Malcom Gladwell

I am pro-choice and in favour of gay marriage. I believe in God. I think the war in Iraq is a terrible mistake. I am a big believer in free trade. I think smoking is a terrible problem and that cigarette manufacturers ought to be subjected to every possible social and political sanction. But I think that filing product liability lawsuits against cigarette manufacturers is absurd. I am opposed to the death penalty. I hate SUVs. I think many CEOs are overpaid..."

So it is talent? Luck? Or just practice? Gladwell debunks the classical equation of precociousness with prodigiousness with his 10,000-hour practise rule. Excelling at a complex task, he concludes, requires a critical minimum level of practise. Mozart for instance, didn't produce his greatest works until he had been composing for more than twenty years. The Beatles had played live about 1200 times before their first hit in 1964, thanks to being invited to perform at non-stop shows in Hamburg where they were forced to play for as much as eight hours at a time, seven days a week. “At first blush, they (outliers) lie outside ordinary experiences but they don't. They are products of history and community, or opportunity and legacy,”" says Gladwell, adding emphaticaly - "No genius makes it alone.

Source ET -Corporate Dosier