A paradigm (pronounced pare-a-dime) is a pattern, and it’s usually one that is quite firm and established. (Whenever you hear someone talk about a “paradigm shift,” you can bet that a major change just took place to alter a long-standing pattern.) Gladwell uses the term “paradigm” twice in Chapter Two, “The 10,000-Hour Rule,” as he traces the path of the computer programming success of Bill Gates.

The paradigm Gladwell looks at first is one from the 19th century. 14 American entrepreneurs who number among the richest people of all time were born in the optimum decade of the 1830s. This timing of birth allowed them the opportunity to gain their monumental wealth after the Civil War, when major railroad lines were being built and the financial district of Wall Street was formed. This was a special paradigm, unique to this time period. Anyone born before or after that time just didn’t have the same chances to invest in and benefit from such key operations.

The second paradigm Gladwell looks at is the one that gave computer programmers like Bill Joy, Bill Gates, and others the chance to gain their monumental wealth in the software industry in the 1980s and beyond. The key date here is 1975, when personal computers first became available to the public. Computer-oriented folks who were too old to get excited about this part of the business would not have been interested in investing in it. Anyone who was still in high school wasn’t old enough. Gladwell shows us that all of the major names we recognize as being computer industry entrepreneurs were born in the years 1953-1956. This was their paradigm. They were/are talented folks, but they also had the best chance for success in their field: timing.