I don't see Steve Jobs or Jeff Bezos as counterexamples to the article's thesis. Jobs specifically was a much, much better CEO in middle age than he was in his

I don't see Steve Jobs or Jeff Bezos as counterexamples to the article's thesis. Jobs specifically was a much, much better CEO in middle age than he was in his youth. I think the same is true for Bezos. These folks were outliers when they were young, and they were even more extreme outliers after decades of experience. Also, Gladwell's conclusion is only true for 2 of the 5 companies mentioned.