This edition’s video covers the strategic thinking culture of GAM Gear. While you have to marvel at what Craig Van den Avont and his team at GAM have accomplished in terms of staying ahead of the curve, doesn’t it make you think “Why don’t more people do it?”

Here are two passages from pages 38 and 39 of the book, “The Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell:

“The problem with this view is that the closer psychologists look at the careers of the gifted, the smaller the role innate talent seems to play and the bigger the role preparation seems to play.”

“The striking thing about Ericsson’s study is that he and his colleagues couldn’t find any “naturals”, musicians who floated effortlessly to the top while practicing a fraction of the time their peers did. Nor could they find any “grinds”, people who worked harder than everyone else, yet just didn’t have what it takes to make it to the top ranks. Their research suggests that once a musician has the ability to make it to the top of music school, the thing that distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he or she works. That’s it. And what’s more, the people at the very top don’t just work harder or even much harder than everyone else. They work much, much harder.”

Let’s face it- strategic thinking and execution takes a lot of hard preparation work- and that is something few organizations or people do- otherwise the “Outliers” wouldn’t be outliers. In their industry, GAM is an Outlier- which is why they have averaged 28% growth the last ten years. What are you willing to do to be an “Outlier” in your industry?