Many of you DMed me asking to share the Indian equivalent of this phenomenon. So here is a 🧵 on the same.
https://twitter.com/pacificleo/status/1376580397153153026
Disclaimer: I am no expert in this. This theory is not subjected to statistical rigor and probably I am confusing correlation with causation.
I love studying system dynamics. How Individual performance is often shaped (in great part ) by their environment. If we can identify those environmental levers we can increase the baseline performance for everyone. Here is a case study on the same.
What do you think of India's performance in Beauty pageants? So far we have 8 winners of Miss Universe and Miss World. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_at_…
What's one thing common amongst most of the winners? Can you guess?
They are taller than average Indian women. Yes but that was true for all most every participant in the screening round. They are beautiful but that's subjective and one can say about other participants too.
The data point I am talking about is environmental. 4 out of 8 winners of these events were from Defence Background. Their parents served in Army /Naval/ Airforce and they grew up in cantonment areas 
Though I haven't done much digging but this seems to hold true for first runner ups too
As I am from a defense background myself ( Dad is an ex-Naval officer ) I always found hope and solace in this data point. I hoped that someday fashion industry will discover me. But that never happened. ( their loss 🤷 )
Years later I meet someone who was working in Fashion / Bollywood. He was one of the top person in the industry. He was with a prominent modeling agency in Mumbai. He had many Bollywood A-listers as his client. I shared my observation with him.
He said " Yes. We prefer working with army girls. It's easy to work with them. They are confident. They have good posture & gait." I was shocked to learn that in the fashion world, your gait & posture are a bigger deal than your looks.
Army girls have an unfair advantage there. (At least they had in past ). How? Our society is very hostile toward women and young girls. So the moment young girls hit puberty our social apparatus makes them apologetic for their physical appearance.
They are taught to "blend in" and not stand out. To avoid attracting hostile attention in public spaces. It manifests in everything from lower eyesight, slouched posture, shoulder never stretched back, and a GAIT which is more defensive than impressive.
Kids who grow up in the Defense area have a different experience. They feel very secure within the boundaries of the cantonment. It reflects in their walk and overall persona. That gives them an unfair advantage. An that [probably] can explain high co-relation in this data
But pop culture loves to define success as Individual accomplishment. The tailwind of environmental factors and asymmetric advantages are often pushed under the carpet. It doesn't fit the narrative. Which is fine and as an individual that's a strategy I would have pursued.
like @shuvi said in this tweet, it's a "concentration of privilege" This concentration should be equally distributed.
https://twitter.com/shuvi/status/1286687677807357952?lang=en
As a society, we should study the dynamics underlying every outlier success and try to enable the same forces for the wider population.
These steps can be individual choices ie: supporting our sisters, friends, colleagues, and partners. Govt Initiatives: encouraging women in sports, gender sensitivity in school. and above all strict laws to create a deterrent for hostility and transgression.
What do you think? would love to know your thoughts? /Fin
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