When I boarded a plane this past Friday to attend an “unconference” with people I knew from an on-line community…I wondered if I was going to be an outlier. What was it that brought us together? Was it industry? Was it friendship? like-mindedness? Blogging? Thirst for knowledge? All of the above? or None of the above? All scary questions given I was on the plane, committed, and heading to Louisville and looking forward to it.
I should have been an outlier, and yet that was anything but the case as it was all of the above. For me the experience was a social and learning retreat with like-minded people and it was stimulating. Something tells me we will see each other again- it was that impactful.
When most blog about the industry, and I blog about books, how fitting to choose Outliers, the book my club chose for our retreat in February. I think Malcolm Gladwell is a terrific pop culture – right now author. (ok that may not be the most well constructed sentence, but that is what I think). If you are a strengthfinder believer then let me share that “Context” is one of my top 5. I share this because I believe this author in Outliers put context on phenomenon, and made it a fascinating read. If you have not read it, I highly recommend it.
Two of my favorite sections were the stories about Bill Gates and what set him apart to innovate at the time he did, and the shocking facts about airline crashes and cultural communication differences and the relationship to mortality rates. If you have read this book I would love to hear your thoughts about it.
I have also recently picked up his new read, What the Dogs Saw and look forward to reading his collection of writings from The New Yorker.
How about you are you a Gladwell fan? Why or why not?
Happy Reading !
Bent Creek Books
I am a huge Gladwell fan. I have 10,000 hours written large in my office. To remind me that what I spend my time on, and ONLY what I invest my time on, will become an expert skill for me.
Great tie to the event last weekend too!
Thanks Lois- agree the point about 10,000 hours caught my attention- I worked for a consumer market research company all through high school and college. During that time it was drilled into us telephone interviewers how to probe for meaningful answers to open-ended questions. We could not take one word answers. It was almost like a game where who ever could get the most information from the people we were interviewing- won. I am confident those probing skills contributed greatly to my ability to understand needs and get the most information from people when it comes time to assess a situation-! (I do ask a lot of questions:)
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