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Nature vs. nurture is the wrong question. Today, I suggest we can have both, but that means we also must pay attention to the opportunities our environment provides.
If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you will know that I am a big fan of Malcom Gladwell. So today I want to do a throwback to share some thoughts on his second book, Outliers, which examined the lives of successful people. Let’s pull a specific example: Bill Gates. Growing up in Seattle, Gates, who undoubtedly had/has tremendous drive and ambition, had access to a high school computer lab, one of maybe 50 in the world, where he began honing his programming skills. This initial opportunity was then followed by another opportunity to use the computer labs at the University of Washington. By the time he was 20, Gates had practiced programming for an estimated 10,000 hours. With this exposure, Gates was well positioned to become the Silicon Valley titan we know today.
Why was Bill Gates successful?
1. It’s not just nature
The book's main premise is that “outliers”, people who achieved significant success, were given opportunities that simply weren’t available to others (e.g., the high school computer lab his mom advocated for). But much of the commentary surrounding this book focused on the 10,000-hour rule and forgot about the environment needed to make that practice meaningful (it’s also worth noting that a meta-analysis published in 2014 found that “practice” only explained 12% of skill mastery and subsequent success).
Of course, this is a satisfying narrative we all know from movies and TV. We pulled ourselves up by the proverbial bootstraps and found success despite the obstacles we faced. Our own hero’s tale.
2. Let’s shift our focus to nurture too (we have control over that)
I am not here to take away any of the individual contributions successful people make. We can all point to people in our lives who seem to have been given so much and still haven't made much of their lives. But can we imagine a moment when an individual keeps making important contributions to their own success, AND acknowledge that at least part of their success comes from the opportunities they had access to, so they could practice being amazing? These two things can be true at the same time.
If both these things can be true, we can only control the latter. So, here’s my proposal: as mid-career faculty looking to rethink the next phase of our careers, how can we adjust our local environments so that research impact matters?
3. Practical Takeaways for Communities & Researchers
Admittedly, I don’t yet have all the answers on how we begin making those local adjustments to our research environment, but here are a few things I’ve been doing and thinking about.
1. Listing ALL research products in my CV and yearly activity reports, including but not limited to podcast appearances, citation numbers, white papers, policy briefs, news mentions, community meetings hosted, local speaker invitations, etc.
a. I didn’t track this historically because I figured it was “part of the job” and that everyone else was doing it too. They aren’t. If no one sees it, it can’t be counted. Make sure they see it.
2. I invite my students to participate in my impact-related work.
a. Students take a lot of information from our actions (which we don’t always recognize or acknowledge). If this work is as important as I tell them in class, then I need to show them I’m doing it too.
3. Facilitating discussions about redesigning tenure and promotion guidelines.
a. I know, I just felt everyone cringe. But I’ve learned in my various leadership roles that while most people want to do the “right” thing, there’s only so much time in the day. So, to decide how to spend our attention, we prioritize what our departments, schools, and colleges value. If impact isn’t on that list, it won’t get time dedicated to it.
What do you think? Does opportunity matter, or am I just letting my inner sociologist show 😜? What have I missed on my list of things that can adjust our local environments, so impact gets counted?
(Words: 703)
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