Gladwell's Outliers: The Key To Success

Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Outliers, a novel depicting success, provides different examples of how an individual can achieve success in every chapter of his book to show his audience that success, despite a variety of barriers, is in fact in our control. A very important chapter titled, “Marita's Bargain”, explains the flaws in today’s public school systems. He shows the problems with the solutions to fix them while showing the alternatives to the regular system such as the KIPP Program in New York. The KIPP Program (Knowledge is Power Program) is a new kind of middle school that selects students from less fortunate locations and uses unique teaching strategies to turn them around into fantastic learners. In the chapter, Gladwell is extremely descriptive by using visual words to paint the picture of the South Bronx in New York City. He describes the buildings that were built in the 1960’s as squat and bleak looking. Gladwell had an interest in this subject as it involves success, however he had no prior experiences to produce the piece. Gladwell establishes personal credibility through the use of knowledge, reason, and facts and figures. He comes across very knowledgeable on the subject presenting great data with excellent vocabulary. He is able to do this with no obvious bias as well. Gladwell shows authority because he is well known for writing novels that involve success. His intention is to teach and explain how schools need to change the length of vacation breaks

Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers defines an outlier as “a statistical observation that is markedly different in value from the others of the sample.” According to this definition, an outlier in society is one who achieves something highly unusual when compared to their peers. According to the theory Outliers presents, success is based not only on one’s individual merit, but on the accumulative advantages they gain throughout their lives. Seemingly arbitrary circumstances such as the time and place of one’s birth can affect the entire course of their life. Society’s outliers are produced from an extremely unusual set of circumstances that allows them to diverge from the paths of those around them. One such example of an outlier comes from F. Scott

Success is a concept that is constantly altered and has a different meaning from person to person. The stereotypical definition of success would be someone who has a high-paying job or is in the upper-class. Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Outliers: The Story of Success, approaches the concept of success in a different and unique way. Gladwell discusses how opportunities, cultural legacy, and hard work all coincide with each other to produce real success. He uses mostly logic and multiple unrelated anecdotes to support and provide evidence for his statements. Gladwell's main argument is that although hard work and talent are essential for success, one’s given opportunities and cultural legacy is what really

Gladwell describes what makes some people more successful than others. His central premise focuses on the different opportunities that people receive throughout their lives and how those people use the opportunities to their advantage or disadvantage. Gladwell describes this theory as the Matthew Effect:

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.

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

Gatsby, while raised poor, dreamed of wealth as he grew up. When talking to Nick at the funeral, Gatsby’s father, explained to him that though he was poor, he always knew he had the potential of being something great. He said, “Jimmy always liked it better down east...He had a big future before him...he had a lot of brain power”(Fitzgerald, 168). There is no doubt that Gatsby was dedicated. He was seldom able to let go of a goal he set out to reach. Moreover, as

The brain is one of the most complex, unknown organs of the human body. Researchers often break down the characteristics of the brain to whether tendencies are achieved through nurtured environments or the inheritability of genetics. Intelligence is one of the most controversial topics when it comes to deciding whether environment or genetics are most influential. Many argue that intelligence is based on environmental factors and the unique ability to work hard, but fail to realize the essential cognitive qualities concerning what truly defines intelligence. Although some may consider this trait as based on environment, intelligence is a cognitive attribute established by the nature of genetics.

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).

Malcolm Gladwell in his book, Outliers, talks about the different ways to obtain success and what to attribute it to. In his 10,000 hour rule chapter he argues that a person must but in at least 10,000 hours of work with their interest in order to be successful. In the chapter, Marita’s Bargain he argues that there has to be opportunities and one has to work hard to take advantage of them. Gladwell uses the example of Bill Gates to exemplify his 10,000 hour rule. Gladwell uses the example of a girl in a rigorous charter school

In Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, his central premise is that success is not obtained the way most people think it is. We are often told that success come from sheer luck, or a triumphant rags-to-riches story. In Outliers Malcolm Gladwell tells the story of many successful outliers such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, The Beatles, and many more. He breaks down each story and points out what actually made that persona successful. While breaking down the story her also introduces the reader to what he believe are the actual keys to success. In the book he talks about The Matthew Theory, The 10,000 hour Rule, Practical Intelligence vs Analytical Intelligence, and Demographic Luck.

When I think of wildly successful people, people like Michelle Obama and Steve Jobs come to mind; my name usually does not appear on the list. Granted, I have not invented anything of use to the general public, or dedicated my life to any worthy cause, nor am I making oodles of money by anyone’s standards. But in other ways, am I not as successful as them? I have (generally) earned good grades, I have great friends, I am hardworking and independent, and I have skills that many people do not have. However, in the same vein, how much of my success can I really claim as my own? Just like Malcolm Gladwell observed in his book Outliers, there is always a lot more to success than there appears to be—and as I found out in the course of analyzing

Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Outliers, believes that working at something for 10,000 hours is required to achieve mastery and become a world class expert at anything. While this is a nice way of making it seem like anyone can be successful, it is simply not true. Some people will never achieve proficiency in a domain, no matter how much practice they put into it. There are a variety of factors that play into expertise besides practice and certain domains require much less practice than the magical 10,000 hour threshold that Gladwell established.

In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell argues that the factors, other than conventional wisdom from individual factors, result in success for others. The factors he includes are the year the individual is born, which determines their placement, the opportunities that come to a person in their lifetime, and the culture they thrive in. In Part One, titled “Opportunity,” examines the fortune from the result of time. Canadian hockey players, Bill Joy, and Bill Gates were all born at the right time and right place. They were given the opportunities to become successful. Without the chances that were accepted, achievement would of vanished. Gladwell chose the title “Opportunity” because success follows taking risks. He continually explains examples of results

Now, with technology advancing at the same rate as society matures and changes, success is a concept that can be different to many different groups of people. Gladwell insists that success is formulated through a series of hidden advantages and cultural legacies that are fixed, therefore that’s why many do not become successful. I simply do not feel that is the case. Success is achieved through ambition and hard work that is instilled in you. Anyone has the power to take matters into their own hands and create their own success.