Of all Gladwell's books, "Blink" was my favorite. I struggled with "Outliers" but realized something later about the message he was trying to pass on. It wasn't a template for success.

Many people admire the outliers in society and want to be like them without outlier behavior.

Many will NEVER become rich even though they wish and dream of it daily. Many will work hard and still not rise above the rest. Many will have luck and squander it. New outliers will emerge from those who do things that stand out from others. Outliers are the odd ones of today.

Celebrities are not the outliers today, they used to be until we had a celebrity glut. Zuckerberg and Musk were nerds (and are still nerds) who were outliers in their time but now, there is a glut of nerds. Crypto won't create new Billionaires they've already have been created.

Outliers have to either discover new things or become a new version of human beings. They have always been extremists and not people who play it safe. They were, however, not as foolish as people misinterpret the words of Steve Jobs. They will only be seen as foolish by others.

Black turtle necks or t-shirts will not make you a Billionaire, it is all in the brain. The brain is the source of ALL great wealth and achievement. You can only think your way into being an outlier. @naval once said that you must be "fundamentally broken" to become one.

People who seek for approval will NEVER become outliers. People who crave popularity rarely become great unless they are totally obsessed with themselves. Extreme narcissists are excellent outliers as it is not common behavior. Hence Trump and some types of rich celebrities.

You may love Trump but you can't bring yourself to become him as he had a headstart which you didn't have. Outliers have advantages others do not and that is what I think Gladwell should have stressed more. Some of the advantages are not innate, most are. The brain is innate.

Outliers are as rare as Unicorns. Being different doesn't make you a true outlier unless you are VERY different. I was just playing back my memories of all the people I grew up with to find out which one amongst us stood out the most? I found a few.

Most of us are successful but within the definitions of success by society. Outliers can't be defined by the boundaries of normal people. I tried to be one by choosing a different path from all that was expected of me but realized from a friend Deji that I wasn't extreme enough

Deji is an outlier. He was always at Thistle Bar every day after doubling his targets. He honed his craft not to be the best but to become the greatest. Ohis Ohiwerei is another outlier. He sees a world very different from the way others see it. http://www.notore.com/about-us/board-of-directors/item/149-mr-ohis-ohiwerei

Deji and Ohis have IQs that are off the charts. I have never seen them back away from any challenge. They both also have quirks that people who don't know them will find odd. They are human, they feel but what they do best is that they think very deep.

For both of them, the ability to have original thinking comes natural. Ohis started a card shop after a degree in engineering. He wasn't at first interested in banking until the guys at Citibank came calling and had a clash with him. I knew that day he was going to become one.

He ended up being an executive director at GTBank, retired from banking and came back again to an entirely different field as GMD of Notore Industries. When I heard last year that he was there, I was not surprised. His creativity is unparalleled, he may still do the card shop.

For him, corporate life is like a hobby. He once told me before he retired from banking that it had become boring. For others, it is what they dream of and never achieve. His cousin Obeahon Ohiwerei is also another outlier. There must be something in that family.

I still remember how they both came to Lagos with his mother's old car. How we met at Reeve Towers every night and my big bro @osuide was the anchor for everyone. Anytime I complained about something, he would laugh and ask me to look at it another way. That other way is the way.

We are always fixated about the way things should be without considering what it can be. I learned that from him and my big bros @osuide who is another outlier. A medical doctor turned tech guru. He broke down DevOps for me in one night in a way I can't ever forget.

I just realized something that almost all the people who came to Reeve Road those evenings became the very best at what they do. Maybe there was something in that alcohol :)