Regardless of location, age, sex, or cultural identity, everyone strives for success. Like most people, I associated success with hard work, intelligence, talent, and a striving for greatness that is present in many but perseveres for few. However, Malcom Gladwell’s novel, Outliers: The Story of Success, compared Canadian hockey players, Silicon Valley geniuses, Korean pilots and Asian mathematicians to propose the concept that success does not inherently form from hard work and skill alone, but comes from everything from time of birth to cultural respect; after seeing the results, Gladwell convinced me. Gladwell was able to convince me that success derives from more than just intelligence and skill, but from everyday life and circumstance as well. Using analysis of the Canadian Hockey League’s best players, Gladwell demonstrated that, “there were an incredible number of January, February, and March birth dates,” which is due to the fact that, “in Canada the eligibility cutoff for age-class hockey is January 1” (Gladwell 26, 29). Within his novel, Gladwell invited his audience to examine a chart of birth dates of the hockey players, which were frequently within the first three months of the calendar year. He explains that the cutoff date allows hockey players born in January to have potentially a year’s worth of experience over the other athletes. While he does acknowledge that skill and work ethic do have a big role to play after that point, the initial cut allows older players to have a natural advantage over their younger competitors. The huge amount of successful athletes being born in the early months convinced me that Gladwell is correct in his proposal of success’s origin. By comparing the different sports and seeing the constant trend overlapping in hockey, soccer and other sports, I was convinced of his thesis’ accuracy. His casual but serious tone made me take him seriously while also captivating me with his subtle and appropriately timed humor. Gladwell also touches on technical geniuses Bill Joy and Bill Gates, analyzing that their birthdays are also at the perfect time, in a year that makes them, “old enough to be a part of the coming revolution but not so old that you missed it… which is… in
This selection convention is typical throughout the world and is how the best of the best eventually make their way into professional sports such as hockey, soccer, and the Olympics. The idea that a person’s individual merit is the sole reason behind his or her success is challenged. An interesting connection is realized in the birth month of star hockey players; it is discovered that more hockey players have birth months in January, February, and March than in any other month of the year. The reason is found in the January 1st cutoff date for acceptance into age classed hockey leagues. The advantage of being 9-11 months older than other players yields advantages that build upon themselves as players’ skills progress. Similar correlations were found in other types of sports and in academics. Hard work, consistency, and motivation were undoubtedly involved in the successes of those analyzed, however, attention is drawn to a very important notion; in order to find out what makes a person successful, you also need to know where they come from.
Wayne Gretzky skates down the ice with the puck, he fakes a shot, the goalie falls for it, Gretzky shoots, he scores! This is a common occurrence for Wayne Gretzky, a former NHL player who holds the record for most career regular-season goals (894), assists (1,963), points (2,857), and hat tricks (50). Most people would say Gretzky’s success all stems from his innate talent, but in “The Matthew Effect,” Gladwell argues that innate talent is not the only reason for success. He reveals there’s a much more surprising reason. In Gladwell’s chapter, “The Matthew Effect,” the controversial writer expertly asks rhetorical questions and uses charts and statistics to defend his claim that a person’s date of birth has a significant influence on their athletic and academic success.
Gladwell’s Matthew Effect states that individuals who are slightly more talented than their competitors are given opportunities that lead to larger success. For example, hockey players who happen to be bigger than other players are selected for
An Outlier is someone who stands out in a group due to their mastery of a certain skill and because of that they are successful. According to Gladwell not anyone can become successful; it takes the right circumstances and opportunities. Human’s capability seems limitless, and if we put in the time and hard work we can achieve our goals. We as a society love to think that a person may become successful and that we all have the same opportunities and chance of succeeding if we just work hard enough. According to Malcom Gladwell, the author of the book Outlier’s these common beliefs are incorrect and are not the means of a person becoming successful. The main theme throughout Gladwell’s Outlier’s is that successful
Malcolm Gladwell insists throughout his book, Outliers: The Story of Success, that the recipe for achievement is not simply based on personal talents or innate abilities alone. Gladwell offers the uncommon idea that outliers largely depend upon “extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies” (Gladwell19). According to Gladwell, successful men and women are beneficiaries of relationships, occasions, places, and cultures. The author draws on a different case study in each chapter to support a particular argument concerning success. Despite his indifference and suppression in regards to counterarguments, Gladwell’s claims are effective for many reasons, including through the accounts of experts, tone and style of writing, and the
In many instances, those who are successful are made out to be some sort of separate breed, those who were innately able to perform remarkable feats that others, no matter how hard they tried, simply could not. Through this exhibition, many people view success as an elusive feature that only a select few can obtain. This theory is the main inspiration for Malcolm Gladwell’s exploration of success in Outliers: The Story of Success. In the book, Gladwell analyzes not only those who are successful, such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, J.R. Oppenheimer, and Joe Flom, but what path led them towards becoming exceptionally skilled. This extremely in-depth analysis of successfulness forms Gladwell’s layered theory of what creates success, and his attempt
Malcolm Gladwell introduces his readers to his story by discussing an advantage several hockey players possess that cannot be controlled by the individual. In a roster that was provided with birth months, Barnsley, a Canadian psychologist, identified that, “in any elite group of hockey players—the very best of the best—40 percent of the players will have been born between January and March” (qtd. in Gladwell 22), and the percentages decreased as the months reached the end of the year. What
Outliers is Malcolm Gladwell 's examination of what makes some people excessively more successful than others. These "outliers," as he calls them, are commonly thought to possess talent and intelligence far above that of the average person, but he challenges this popular belief by looking at the background of some notable outliers.
A paradigm is a model used to support ideas and claims made by an author. In the book Outliers the author Malcolm Gladwell uses many paradigms to further illustrate his findings. Throughout the book Gladwell discusses success and the things that effect ones chance at becoming successful in life. It is brought to our attention though Gladwell’s use of paradigms that there are many small scale things that can effect ones chances at succeeding. Success is often associated with talent, genetics, and resources but little do people know there are many things that impact ones success.
Becoming successful is what most people aspire to be. Most people fantasize the dream house, car, and having the dream job. Even though success is viewed so highly, not everyone can be successful. Malcolm Gladwell explains that idea throughout his book Outliers. Gladwell’s chapters contain endless amounts of evidence that support his claims exceptionally well. But, Michiko Kakutani, a critic for New York Times, exposes Gladwell’s evidence as unreliable and unconvincing, and upon further research, Gladwell’s faults grew deeper. Even though Gladwell provides an extensive amount of evidence, that evidence is one-sided and relies on suggestion.
Vince Lombardi, a great American football coach, and player, once stated that the “dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success”. According to Lombardi, hard work will get you to where you want to go, and many people would agree. In Malcolm Gladwell’s novel, “Outliers: The Story of Success,” secrets and misconceptions about success are exposed and explained. Gladwell was right in saying that “if you work hard enough and assert yourself...you can shape the world to your desires”, as evidenced by examples from the book itself, the successful career of Serena Williams, and my own personal story (Gladwell 151).
In an interview, Malcolm Gladwell once said, “Outliers makes us understand how much of a group project success is. When outliers become outliers, it is not just because of their own efforts. It’s because of the contributions of lots of different people and lots of different circumstances.” Wes Moore is one of the many great examples of a Gladwellian “outlier,” as evinced by his upbringing, extraordinary success, and the rare opportunities he received. From growing up in a broken neighborhood to almost dropping out of school, it seemed as if the author of The Other Wes Moore would follow the same dark path as his criminal counterpart with the same name… but he did not. Wes Moore went on to become a successful graduate of John Hopkins
While the author, Malcolm Gladwell, does not dispute that hard work in a necessary component, we learn that many factors, lucky breaks, and some coincidences all occur in making high achievers into true outliers. We also learn that many of the richest, most famous, and most successful people in
Teens today could improve upon so much to get a better chance to become more successful in life. In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell argues that a child’s performance level for anything has to do with their culture. He says that people of Asian descent will focus more and try harder when they do not understand something. He also talks about how constantly practicing can make you master a skill. If teens can use ideas that Gladwell talks about they can become more successful.
Danielle, I agree with you in that it is not acceptable to drop data because of an outlier, as outliers can be legitimate observations can sometimes be interesting observations. However, in some cases, it may be acceptable to get rid of outliers as they may indicate bad data (Outliers, 2017). Although, researchers should not simply delete the outlying point before they thoroughly investigate why the point is far-off, if the researcher can determine that the outliers are due to erroneous factors, then the researchers should likely delete the point from the analysis (Outliers, 2017). For example, if it is obvious that the outlier is due to data that was incorrectly entered or measured, you should likely drop the outlier. Another example may be