Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers

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

The outlier is not an outlier at all because countless influences factor into success. Success is not a measure of innate talent; it is a measure of the opportunities one has been given and how one has made use of those opportunities. The fact that success is something that must be consciously strived for has helped me to understand that I am only as intelligent as I am willing to be. I cannot blame my failures on the idea that my peers were born smarter or more athletic. They are simply more

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell is a book with very insightful and intriguing information that is important for all people with professional careers to understand. It allowed me to understand the importance of success and how that success will be achieved. Success will never be achieved by taking short cuts or beating around the bush. It is accomplished through hard work and many hours, just as Gladwell explains in his book.

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 the novel Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell, he explores the idea of of misunderstandment of relationships among individual talent and opportunities. Gladwell argues this statement by showing that talent is necessary but not the reason to achieve success. I agree with Gladwells statement: The opportunities that are offered creates a straight path to success.

In Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers he argues that outliers, people who have achieved success almost entirely by their own means through perseverance and hard work, are not possible. Gladwell claims instead that people achieve success primarily through the opportunities they are born with or are presented with throughout their life.

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.

I believe that the main argument developed in Chapters three and four of Outliers is that life success is not directly related to your own IQ level. Gladwell states, “The relationship between success and IQ works only up to a point” (Gladwell, 2008). “Once someone has reached an IQ of somewhere around 120, having additional IQ points doesn't seem to translate into any measurable real-world advantage” (Gladwell, 2008). This is where talent comes into play.

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

In the first chapter Gladwell explains the advantages many people get that aid them in becoming an outlier. It isn't a skill or talent. It’s

The Outliers, by Malcom Gladwell The first chapter introduces the idea of success based on a given opportunity. Gladwell gave examples of sports, such as hockey and soccer, to explain advantages different age groups were exposed to. For example, Gladwell gives a list of statistics of the year and month Canadian professional hockey players were born; which was January through April. The reasoning behind it was the cut-off January 1st, therefore if one was too young, they were not allowed to participate until the following year.

An outlier is something abnormal that happens out of the ordinary. In the beginning a group of professional hockey players were studied because of the coincidence they were born around the same time. But those who were born first are known to be better because of the early advantage they received. Ten thousand hours is the number that is critical to the mastery of whatever someone is practicing. The author says that depending in the time period someone was born in will determine the type of opportunities they will have and the type of luck they get. For example those born during the great depression weren’t very fortunate because of the economic struggle they faced. The way that a child was raised will determine what kind of person they will