Outliers- The Story of Success

We might dismiss Microsoft founder Bill Gates as an anomaly - someone who has super human drive and intellect and an ability to see opportunities before others. We might call him an outlier from the normal population, in many ways. Maclolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers, takes a slightly different and deeper look at what makes Gates and other highly successful individuals and organizations so successful. Gladwell unpacks the patterns of outliers – unusual situations that deviate from the norm – and he finds that there is indeed a pattern of sorts to circumstances that produce results that we are likely to dismiss as “outliers.”

For example, Roseto, PA had unusually low death rates and a very high life expectancy compared to other cities in and town in the region and even in across the country during the 1950s. A physician named Stewart Wolf began to study Roseto to understand what Roseto was doing right that other places weren’t. What he found was that it wasn’t diet or exercise that helped Roseto’s residents – in fact, many were eating foods high in fat and the degree of exercise was not unusually high in Roseto. Genetics didn’t play a large part either, as many of Roseto’s relatives had died much earlier than those living Roseto. It had to be Roseto itself. Wolf discovered a very high degree of community in Roseto and this was contributing to people’s longevity. A high percentage of Roseto’s residents had immigrated from Italy. Roseto had more civic organizations per capita than many

A key theme of the book is the impact of where you are from in Other Gladwell examples illuminate how tendencies towards violence in early Appalachia have implications on people from the region, decades later. Without going into too much detail, this is illustrated by a study done at the University of Michigan which found that people from certain parts of the US reacted more angrily to a certain stimulus than others. Education is affected by where you are from. Schools in the US still use a model where the summer is spent outside of structured school since students used to be needed for farming in a largely seasonal, agrarian society. China, on the other hand could farm rice year round and the work was not as labor intensive so children could go to school year round. Summer learning loss is a major issue in the US and especially in lower-income areas where children do not have the same access to cultural and academic resources during the summer as in more affluent areas. KIPP is an outlier in the sense that it has developed a model where its students, largely low-income, achieve at a higher level than those at peer schools, with performance more similar to affluent peers. The KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) borrows several ideas from the Asian education system and uses its freedom as a charter school to incorporates more learning time during the school year and summer. The results pay off. This is an example of the ‘Outlier’ phenomenon that Gladwell is so interested in: Where are things different from what you might otherwise expect and why?

Gladwell tells these and other stories in Outliers, describing his own and others’ work in a highly readable fashion that exemplifies ethnography at its best, which is a key aspect of design work. Gladwell finds stories and anecdotes that illustrate larger ideas and he tells stories in a very personal and engaging way.

The Future of Technology

Portland is only the beginning of what can be done to erase our carbon footprint. Though sustainability and environmentally sound architecture has been the central focus of many developers and city planners, no one has been able to efficiently use technology to completely rid carbon emissions. This video points out major and vital improvements that should be undertook by these new developers. Connected Urban Development, the creators of this video, suggests that our growing technology can help create an extremely efficient and energy saving community. The video states, “cities must innovate more proactively than ever before.” This means city innovation should incorporate research and technology to reduce carbon emissions and reduce our carbon footprint.

A network of wires and sensors can help reduce the use of energy from coal burning power plants and increase solar power technology. We have gone beyond the age of archaic oil and gas to power homes and cars. The age of technological advancements can redefine the way people live in a world dominated by digital creations. Advanced technology will aid us in moving into a post carbon era, which will become far more efficient and change the way we interact with others and the world around us.

The video states that for this next step to occur cooperation is needed between all three sectors: the government, the business community, and civil society. Climate scientist state that greenhouse gases must be reduced by 60% by 2050; however, it is the cities that produce almost 50% of the total emission and cause global warming. Therefore, by using technology that is already in place, this world can be brought into a clean and environmentally friendly era where energy is not made by the burning of toxic coal; however, made by natural sources like the sun and hydrogen.

Connected Urban Development: Website

-AKSHAR PATEL

Economic Turnaround?

An insightful article from the New York Times details the likelihood of a possible turn the economic health of the United States.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/05/business/economy/05jobs.html?hp

-Akshar Patel

Republicans and the Recession

Interesting Blog entry on Angry Bear....






I was thinking about the economy, and what seem like some signs of possible downturn (hopefully things recover smoothly), and it got me to thinking about recessions. So

Here's a table showing the recessions we've had during that time (dates from the NBER):


By my count, a total of 653 months have elapsed since Ike took office. Rep presidents have been in office for 413 of those months, for a total of 63% of the time.

During the 413 months in which Republicans have held the Presidency, the economy has been in recession for 86 of those months, or about 20.8% of the time. During the 240 months in which the President was a Democrat, the economy has been in recession for 7 months, or about 2.9% of the time. Put another way... there is almost an order of magnitude difference between the two percentages. So even if some of these recessions were somehow caused by Democrats (and the only two recessions that were truly inherited -i.e., that was in progress when the President elected and when he took office - was inherited by JFK and Ford (well, Ford wasn't elected), and even assuming GW manages not to saddle us with a second recession (a feat not pulled off by any two term Republican President in the sample other than Reagan), there clearly is a difference in economic growth rates between the two parties.

Now, some might say... well, Ike, Nixon and Reagan had very different policies. And so did JFK, Carter and Clinton. How can you bunch these people? Well, the response is simple... these same people would have no problems grouping, say, the Dear Leader of North Korea, Castro, and Mao, and stating that its no surprise that these three dictators produced disasters. And yet... the differences between these three dictators are far more pronounced than the differences between Ike, Nixon and Reagan, to say nothing of the differences between JFK, Carter and Clinton.

Whatever the reason, simply put, there is a difference between the economic outcomes of countries that stick the words "socialist" in their names, and countries that follow more or less Western policies. And there is a difference between the economic outcomes achieved in the US under Presidents who call themselves Democrats and those who call themselves Republicans.