I had the opportunity last night to see an hour-long Q&A with Malcom Gladwell at U of T last night (his alma mater), thanks to an invitation from Barry Martin of communications, design and consulting firm Hypenotic.

Gladwell was in Toronto to promote his new book, Outliers, a look at the nature of success. (If you don’t know who Gladwell is, here’s his Wikipedia.) I had not read the book yet–we received a copy at the door–although I had read much about it already, so I was keen to hear it straight from the source.

A few interesting points from  the evening:

• Firstly, he’s Canadian. Did you know that? I didn’t. I don’t know how I missed that.
• He’s also very  charismatic and funny in person, contrary to his somewhat unconventional appearance. A great speaker.
• He believes that to become an “outlier”, that is someone exceptional in their field, it takes 10,000 hours of work, which he breaks down to four pure hours of work a day for 10 years. In order for most people to achieve that, he says, it takes a significant support system, whether it’s institutional support, wealth, or required professional development (i.e. a medical residency).
• One of the most interesting ideas he spoke about was the ‘capitalization rate’ of talent – how often do we, as a society, find people’s talent and exploit it in the right way? It’s a compelling concept, one he illustrated with interesting data and case studies, such as this particularly Canadian example from the New York Times review of Outliers:

The book’s first chapter explores the anomaly of hockey players’ birthdays. In many of the best leagues in the world, amateur or professional, roughly 40 percent of the players were born in January, February or March, while only 10 percent were born in October, November or December. It’s a profoundly strange pattern, with a simple explanation. The cutoff birth date for many youth hockey leagues is Jan. 1. So the children born in the first three months of the year are just a little older, bigger and stronger than their peers. These older children are then funneled into all-star teams that offer the best, most intense training. By the time they become teenagers, their random initial advantage has turned into a real one.

There has been much written about Outliers, so if you’re interested in reading more, Google it or pick it up in store (thanks to the tanking economy, there are lots of good sales on in retail right now).