This document summarizes key opportunities and experiences that helped successful innovators and entrepreneurs achieve greatness, including Bill Joy, Bill Gates, and the Beatles. It discusses how many innovators benefited from being in the right place at the right time, having access to early computers and technology, and putting in 10,000 hours of practice to master their skills. It also examines circumstances that gave some geniuses advantages over others in achieving their full potential.

1. Outliers About men and women who do things that are out of the ordinary

2. The 10,000 hour rule- magic number of greatness University of Michigan had one of the most advanced computer programs in the world The most famous student was Bill Joy Voted most studious student in his school It meant according to him ‘ no date nerd’ Much of the software that allows us to access the internet was written by Joy He rewrote UNIX and wrote java

3. Question? Was it pure meritocracy . He says it is a combination of ability, opportunity and some arbitrary advantage

4. The closer Psychologists look at the careers of gifted, the smaller the role innate talent plays and the bigger the role preparation seems to play Mozart , didn’t produce his greatest work until he had been composing for more than 20 years To become a Chess grandmaster, takes about 10 years To put in 10,000 hours on anything takes about 10 years

6. Berkley – day and night

7. Add up all – 10,000 hours

8. Learning: practice makes you perfect Opportunities He happened to go to the best school This was the era when computer programs were created using card board punch cards He had the opportunity to practice on a time sharing system instead of punching cards Because the Michigan system happened to have a bug in it , he could program all, he wanted Because the university was willing to spend money to keep it open 24 hours , he could stay up all night Because he put in so much effort, when he got the opportunity to rewrite UNIX he was ready

9. Bill gates Bill gates At the beginning of the seventh grade was sent to lakeside ( school for kids of elite) This school had a computer club in 1968 The school had a time sharing terminal Mothers of lakeside school had enough money to pay for the schools computer fees one of the parents happened to work at c-Cubed ( someone had to check its code on weekends) Gates happened to find out about ISI, and they required a software for the payrolls Gates happened to live within waling distance of Washington university It offered him free time between 3 am and 6 am in the morning TRW called somebody called Pembroke to find out the best programmers. He knew only Bill gates All this gave Bill gates time to practice and become an expert By the time he dropped out of Harvard he had done programming for seven consecutive years. He was way past 10,000 hours According to Gates only 50 kids in the entire world would have had this kind of opportunity

10. 1975 Most important date in the history of the personal computer revolution was January 1975 Magazine popular electronics ran a cover story on a super machine called Altair 8800 Do it yourself mini computer kit , you could assemble at home

11. 1975 If you were too old in 1975, you are already with IBM making it difficult to make the transition to the new world The perfect age to be in 1975 is old enough to be part of the revolution. You should be 20 or 21 Bill gates 1955 - Paul Allen 1953 – Founder Microsoft Steve Ballmer 1956 – 3rd richest in Microsoft Steve jobs 1955 – Apple Eric Schmidt 1955 – CEO Google

12. 1975 Bill Joy – 1954 Founders of Sun Microsystem Scott mcNealy 1954 Vinod Khosla 1955 Andy Bechtolsheim 1955

13. 1860s & 70 s Greatest change in American History Railroads Wall street Industrial manufacturing Rules of traditional economy were broken How old were you when the transformation happened Born in the 40’s – too young Born in the 20’s – too old

14. 1860s & 70 s Rockfeller – 1839 ( standard oil) Andrew Carnegie – 1835 ( Steel ) Fredrick weyerhauseuser – 1834 Jay Gould – 1836 ( Union pacific) Marshal Field – 1834 ( George baker – 1840 ( rail road of NJ) Hetty Green – 1834 ( Bank) James Fair – 1831 ( Virginia mining) Henry Rogers – 1840 ( standard oil company) JP Morgan – 1837 ( general electric) Oliver Payne – 1839 (Standard oil company) George Puliman – 1831 ( Pull man) Peter Arrell – 1834 (American Tobacco) Philip Armour – 1832 ( Armour refrigerator)

15. Beatles Came to USA in 1964 In 1960 they were a struggling school rock band Were invited to play in Hamburg, Germany They were asked to play hour after hour to catch the passing traffic In Liver pool they played one hour session In Hamburg, they played seven nights a week , 8 hours a day

16. Beatles On their first trip they played 106 nights – 5 or more hours a night In just over a year and a half, they played performed 270 nights By 1964, they had performed live an estimated 1200 times Most bands don’t do that in their entire career They were close to 10,000 hours in 10 years Their talent undeniable, but their extraordinary opportunities made them prepare Learning: Practice

17. Canada and Ice hockey In the elite group of hockey players 40 % were born between January and Feb 30 % April and June 20 % between July and September 10 % October and December

18. Canada and Ice hockey Nothing to do with Astrology The eligibility cut of date for age- class hockey is january 1st . A boy who turns 10 on Jan 2nd is playing alongside someone who doesn’t turn 10 until the end of next year At that age a twelvemonth gap in age represents an enormous difference in physical maturity He gets twice as much as someone who get left behind due to Jan 1st date By the age of 14, this extra practice gives him the edge

19. The trouble with Genuises ‘Knowledge of a boy’s iq is of little help if you are faced with a formful of clever boys’ 1 vs 100 100 ordinary people who serve as what is called ‘mob’ 1 person , special guest has to answer them Christoperlangan – IQ 195 ( Einstein 150) Considered as the smartest man in USA When his winnings reached $2,50,000 Says ‘ I will take the cash’ and walks away

20. The trouble with geniuses - 2 Chris Langan Started talking in 6 months Taught himself to read at 3 years Mother missed a deadline to sign his financial aid form Pleads his case Scholarship taken away Oppenheimer Tries to poison his tutor Pleads his case Sent to a psychiatrist Becomes scientific director of the Manhattan project

21. The trouble with geniuses - 2 The particular skill that allows you to talk your way out of a murder rap or convince your professor to move you from the morning to the afternoon section practical intelligence Knowing what to say to whom Knowing when to say knowing how to say it for maximum effect Oppenheimer had both – general intelligence and practical intelligence

22. The trouble with geniuses - 2 Oppenheimer Raised in a wealthy neighborhood Son of an artist Weekends spent in country side Summers in Europe Chris Langan Home dominated by an angry drunken stepfather As a child Distrust authority Be independent Never had a parent to teach him how to speak up for himself

23. The ethnic theory of plane crashes The loss rate for an airline like United Airlines in 1988 to 1998 was .27 per million departures They lost a plane in an accident about once in every 4 million flights The loss rate for Korean aire 4.79 per million departures More than 17 times higher

24. Audit Flight crews were smoking on the tarmac during refueling In the freight area When the plane was in the air Crew read news papers thru the flight Often with news papers held in such a way that if a warning light came on it would not be noticed Numerous procedural violations Korean president “ our country’s credibility is at stake’

25. Miracle Korean air turned itself around Is today part of the Skyteam alliance Safety record spotless since 1999 2006 won the Phoenix award

26. Miracle In an overwhelming number of cases the plane is behind schedule , pilots are hurrying In 52 % of the crashes , pilot at the time of accident has been awake for 12 hours or more Tired and not thinking 44 % of the time , two pilots have never flown together ‘The whole flight deck design is intended to be operated by two people and that operation works best when you have one person checking the other’ Chief engineer for safety at Boeing.

27. Avianca accident 1990 Route Colombia to New York Poor weather 230 flights delayed Flight was held up by the Air traffic controller three times Plane circled for a long time , an hour and a half before it was cleared The plane crashed in the real estate owned bu the father of John McCnroe Reason ‘Fuel exhaustion”