Malcolm Gladwell Explains Why Human Potential Is Being Squandered

Highlights from a PopTech Talk by Sociologist Malcolm Gladwell, author of "Outliers: The Story of Success."

"When we observe differences in how individuals succeed in the world our initial thought is always to say, to argue that that is the result of some kind of innate difference in ability.

And when we look at the different rates that groups succeed we think that that reflects some underlying innate trait in the characteristics of that group. And that is wrong... what capitalization rates say... is there's another explanation and that has to do with poverty, with stupidity, and with culture."

"We have a scarcity of achievement... not because we have a scarcity of talent. We have a scarcity of achievement because we're squandering our talent. And that's not bad news that's good news; because it says that this scarcity is not something we have to live with. It's something we can do something about."

Watch full talk at PopTech [19 min.]:

[zagi]

I listened to audio version of his book "Outliers: The Story of Success." I highly recommend it! amazing book!

[christhescienceguy]

I think this talk helped me explain a lot of things on why so much STEM talent could get wasted in the world and in America.

[noturdaddyblameyomomma]

The reason I decided to coach my son's baseball team is, in part, for the reasons Malcolm mentioned with regards to development. I realized nearly all coaches prioritize the better players (which are usually the older kids) & neglect the other players. No development whatsoever. They also prioritize "winning" over development. Yo would think these people (the coaches) will figure out they're losing all the time because kids are not being developed, but to no one's surprise, they actually blame the the children that don't play well & their parents for letting them join team. Dad to the rescue 💪🏼

[ja]

What I like most about Malcolm Gladwell is how he uses facts to back up his point of view. He's got facts equipped like arrows on his back, shooting one after another; all falling into place to make a solid case.

[davelavish]

Malcom you are my favorite social psychologist sir, keep on doing your thing and change the way people think.

[babin]

The internets greatest contribution is as a social forum without boundaries. It lets an anti-social society socialize, and yes although 99% of people end up arguing over the cutest cat videos of the week, the comments on Malcolm Gladwell videos that inspire thought make it all worth it.

[dragonhold]

_Poverty, Stupidity, and Culture are what stunt capitalization (not ability)_
—Malcolm Gladwell

[Renae]

I can tell you that drive and passion are factors and you cannot achieve without them. I know a lot of people with tremendous drive and passion but don't get very far. Its about who you know more than anything. Passion helps you succeed once you get there. Knowing someone gets you the opportunity to prove yourself.

[enochbrown]

Wonderful lecture. I agree with everything he says with one caveat: I roomed with a fellow midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy in the early 1970's by the name of Thomas Reilly. He was - by all accounts, including my own - a brilliant student. He majored in aeronautical engineering and received top grades in his chosen major. Also, most of us studied a hell of a lot more than he did just to tread water and get by. He did not and often took weekends off. So, there is a lot to be said about innate talent and how it propels one above the crowd. There was also another student at the Academy by the name of Rocky Raher who was even more brilliant than Reilly, who once took the final exam for differential equations (and aced it) after studying a total of 4 nights. So, does talent matter? Well, what do you think?

[axelasdf]

Beneficiary of the relative age effect here: My aunt was an educator that told my parents not to enroll me into school until they had to. I was a year more mature and experienced than I would have been if I had been enrolled at the "early" opportunity. I still encourage this.

[somerando]

I've worked for a few companies, none of them have ever checked my credit. A friend of mine works for a staffing agency, they don't check credit either. It is actually in a companies interest to hire indebted employees. They *need* this job.

[davelavish]

Poverty is the #1 thing that limits human potential. We need to make are biggest focus as a nation trying to get people out of poverty.

[TheDavidlloydjones]

The cuts are sometimes a little sharp, but the benefit of the editing is huge. Thank you, whoever it is who started to barely function.

[gigas]

I've read interviews from professionals (college graduate that went into a high reward job with high risk) and read a quote saying "As good as people believe I am, there were people in my neighborhood better than I am at my job." Its crazy because imagine if those people had a chance or desired to work at a professional level? How far could we as a human race be? Gladwell is right about the "stupidity" part. Selfishness, cronism, pride, etc. all need to disappear for progress to happen.

[victorhugovaladezcabrera]

I love all these teachings, thanks my dear God.

[brucelee]

"hard work" is long hours that lead to nothing. "Successful work" is organized long hours that lead to an aimed goal.

[CanadaYo]

Neal Degrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist because he was given the means and he created his own potential that's a great example of capitalising on human potential.

[dianewiegel]

Good talk, we need to do better at empowering children and adults of any background to achieve.

[justgivemethetruth]

Gladwell seems to be moving in a very specific direction with his writing and the conclusions that he is getting to. I think most of the effort of our country is specifically to reduce human capitalization, we do it on purpose to promote status quo stability - I'd hypothesize anyway. I don't recall him writing much about this in Outliers though.

[annarboriter]

I think he ignores the vested interests of members of the ruling class to perpetuate their own success through their offspring, meaning that being born to wealthy parents increases one's chances for success regardless of persistence of talents.
As for his example of the rates of potential achieved among Chinese immigrants, the overriding factor is not that they are Chinese i.e cultural determinism, but that they are cohort that collectively emigrated as part of an effort towards achievement.