Outliers chapter seven was an extremely insightful and unfortunate chapter as it combed through only a few unfortunate plane crashes in which hundreds died. The chapter mainly focused on the amount of human errors made by the captains and first officers. Malcom Gladwell showed in chapter seven how different cultural legacy can affect the way one acts to superiority. The Colombian first officer on Avianca 052 was extremely afraid to command something to superiority such as "We must land now" or what have you. This was one of the reasons the plane crashed, the first officer beat around the bush too much.
Chapter seven of Outliers really taught me one lesson, and that was to know how to speak in what situation. Whether I should be commanding, or I should hint, there should be circumstances where I know when to do what. I believe in my cultural legacy, we are communicating in many ways depending on the environment. For example in my house my mother will ask me "Will you take out the trash?" I know that this really means "Go take out the trash" although she doesn't ever actually say that. In other instances though, I will be directed. For example my father is driving in the city with me in the back and says "Be quiet it's rush hour." These I haven't noticed until writing this blog post. Funny the way some things are said.
Ah Hank,
ReplyDeleteI remember reading this book too in a GT class and especially liking this chapter. It is neat about the art of communication. People should not, as you say, "Beat around the bush." It could lead to many horrible things, like the plane crashes. I am glad you learned a valuable lesson or realized its importance. Finding your blog on Comments4Kids was great!