Malcolm Gladwell

overlook just how large a role we all play—and by “we” I mean society—in determining who makes it and who doesn’t.

dive to block the puck

And whyBecause we cling to the idea that success is a simple function of individual merit and that the world in which we all grow up and the rules we choose to write as a society don't matter at all.

Those were the ingredients of success at the highest level: passion, talent, and hard work.

Bigger kid for his ageO f course he was. Scott W asden was born on January 4, within three days of the absolute perfect birthday for an elite hockey player. He was one of the lucky ones. If the eligibility date for Canadian hockey were later in the year, he might have been watching the Memorial Cup championship from the stands instead of playing on the ice.

The 10,000-Hour Rule “IN HAMBURG, WE HAD TO PLAY FOR EIGHT HOURS.”

movie 2001: A Space Odyssey

Off to the side were

Silicon Valley firm

he buried himself even deeper in the world of computer software. During the oral exams for his PhD, he made up a particularly complicated