The One {everyone is talking about}

Why do some people succeed far more than others?

While conventional wisdom points to an individual’s raw talent, intelligence, and ambition, author Malcolm Gladwell proposes an alternate theory. If we really want to understand how outliers—or superachievers—thrive, Gladwell says, we need to take a good look around them. At their family and cultural background. At where and even when they were born.

“It’s not the brightest who succeed,” Gladwell writes. “Nor is success simply the sum of the decisions and efforts we make on our own behalf. It is, rather, a gift. Outliers are those who have been given opportunities—and who have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them.”

Using research, case studies, and good, old-fashioned storytelling, Gladwell dissects a variety of success stories, from Bill Gates to the Beatles. So Gates’s genius ensured he outshined thousands of computer geeks to create the Windows operating system? Take a closer look and you’ll find that his high school was one of very few to have a computer club, and that through a “lucky” break, he was able to use University of Washington computers on a nearly unlimited basis.

Believe pro hockey player success rests on raw talent alone? Not so, says Gladwell. Roughly 40 percent are born during the first three months of the year. Considering the cutoff date for many youth hockey leagues is January 1, kids with early birthdays are older, bigger, and stronger than kids born in the last months of the year. The result is that they receive the best coaching and the most practice time. And excel because of it.

TALK ABOUT IT:

Despite its research-driven subject matter, Outliers is a surprisingly easy and entertaining read. Gladwell’s liberal use of stories not only supports his points but keeps them from feeling dry and academic.

At times, however, Gladwell’s reasoning falters. Exploring sociologist Robert Merton’s “Matthew Effect,” he quotes Matthew 25:29: “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” (KJV).

Taking the Scripture out of context, Merton—and Gladwell—interpret it to mean that those who are successful will be given opportunities that lead to further success, such as those bigger hockey players getting better coaching. But reading the passage in the context of the parable of the talents, it’s plain to see Jesus was speaking about how we as Christ-followers should make use of our gifts, rather than indicating that further opportunities will arise from them.

Still, the concepts in Outliers are worthy of discussion in light of our faith. If, as Gladwell proposes, it takes 10,000 hours of practice to be successful, what implications could that hold for prayer? Reading Scripture? What gifts has God given us and how can we best make use of them? And perhaps most important, how can we as a community of believers positively—or negatively—affect the “success” of our Christian brothers and sisters?

If Only Life Came with a Syllabus

Last weekend, I headed to a local coffee shop with a stack of books for a graduate course I’m taking. Before I began the week’s reading, I pored over the course outline, highlighter in hand, and pens with two different colors of ink at the ready. I spent several minutes marking the most important information on paper, then entering and color-coding the significant dates in my PDA.

The syllabus is one of my favorite things about classes. I love having everything spelled out clearly in one document. A good syllabus does more than simply outline the readings, tests, and assignments for the course. It describes the course, defines its goals, and gives insight into how it will work. It answers questions like: on which assignments should I focus the bulk of my energy and attention? How do I know what the expectations and standards are, and whether or not I’m on track? What should I be doing with my time? If I need help or feedback, where should I go, and when?

As I circled dates, bracketed the grading scale, and starred major assignments, I wondered—and not for the first time—why life doesn’t come with a syllabus.

One of the major surprises of my first post-college year occurred as I gradually realized how much I missed the clarity and structure of academic life. In a lot of ways, I found the freedom to make my own choices more than a little daunting.

I had believed that if I did the things I knew to do as a Christian, and kept away from trouble—more or less following the outline of assumptions I had about the Christian life—I’d always know what to do. I expected to have the answers I sought, and to know what my goals were. I thought I’d know where to focus my efforts, and what success looked like. I was sure I’d always feel like my life was on track, and I assumed that following God meant I’d never face uncertainty, or suffer heartache and confusion, or need to be brave and take risks.

I missed getting the most important information at the beginning of an experience and knowing that there was an outline to follow. Even though I could count on a class to be challenging, with the outline I knew I wouldn’t wonder what to do next. It was already planned for me. I missed having all of the answers in front of me, and knowing exactly what to expect. In my mind, clarity, certainty, and good behavior were substitutes for believing that I could trust God and join the adventure of his good—if not totally disclosed—plan.

Yet during that initial surprise—and as my life has moved forward—I’ve learned that while there isn’t a syllabus for life, God has graciously provided the guidance I need. While he hasn’t revealed everything about how my life will unfold, step-by-step, he has provided opportunities to follow the principles in Scripture and to draw encouragement from its stories of people who also had to trust during uncertain times. He’s given me friends who share their own stories and struggles related to trusting God, and who pray me through the chaotic and uncertain times. And God has gifted me with rich memories of his guidance at pivotal moments in my life, and reminded me that he has allowed my life to move forward in some observable ways.

Despite my longing to receive a personalized life syllabus directly from God, I’m now thankful—mostly—for opportunities to trust him with my future, and to grow in my relationship with him as a result.

Christian Leaders and Their Motorcycles

My husband wanted a motorcycle. He’d been talking about one for almost a year, probably thinking about it long before that. I wasn’t so thrilled with the idea, but then I found out we were in good company. Author and speaker Lisa Harper has one. So do Chuck Swindoll and Bill Hybels. Ginger Kolbaba, the editor of Kyria, and her husband have one too. When I initially hesitated about getting a motorcycle, our neighbor suggested that I tell my husband that he can’t get one until Billy Graham does. Then I found out that Franklin Graham rides. Sigh.

But I lost the war when someone gave my husband a motorcycle. After some tinkering with the help of a friend, he got it running. And in spite of my initial fears, I found I loved it. In fact I wanted to go out more often than he did.

I started wondering why so many Christian leaders have motorcycles. What’s the attraction? To the average observer, a Christian leader would seem the least likely candidate to own one. Most people think of Christian work as a safe occupation, one that doesn’t involve many risks. In fact, most people have no idea what Christian leaders do. When my husband and I were in campus ministry, I remember a neighbor asking us what we did besides the one big meeting we had each week. He tried to convince us that we should get involved in a pyramid scheme in all our “spare” time.

However, the reality is that it takes a risk-taking personality to become a Christian leader. First of all, a person often goes to Bible school or seminary later in life, almost always after he or she has a family. How many people have the courage to give up their security to go back to school full-time, studying things like Greek, Hebrew, and hermeneutics? It takes a very brave person.

Then we often enter a job that requires us to teach a group of such diverse people it seems impossible to find a topic that will relate to all of them. We also take on leadership roles that continually cause us to take initiative in relationships and policy. Throw in the constant counseling that comes with the position, usually with only rudimentary training, and it gets more complicated.

For example, at 6:20 one morning when my husband and I were looking forward to a day off, the phone rang and someone asked to speak to us about a difficult personal issue. An hour and a half later, we finally hung up our phone, feeling tired and worn. When the phone rang again a few minutes later, I was tempted to let it ring, but my husband answered it before I could suggest it. As soon as he began speaking to the person on the line, I knew it was good friends of ours who also have a motorcycle. His countenance immediately brightened as we planned a motorcycle trip for the day. Gone were the worries of a few minutes before as we imagined the feel of the air around us as we would follow deserted roads, meandering through the countryside.

As I’ve contemplated these things, I’ve decided that this is probably a trend that will continue. Those of us who deal with the most complex issues of life are not afraid of a bike with a motor. Not only do we love the thrill, but we’re not afraid to die!

It may be a stretch, but possibly there are spiritual applications too. The popular book of the 70’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance gave my husband the idea for an article called “Jesus and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.” But it hasn’t gone anywhere. In fact, maybe that would ruin the whole thing. Perhaps the particularly nice thing about riding a motorcycle is that it is sort of mind numbing. Just you, the wind, and the whisper of God refreshing your soul.

Now Welcoming New Recruits to “The Women’s Crusade” Part II

Last week we talked about a spread in the New York Times entitled “The Women’s Crusade.” Authors Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn share with us how women are more often the victims of poverty and the injustices that so often come with it: financial and sexual exploitation and reduced access to education and healthcare.

Now that we’ve steeped ourselves in the bad news, let’s talk about workable solutions, for this is truly an issue that breaks God’s heart. In Luke 4, we see Jesus approach the Synagogue and quote these words from Isaiah 61, showing that he is the fulfillment of God’s promises and commands: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come” (Luke 4:18–19, NLT). Those of us who call ourselves Christians must answer Jesus’ call while we can.

I’m among the growing number of people who believe that the best way to alleviate poverty in the developing world is to support its women. The best way to help a starving child is to give their parent a job. While a suffering world needs all kinds of aid–even if not especially handouts of food and medical supplies at times–why is this best?

First, statistics show that women are more likely than men to spend the family’s money on education and healthcare for the children. Studies show that men are more likely to become in debt and spend earnings on tobacco, alcohol, and prostitutes.

Second, educated women are less likely to be sexually trafficked or exploited. People who can read are better able to vote to change their situation, learn about solutions to their problems, and break the cycle of poverty. Educated women are also more likely to take control of their reproductive health and engage in family planning so that they do not have more children than they can afford.

And finally, providing loans for businesses leads to employment, which is a sustainable kind of aid. Loans can also be repaid so that the benefits are recycled, and entrepreneurs can hire additional staff as their businesses grow, so that the benefits are multiplied.

As an illustration of how this all fits together, Kristof and WuDunn write about Saima, an impoverished woman with a broken spirit from Pakistan. Her husband was unemployed, in debt, and he beat her everyday. Her relatives scorned her for failing to produce a male heir and urged her husband to get a new wife. Then Saima found the Kashf Foundation, a microfinance institution. Microfinance means that small entrepreneurial loans are given to individuals–who often form support groups to guarantee each other’s loans–who are then able to buy an oven or textiles or a small storefront to begin to work. While a loan to start a business in the United States would be extremely costly, microfinance loans in the developing world can be as little as $50.

Saima got $65 and started an embroidery business. As her venture grew, she paid off her husband’s debts, hired more workers, and brought back the children she couldn’t afford to keep at home before. Even Saima’s husband works for her now and the beatings have stopped. She is now the “neighborhood tycoon.” Saima can repay her $65 loan (to be given to someone else) and take out a slightly bigger loan to expand her business. She can cover the loan payment of another woman in her group of 25 who meet to gain life skills and learn about managing household finances. Similarly, they can cover her payment in an emergency so business can move forward. In many places, these groups also worship God together and learn about Christianity. They pray for one another and can find forgiveness, hope, and healing.

Poor people are not lazy, stupid, or dishonest. They need a working chance just like the one Saima received. The premiere Christian microfinance organization, Opportunity International, boasts a 98 percent repayment rate among their clients across four continents. We in the United States cannot even claim such a record. While microfinance has benefited men as well, many institutions loan exclusively to women because of their success rate; Opportunity International loans to more than 80 percent women.

In the interest of full disclosure, let me admit that my father has worked at Opportunity International for almost 20 years. My mother is the former manager of a not-for-profit store that sells handmade goods by artisans in the developing world and is certified fair trade. My parents have a passion for the world’s poorest populations and I’ve heard heart-breaking and hopeful stories like Saima’s my whole life.

In a never-ending quest to convince me that “my life of wealth and privilege in the United States isn’t normal” (to which I replied, “Whatever, Dad!”), he took me on a trip to the poorest areas of Romania and Hungary when I was 13. Not as a tourist, but as a sort of ride-along as he inspected the progress of microfinance in those countries and visited with clients. I experienced firsthand the flush of pride of a woman who can give a tour of her shop or introduce me to her children in their school uniforms. These women were grateful for their loans and speak about their life before their business as if they were a completely different person. True, sometimes a meal is what is most immediately needed and is the difference between life and death, but what will truly turn the tide for impoverished nations is providing a way out of the all-consuming cycle of daily need. That is where there is dignity. And hope.

Let the words of the Old Testament prophet Amos be our prayer today: “Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (Amos 5:24, NLT).

Here are links to some of the premiere microfinance institutions if you’d like to get involved, all not-for-profit:

Christian organizations
Opportunity International
Opt in Now - individual sponsorship arm of Opportunity International
Hope International
World Vision and World Relief also have microfinance programs although they have other ministries as well

What do you think of the idea of microfinance? How do you think about poor people now—and how did you think of them when you were a child? Do you agree that supporting women is the best way to alleviate poverty worldwide? Why or why not?

Now Welcoming New Recruits to ‘The Women’s Crusade’–Part I

Last week I came across a 10-page spread in The New York Times entitled “The Women’s Crusade” written by two long-time journalists, Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. They write about how their experiences and travels have enlightened them not only to the deplorable state of gender inequality in the developing world, but to the huge potential that helping women can have to engender change in those countries. From the economy to overpopulation to terrorism, they argue, focusing on women and girls is the solution.

Because I know our readers are busy and already stretched pretty thin, there’s not much more I want to add to this spread other than to summarize it for those who weren’t planning on reading all 10 pages of it. My hope is that even a taste of the facts will spur more women on to active engagement in the movement to end poverty by investing in the world’s poorest women, especially through committed prayer, small entrepreneurial loans (microfinancing), and rights to education.

Friends, while the state of public school or the healthcare debate or your busyness as a mom are worthwhile discussions, let’s take some time to become uncomfortable on behalf of the poorest of the poor who live outside our borders. Today we’re not talking about those below the poverty line in the US, however crucial that issue may be as well. The World Bank states that more than two billion people live on less than $2 per day–and yes, that is adjusted for purchasing power across currencies. If you’re reading this, you’re not one of them, and that means you can help. Let’s think about the state of women’s lives around the world as Kristof and WuDunn help us answer the question of why it is that women are so disproportionately stuck in poverty and inequality. Generally speaking:

• Women often do not have legal rights to property, children, or wages. If a husband dies, male relatives inherit businesses and land, leaving the woman alone and broke in a patriarchal world. (How different might this be if we considered Moses’ counter-cultural wisdom in Number 27:1-8?) According to this article, 1 percent of the world’s landowners are women.

• When money in a poor family is tight, any available resources are allotted to the male children because they will become laborers and don’t require a dowry. This includes access to food, education, and vaccinations. The World Bank reports that “worldwide, two-thirds of the kids who don’t go to school are girls” and thus illiteracy disproportionately affects women. (How are those women going to vote to change discriminatory laws?) In fact, many women don’t even have a chance at life: an estimated 60-100 million women are simply missing from the planet because of their gender.

• Women are drastically more likely to be victimized by physical and sexual abuse. In many cultures, men are expected to beat a “disobedient” or irksome woman, and in marriage it isn’t a crime. Women who fail to produce a male child can be simply disposed of. Disturbingly, the NYT article also reports that “21 percent of young women surveyed in Ghana reported that their sexual initiation was by rape.” Try to imagine the psychological scars afflicting one in five Ghanaian women–far more if you consider those who have been sexually abused ever. They also state that “the U.N. estimates 5,000 honor killings per year, mostly in the Muslim world” and a bride burning in India every two hours. Around the world, an estimated 130 million women have been subjected to genital cutting, also known by the term female genital mutilation (FGM). This doesn’t even include millions of sexual slaves and trafficked women and girls around the globe.

The psychological, financial, and social implications here cannot be overstated. These are all women God knows and calls by name. They’re all women for whom Jesus died. They’re all women God has great purpose and plans for. They are beloved of God.

While we’ll talk next week about the hopeful solutions women can provide and the ways we can help, what do you think about these facts? What surprises you the most? How do you talk to your kids or your church about global poverty and the status of women around the world? Is it fair to say that poverty and inequality are more important than many domestic issues we face?