Outliers are those who have been given opportunities and who have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them
To build a better world, we need to replace the patchwork of lucky breaks and arbitrary advantages that determine success today — the fortunate birth dates and the happy accidents of history — with a society that provides opportunities for all.
We are so caught in the myths of the best and the brightest and the self-made that we think outliers spring naturally from the earth. We look at the young Bill Gates and marvel that our world allowed that thirteen-year-old to become a fabulously successful entrepreneur. But that’s the wrong lesson. Our world only allowed one thirteen-year-old unlimited access to a timesharing terminal in 1968. If a million teenagers had been given the same opportunity, how many more Microsofts would we have today?