[review] OUTLIERS by Malcolm Gladwell

The first book of Gladwell's which I have read. Liked the style of writing, with reasons and experiment details to back up his views. Due to the style of writing, I found myself agreeing to what he wrote, a little too easily. The analytic side of my mind did not like that.

Interesting read nonetheless. It did convinced me that successful people are not the outliers or rare talents that they are portrayed to be. Rather they are average people who are able to identify opportunities, take action, and work damn hard.

Major takeaways from this book were:
> the 10,000 hours rule (work damn hard rule, and the importance of passion)
> effect of culture
> concept of power distance

I look forward to reading other books from Gladwell.

Ulysses Pact - how to prevent your future self from screwing up

Ulysses (aka Odysseus) is a Greek hero and King in Homer's Odyssey which describes his journey home after a long, drawn out war. Along the way, his ship had to pass by the Sirens, whose songs were said entice sailors to change course and suffer a shipwreck. Like any of us, he was curious about the Sirens' songs and he wanted to hear them for himself. But he also wanted to make it back home without a shipwreck. What did he do? Source: Wikipedia As the captain of his ship, he ordered all his men to cover their ears with wax so that they do not get seduced by the Sirens' songs. Next, he made a pact with his men to bind him up on the mast, to ignore his demands of changing the course of the ship while they passed the Sirens and to have their swords on hand in case he breaks free from the mast. They survived the journey passed the Sirens without a shipwreck. This became known as Ulysses Pact or Ulysses Contract - a decision made in free-will today,...

Big Picture Easy, Execution Messy

It’s easy to see the big picture, really. Read some relevant books, read some articles posted online, read some forum reviews or experience sharing by people in the industry. And almost everyone can become a consultant. Just look at the big picture, spot the obvious gaps, and…yak. Talk is cheap. Execution is what brings in the money. But Execution is messy. There are legacy issues. There are stubborn mindsets. There are cemented SOPs. There are undecipherable data. What makes you special today is the ability to convert your big picture, empty talk into executable actions that bring the results you talk about. But few can do that. Can I?

5 qualities of an Entrepreneur

The journey of an entrepreneur is a rough and tough one, however with the challenges come a sense of fulfillment and achievement. If you are looking to start your entrepreneurial journey, here are 5 qualities of an entrepreneur which you may want to cultivate. 1. “Failure” does NOT exist in their dictionary There are no failures in an entrepreneur’s dictionary, only new lessons to be learnt and mistakes to be avoided in the future. Every stumbling block is but a challenge and therefore, there isnt a need to give up. They may change their direction and their methods, but an entrepreneur’s aim and passion never dies. 2. Creativity Entrepreneurs have to use their creativity constantly to innovate and conjour up new services and products, in order to provide value to customers in their targeted market while learning to distinguish themselves from existing competitors. Entrepreneurs are a curious bunch as they are motivated by their need to serve and provide value, and they do this by m...

the subtle lessons

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