Chapter One of the book is titled, “The Matthew Effect.” Gladwell begins it with this verse from the New Testament text of the Gospel of Matthew:
For unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance. But from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. ~ Matthew 25:29
In other words: Those who are talented at something will continue to grow their talent. Those who are...
Chapter One of the book is titled, “The Matthew Effect.” Gladwell begins it with this verse from the New Testament text of the Gospel of Matthew:
For unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance. But from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. ~ Matthew 25:29
In other words: Those who are talented at something will continue to grow their talent. Those who are not talented will continue not to be, to an even greater extent. It’s also known as the “self-fulfilling prophecy.” This “Matthew Effect” was first coined by sociologist Robert Merton. To illustrate this point, Gladwell introduces the example of the Canadian hockey system for training young athletes. Because of the standard January 1st cut-off date for registrations, anyone with a birthday soon after this day will essentially get an extra year to practice. For this reason, most successful professional hockey players have birthdays in the months of January, February, and March. Certainly these athletes also have talent. But early on, they also had the advantage of extra practice and development time, tracing back to the seemingly random days they were born.
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