My first foray into the world of Malcolm Gladwell was through his fabulous book The Tipping Point. I definitely recommend you start with this classic that shares how little things can make a big difference. Understanding connectors and how this influential group can affect a business, community and even your family was my biggest take-away. I loved this book!
After finishing The Tipping Point I next picked up Blink… and I wasn’t disappointed. Basically, this is a book about trusting our intuition. “The power of thinking without thinking.”
Right after reading Blink, I had one of my coaching clients say an interesting thing to me. He said, “one of the things I’m going to change in my life is to start trusting my instinct. When I haven’t done that, I always regret it.” I, too have had times when my first thought was ignored and later realized I should have followed through with my original impression.
This book is an interesting read with many examples and studies to prove that our first thoughts and impressions are usually correct and lead us in the right direction. Reading this books opens your mind to a new way of thinking that just may help you personally and professionally. You will have the ability to make better decisions in less time.
When I saw Outliers, I didn’t even bother to read the snippet on what it was about… I just bought it. Gladwell has a fantastic way of bringing facts and stories together to make a point about something we may have never considered on our own.
In Outliers, Gladwell takes what we THINK about success and shows that there may be other factors contributing to the success we admire so much in other people. And what does it take to have that kind of success? Almost always, it comes down to 10,000 hours and the fact that successful people don’t do it alone.
I enjoy reading the stories of successful entrepreneurs and this book takes that to another level in helping us understand what many don’t even realize about their own success. Outliers is a very interesting read and I will be first in line for the next Gladwell book.
