Outliers: The Story of Success – The Three Lessons of Joe Flom

The introduction to this chapter starts off with a description of Joe Flom’s background. Joe Flom is a lawyer, and is “the last living “named” partner of the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom.” There are obviously three key points to be learned after reading this chapter.

The first lesson is “The Importance of Being Jewish.” The lesson sounds somewhat Masonic in nature, but it’s idea was a result of the discrimination the Jews experienced in the job market of the forties and fifties. Many Jewish lawyers were shut out of the big Wall Street firms, because of discriminatory hiring policies that catered mostly to White Anglo-Saxon Protestants. This rejection ended up being a blessing, because it gave the Jewish law community vast experience in cases the “white shoe” firms would not touch. It ended up that the need for representation of these “untouchable” cases would substantially increase, and the only ones with the experience were the Jewish lawyers. This, in effect, made them rich and successful, sometimes more than the firms that rejected them.

The second lesson is “Demographic Luck.” This lesson compares those born in the very early 1900’s to determine what factors and birth years helped to make them more successful later in life. If you were born from 1903 to 1911, there were more chances of you having and unlucky future than if you were born from 1912 to 1917. The first set of dates graduates from college just in time to have the job market most detrimentally affected by the Great Depression. The draft for World War II also adversely affected this age group, as they were almost in their forties at the time. Those born in the later set of birth dates were out of college after the depression had mostly dissipated, and them being drafted to war could be counted more as job experience than an interruption to their lives. This lesson also brings to light the benefits of being born in a depression/recession era. Less babies are born during these times, due to the costs involved when raising a family. Those that are actually born during these times benefit from smaller class sizes, less competition, and a larger upcoming generation that will require their services. Those who were lucky enough to be in the New York City area at this time had access to the best public school education in the world. This helped them gain experience that others could just not achieve.

The third lesson is “The Garment Industry and Meaningful Work.” This lesson exposes the community that helped cultivate Jewish lawyers. There is a certain upbringing that is cohesive to success and the belief that it can be achieved. Family trees are studied, and time and time again, Jewish families that started in the garment industry end up having a  family tree-lined with doctors and lawyers. One family tree started out with a small grocer, and the grocer ended up with eleven grandchildren who were doctors and lawyers. This was just one example, but there were many more cited. The garment industry was hard work. When you are raised by people with this work mentality, it lets you know that  a lot will be expected of you as well. Family businesses are created, children are made into experts, and a profit is made. This profit allows grand children to pursue the best education available, such as attending law or medical school.

This book ends up sounding more like the survival of statistics than the survival of the fittest. It doesn’t matter which one applies, as both can be applied to anyone. A lot of us, no matter what we do, will never become rich and/or famous. There are certain things that affect our lives that are beyond our control. My only recommendations are to seek knowledge, show respect, and hope for success. A disaster that chose a path of ignorance is far worse than a disaster that sought knowledge.

“Hard work is a prison sentence only if it does not have meaning.”