discussing the above synopsis with a colleague of mine and he asked me a very interesting question. He said, “are you able to relate it with events in your own life?”

I had not given it a conscious thought until he asked me this, but the moment he did, my obvious and immediate answer was ‘yes’. While talking to him, I figured that this phenomenon was something that had affected my life in ways more than one. Let’s look at how.

I had started my career as a sales professional in an online food discovery & delivery start-up. It wasn’t long before I was pulling my hair out over my sales targets and every day rejections. On a typical day, I would go out, give a sales pitch to restaurants to buy our ad spaces on the app, get rejected, and come home demoralized. With each passing day I would increasingly feel that I was in the wrong place, in the wrong role, in the wrong city and in a misfit environment; that I should have chosen marketing and not sales. Not like I had any marketing opportunities when I started, but I constantly had the “what if I had looked harder?” thought.

On most days, I used to stop by for lunch at this pretty cafe called ‘Snacking’. I was in awe of this place — the ambiance, the food, the staff, the warmth that this place extended (you should stop by this place if you’re ever in Calcutta) but most of all the man who owned this place — Prateek. He would come to interact with every customer that set foot in his cafe, making them feel welcomed and ensuring that they were happy with what they got. He did the same to me during every visit of mine. In no time, we became friends, and the moment he learned about my unhappy job, he mentioned that he knew someone who was hiring for a marketing role in another food delivery start-up, in my home city. I don’t want to bore you with the details of my interviews (which also in a lot of ways illustrate this principle) but after multiple interviews, I finally bagged this opportunity. Now I don’t come from an ivy-league or tier A institute, so making this transition from sales to marketing would have been impossible otherwise, had it not been for this conversation. Of course, I did develop my marketing skill-set over the next few years and I honestly still am, which gave me more hours of practice, learning, and exposure to the field (Gladwell’s 10,000 hours of practice principle) but none of this would have been possible if I wouldn’t have chosen that particular cafe for lunch or if I wouldn’t have loved that place to visit and re-visit it every day, if Prateek wouldn’t have been one of those owners who come to the cafe everyday and if we hadn’t spoken to each other. A lot of things had to come together for me to eventually get that job. I was in the right place at the right time!

Of course, the effects of that one conversation do not stop at me getting that marketing opportunity. I eventually went on to take up multiple marketing roles post that and found a much more satisfying career path, met my partner at my new workplace and moved to cities with more balanced lifestyles and better opportunities. All because of that one conversation!

A Movie

I just finished watching the movie ‘Catch-me-if-you-can’ and I couldn’t help but notice how apt Gladwell’s principle was in that movie too.

‘Catch-me-if-you-can’ is a true-story based on the life of Frank William Abagnale Jr. (played by Leonardo DiCaprio). He makes his money by altering and routing numbers on bank checks. He is an expert at printing checks. He knews exactly which ink to use, the shades and the paper. He can differentiate between a fake and an original by just weighing the check with his hands. He very well understands the bank routing numbers and the system loopholes. Now Frank is being chased by an FBI agent called Carl Hanratty (a character based on Joseph Shea and played by Tom Hanks), who specializes in bank fraud cases. Eventually, Frank gets caught and is sentenced to a maximum-security prison for 12 years. However, during his time in prison, Carl visits Frank often. On one such meeting, the former seeks the latter’s advice on a case he is working on and shows him a check. In no time, Frank figures out the involvement of the bank teller in the fraud. It is at this instance that Carl gets an idea. He convinces the FBI to let Frank serve the rest of his sentence working for the FBI bank fraud unit.

Today, Frank Abagnale is one of the most respected authorities on bank fraud and forgery. He’s built numerous systems which banks worldwide, use today. He charges them hundreds and thousands of dollars for his services.

Do you see a pattern?

Finding your Luck

I won’t deny, that in the conversation instance that I just quoted, I was lucky. But that luck was simply a result of a choice, a decision. I truly believe that my luck evolved from my quest for mental peace — a choice that I made at that time. The reason I went to Snacking again and again and again was to find my peace. It’s the perfect place where one can find their ‘me-time’. Who knows what would have happened if I had gone to the restaurant next to it?

Similarly, Frank’s success today is a factor of multiple things, starting with Carl Hanratty (Joseph Shea) being allotted to his case. Had someone else been allotted, probably Frank would have never been caught or if he would have, who knows if that officer would have ever had the idea of channelizing Frank’s knowledge towards helping the FBI. It was also a result of the fondness that Frank and Carl developed for each other during their ‘catch & run’ phase, the fact that Carl visited him during his custody, the incidental conversation that they had regarding the new case that Carl was working on, the FBI agreeing to Frank working for the fraud unit for the rest of his sentence. Imagine if there happened to be a different jury, would they have approved? Maybe. Maybe not.

Honestly, nobody knows what is best for you but the only way you can find that out is by trying out different things, by making mistakes, making choices, working hard, and grabbing (or not grabbing) the opportunities that come your way! It’s really about being at the right place at the right time but the harder and smarter you work, the more involved you are with something, it eventually does get you to be where you need to be.