Accumulated Advantage

Making a start, taking action, and gaining an advantage every chance you can are vital to getting ahead in life, and there is no time like the present to start carving out your destiny. The clock is ticking. What you do, or don’t do, today, will determine your tomorrow, and that means you have a stark choice to make: either gain tomorrow’s advantage today, or forfeit it by inactivity.

Those who choose action over inaction could well benefit from cumulative advantage, a concept popularized by author Malcom Gladwell in his best-seller, Outliers.  In simple terms, cumulative advantage suggests that those who have more in the first place, are at an advantage when it comes to gaining more in the future. As the popular saying goes, "The rich get richer and the poor get poorer". 

The principle of cumulative advantage is also sometimes referred to as the Matthew Effect, which takes its name from a parable in the Gospel Matthew from the New Testament Bible. The term was coined by sociologist Robert Merton in a 1968 paper, which described how the more eminent scientists in a group tend get the most credit, regardless of who does the most work.

In the parable that Merton drew his inspiration from, a master puts his servants in charge of his goods while he is away. In his absence, he expects them to invest his goods wisely in order to make a profit. A financial gain would indicate faithfulness on the part of the servants and the master would reward them accordingly. So, on returning from his trip, the master assesses the stewardship of his servants and evaluates their loyalty based on the investments they have made. After some consideration, he judges two servants who made a profit as having been "faithful" and gives them a positive reward, while the servant who "played it safe” and simply guarded his master’s goods, receives no such prize. The moral of the story: those who make gains from activating their skills will continue to make further gains in the future. 

An entirely different example of cumulative advantage is seen in the work of psychologist, Keith Stanovich, which explored the way in which new readers acquire literacy skills. According to Stanovich’s research, early success in acquiring reading skills usually leads to later successes in reading as the learner grows. On the other hand, failing to learn to read before the third or fourth year of schooling may be indicative of lifelong problems in learning new skills.

The logic dictates that children who fall behind in reading tend to read less, which increases the skill gap between them and their peers. Later, when students need to "read to learn" (where before they were learning to read), their struggle with literacy creates difficulties in most other subjects too. As a result, they fall further and further behind in school, dropping out at a much higher rate than their fellow students.

However, it’s not all bad news. The biblical parable suggests that failing to put your talent to work will result in negative consequences, but the principle of cumulative advantage builds on the positive side: the reward you receive from activating your talent. The evidence is all around: haven’t you ever wondered why those who are already successful seem to be presented with the most opportunities to further their success?

You too can get ahead, but remember, time waits for no-one. Procrastinate, and your chance to seize the advantage will be lost.

You may feel defeated that you didn’t start when you were younger, or even yesterday. But don’t focus on what you didn’t do before. It is too late to change the past, but you can do something about the future. 

Don’t put off till tomorrow what you can do today. Seize the moment and start accumulating tomorrow’s advantage. If you do nothing, your destiny is all but decided, but if you choose to put your best foot forward, who knows what rewards await you?

Printed originally in Gulf News (26 August 19)

Dr. Tommy Weir is the founder & CEO of enaible: AI-powered Leadership and author of best-sellers including Leadership Dubai Style. Contact him at [email protected]