It's Timing AND a Family Role Model

Back again to the importance of when one is born. It seems this even outweighs one's socioeconomic origins. Whereas we saw the hyper-intelligent Chris Langan fail at life because he grew up in an impoverished household that did not nurture him, support his talents, or teach him to seize advantages or overcome adversity, we now learn that being born into poverty does not in itself doom one to mediocrity.

To illustrate this point, Gladwell uses the example of New York lawyers. A lot of the most successful corporate laywers in NYC have this in common: they are Jewish men, born in the Bronx or Brooklyn in the mid-1930s, and have immigrant parents who worked in the garment district. These rich lawyers grew up in lousy socioeconomic conditions with what would appear to be major obstacles to success (like being ethnic, non-Protestant, and lacking upper-class social connections). Not just a few successful New York corporate lawyers, but a LOT of them. So what gives?

These children and grandchildren of Jewish garment workers in 1930s America (specifically New York) acquired practical intelligence (what Chris Langan with his 195 IQ lacked) by watching their elders exhibit autonomy, adaptive and complex thinking, imagination, assertiveness, and a willingness to work very, very hard. They learned that effort brings reward. They watched family members who found themselves in a new land, with little or no English, and no money, take the skills they had and make themselves successful. Gladwell's account is fascinating.