Malcolm Gladwell is no stranger to most of us, as the best-selling author of ‘Outliers: The Story of Success’ and ‘Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference’. He reminds us in this succinct video of the power of determinedly carrying out ‘meaningful work’ and the inevitable results of excellence that set apart the icons that edify true success, using the example of Bill Gates and The Beatles. If you haven’t read his highly acclaimed work this video is sure to sum up the inspiration that you need from Gladwell’s invaluable contribution on ‘meaningful work’, and if you have, it will remind you of the stuff that you need to start 2015 on an unstoppable footing. – LF
Malcolm Gladwell: It’s an idea that says that when you put forth effort, you get reward. When you throw your heart, mind, and soul into something, you get something back.
In my book, I call that notion, that belief, that effort brings reward ‘meaningful work’. When you look at the lives of people who are really successful, what you see over and over again, is that this idea of meaningful work is embedded in their consciousness.
I tell the story of the book of The Beatles. Everybody knows about The Beatles. They came here in 1964 – the British invasion. The most interesting thing about the Beatles is what happened to them before they came to America. In 1959/1960, when they were just kids they were invited to go to Homburg in Germany, to be the house band at a strip club. They went there, they stayed there for months on end, and seven days per week, they played eight-hour sets, night after night (in this strip club).
Over the course of that extraordinary crucible – that experience of playing – they taught themselves how to be a great brand. We think now that by the time the Beatles came to America, they had played together as a live band 1200 times. We could go to all of the clubs on Friday night in San Francisco, where all the promising young bands were playing. I submit to you that you’d not find a single band that has played together 1200 times. It just doesn’t happen.
So, what made The Beatles special? What made them special is that they were willing to play together 1200 times…willing to play eight-hour sets seven nights per week, for months at a stretch. Why were they willing? Because they believed in the notion of meaningful work. They had an opportunity to throw their heart and mind into something, and get something back and that made all the difference in the world.
I interviewed Bill Gates for my book because I was really curious about what happened to him as a kid. As everybody knows, he had this extraordinary experience as a 13-year old. In 1969, he goes to his school in eighth grade and they have a teletype machine hooked into a mainframe, which allows him to do real time programming at the age of 13, in 1969. Those of you who know your computer history will know that nobody was doing real time programming in 1969, let alone 13-year olds.
If you had access to a computer at all, you were using those… Remember those clumsy old computer cards, which meant you could do one run every…whatever it was – three days.
He was doing the real thing from the age of 13 on. How did he respond to that opportunity? He threw his heart and mind into it. He never left that room. He ran up computer bills like you would not believe because remember, computer time was incredibly expensive then.
He told me a story. When he was in the 11th grade, Paul Allen (who was his classmate) found out that there was a mainframe in the health centre at the University of Washington, which was free. It wasn’t being used between 2:00am and 6:00am on weekday mornings, and so he would go to bed at 10:00, pretend to his parents that he was getting an early night, set his alarm clock for 1:30, sneak out the window, walk two miles to the University of Washington in pitch black, and program from 2:00 until 6:00.
He told me that one of the reasons he gives so much money to the University of Washington now is he feels guilty about stealing so much computer time from them.
Years later, his mother said that when she heard that story for the first time, she said ‘we always wondered why it was so hard to get him out of bed in the morning’.
Now, why does he do that? Why does he go to those extraordinary lengths? Because he has the right attitude. He was able to capitalise on his ability – not because he’s some genius. I think he’s really, smart. Is he some Einstein? I don’t know. That’s not what sets him apart. What sets him apart is that he had a belief in meaningful work. He was willing to throw his heart and mind into something because he knew he’d get something back.
That attitude is what allowed him to develop his abilities in the way that he did.
