Outliers – Book of the Year 2008

“. . . a surprising number of the most powerful and successful corporate lawyers in New York City have almost the exact same biography: they are Jewish men, born in the Bronx or Brooklyn in the mid-1930′s to immigrant parents who worked in the garment industry. Now, you can call that a coincidence. Or you can ask—as I do—what is about being Jewish and being part of the generation born in the Depression and having parents who worked in the garment business that might have something to do with turning someone into a really, really successful lawyer?”

“It’s those who lie outside ordinary experience who have the most to teach us.”

“We’ve been looking at tall trees, and I think we should have been looking at the forest.”

– from an interview of Malcom Gladwell about his new book Outliers

Diversified Insurance Group has a holiday tradition of sending an influential business book to our clients and partners at the end of every year. This year we’ve selected Outliers – The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell as our firm’s 2008 Book of the Year.

We have simple criteria when picking our book of the year: 1) it must be published in the given year, and 2) it needs to be both meaningful and enjoyable to read. This year we reviewed 10 books that fit this description and were all worthy of consideration. Outliers stood out, pun intended, because it was the most enjoyable. It is highly entertaining and readable. And given the economic challenges this country is currently facing we thought a little light reading would be appreciated.

Outliers helps us look at success in an entirely different way and explains various factors that contribute to extraordinary performance. Gladwell provides some fascinating and interesting examples to demonstrate his theories by examining the wealthiest people in the history of the world, from Nobel laureates to Junior Hockey All-Stars in Canada. Sharing his anecdotes, lists and conclusions will help enliven any holiday party or dinner conversation.

As a professional service provider, we are constantly working at ways to differentiate our firm and to stand-out from our competition — to be a true outlier in the most positive sense. One of the ways we’ve been able to do this is to associate with highly successful partners and clients. If it is true that you’re known by the company you keep, then we’re well on our way to accomplishing this goal.

We hope you enjoy this book as much as we did. If you get a chance, we’d appreciate your comments on the titles we’ve selected as our books of the year.

- Spence Hoole