The usual focus is the personal traits that make up an entrepreneur. We usually look at the person when the write about a Pinoy Entrepreneur, or any entrepreneur for that matter. This is not the entire story, as discussed in the new thought-provoking book of Malcolm Gladwell, the Outliers: The Story of Success (Little, Brown and Company [2008], 309 pages).

“Outlier” is “something that is situated away from or classed differently from a main or related body” or “a statistical observation that is markedly different in value from the others of the sample.” The central thesis of Mr. Gladwell is that while the inborn traits if the successful people play a role in achieving their success, other external factors are crucial: birthplace, birth dates, family, culture, among others. The book about those “who do things out of the ordinary”.

There are a number of factors. Mr. Gladwell discussed the study of a group of persons who have exceptionally high IQs and noted that many of the group turned out to be much worse in life. He noted that some navigated through life alone, and, Mr. Gladwell asserts, “no one — not rock stars, not professional athletes, not software billionaires, and not even geniuses — ever makes it alone. Those who are successful had help along the way. It’s really unfair to those who were unlucky in the roll of the dice.

But who says life is fair? Mr. Gladwell discussed the “Matthew Effect”, a label used by the sociologist Robert Merton. It’s based on the biblical passage in Matthew 25:29 — “For unto everyone that hath shall eb given, and he shall have abundance. But from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.” Gladwell presented a number of interesting facts and statistics to illustrate the point that those who are successful are most likely given the kids of special opportunities that lead to further success. It’s similar to the central theme of our previous post on the Rich grows richer, Poor gets poorer.

It’s not that hard work and practice has no bearing on success. It’s not surprise that those who are really successful, like the Beatles or Bill Gates, work much, much harder. Mr. Gladwell picked up on the study on the magic number of hours of the successful ones. “The idea that excellence at performing a complex task requires a critical minimum level of practice surfaces again and again in studies of expertise. If fact, researchers have setttled on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise: then thousand hours.” That’s 10,000 hours of relevant practice and actual exposure to a particular field of expertise.

These are mere snippets of the interesting points, facts and anecdotes discussed in the book (“Outliers”, not “Outliners”). Mr. Gladwell is also the author of the bestselling books The Tipping Point and Blink. The trend that emerge from these books is Mr. Gladwell’s gift to lift a formal study on human beings and discuss it in an arresting and interesting way. There’s more that the Pinoy Entrepreneur could pick up from this book about success.

• Introduction to ENTREPRENEURSHIP: Success Stories of Filipino Entrepreneurs
• Pinoy Entrepreneur Story: Reyes Barbecue
• Entrepreneur of the Year (2005): Lance Gokongwei
• Successful and Inspiring Pinoy Entrepreneurs
• NeGOsyo: Joey Concepcion’s 50 Inspiring Entrepreneurial Stories
• Blue Ocean Strategy (W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne)
• John L. Gokongwei, Jr. – The Path of Entrepreneurship (Marites A. Khanser)