FOREWORD

The Canadian born journalist Malcolm Gladwell is responsible for popularizing a number of interesting ideas: in his breakthrough book, The Tipping Point, he got a whole generation of readers to appreciate the importance of social diffusion in what makes things popular. No matter that social science has largely disproved his interpretation of the literature on the subject. One fascinating byproduct is the apparent legitimacy that The Tipping Point gives to “cool-hunting” – the practice of business hanging around with cool kids (mostly poor kids from deprived areas) to report back on their “influential” choices and preferences, hairstyles and sneaker choice.

In Outliers, he raises another interesting but contested idea from the dusty corridors of social science: the idea that to be a high performer – at music, sport or any similar skill-based practice – you need to spend 10,000 hours practicing. 10,000 hours is the magic number (and the title of one of the chapters in the book). Practice, as the adage goes, makes perfect.

This is an important and noteworthy idea because, as Anders Ericsson (Professor at the University of Colorado, the psychologist whose 1993 paper The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance is the source of this idea) puts it, “many characteristics once believed to reflect innate talent are actually the result of intense practice extended for a minimum of 10 years.”

The study Ericsson’s work highlights is one by Berlin-based psychologists of violinists, but other writers – for example, Daniel Coyle and Gladwell himself - trace this notion in other contexts. Gladwell cites the importance of the Beatles’ Hamburg residency in honing their skills as musicians and performers prior to their breakthrough. Others point to sports people as exemplars of a similar rule (the Arnold Palmer quote “The more I practice, the luckier I get.” is widely touted by people discussing this in sporting contexts).

But is this all it takes to have great ideas? 10,000 hours of ideation (as our friends across the Atlantic call it)? Just have a lot and then you’ll get some good ones?

Well, no. Not exactly.

For two reasons:

First, the 10,000 hours figure isn’t as straightforward as you might think – in Ericsson’s angry response to Gladwell he points out that 10,000 hours is the average, and that there is a range of scores either side of that mean figure. Many of the best performers in the study had “substantially fewer” hours of practice under their belts.

Second, the quality of practice turns out to be really important. It’s not just any old practice – doing any old thing. You need to practice good routines and good ways of having ideas if you want to be a high performer in ideas.

Which is where Kevin’s latest book comes in: this is like a training camp for people who want to have great ideas.

He’s managed to boil down many of the essential tools and routines that help you to have good ideas. Some of which I’ve not come across before and some I realized to my own amusement I assumed were “natural” (i.e. they are routines I’ve now completely internalized).

Whether you’re a beginner or a Grand Master, all YOU have to do is practice, practice, practice…

Mark Earls

Author Herd and I’ll Have What She’s Having