Outliers, By Malcolm Gladwell

By definition, success is a person or thing that achieves desired aims or attains prosperity. How an individual reaches the point of success is “not exceptional or mysterious. It is grounded in a web of advantages and inheritances, some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky- but all critical to making them who they are” (285). Throughout the book, Outliers by Malcom Gladwell, the pieces of the secret to success are put together. Three parts of success include pure luck, the amount of time and effort put into working to achieve your goal and where you come from.

Success is measured differently by every person and each and every culture. The journey to success in most cultures, however, is generally idealized in the same way: one person working harder than everyone else to achieve his or her goal with their own merits as their only advantage. In Outliers: The Story of Success, the author, Malcolm Gladwell, argues about how wrong that ideology is and the truth behind successful people. Throughout his guide, Gladwell employs the help of many argumentative techniques to convince the reader of his message.

Is it coincidental that Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Bill Joy and many other multi-millionaires were all born within a span of 3 years? Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Outliers, suspects that there is something more behind this occurrence than just a simple coincidence. He asserts that there is no such thing as a self-made man and success does not come from natural talent, rather it comes from extraordinary opportunities and hidden advantages. In Outliers, Gladwell attempts to debunk the myth that people are successful because of themselves, and not because of other factors. Even Malcolm Gladwell acknowledges that passion and hard work are required to succeed. However, he believes that this passion and time to put in the work would not be possible without the aid of extraordinary opportunities. Gladwell prepares a firm set of logical arguments, including the advantages of birth dates, cultural legacy and family backgrounds, to guarantee that his audience will be convinced of his conviction.

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).

Everyone aims to fulfill the American Dream, achieving prosperity through hard work. Society loves the ideology that anyone can become successful and that we all have the same opportunities and chance of success, if enough work is applied. With this ideal, people can blame their failure on not working hard enough or having an adverse life. However, Malcolm Gladwell sees success in contrast to the common people. Gladwell believes that success is mainly caused by having the right opportunity and circumstances rather than by working hard. David Karp, founder of the international social networking site Tumblr, is an individual who embodies Gladwell’s phenomenon by having extended advantages that were rare among his peers and having a supportive, relatable lineage that not only lead him to success, but also makes him an Outlier.

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.

“Success is not a random act. It arises out of a predictable and powerful set of circumstances and opportunities.” As seen above, Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers revolves around success and the constituents influencing it. His quote above wraps up the overall theme that drives this book; success and the things that make success happen the most. Gladwell argues in Outliers, that success can be derived mainly from opportunities that the everyday person does not encounter. For example, bill gates creating microsoft, athletes becoming famous because of the month they were born in so on and so forth. To me, success does not rely on one’s opportunities. Instead it comes directly from individual merit.

To be successful has many interpretations, whether it be your own, from the dictionary or societies’ definition. Within Outliers author Malcolm Gladwell explains that being successful has nothing to do with what kind of person you are, so whether you’re intelligent and hardworking or lazy and aloof, it depends on your circumstances growing up. Whether your parents happen to be immigrants, you’re one of the smartest men in the country or you practice like there’s no tomorrow, your own personal success, according to Gladwell is defined by the conditions you grew up in; the idea of being successful varies from culture to culture and because of that there is no definite meaning of successful other than one’s interpretation.

When thinking of successful people you automatically think about how hard people have worked to be successful. In the Outliers book "Malcolm Gladwell" argues that we should look at the world that surrounds successful people. For instance their culture, family, experiences, and their upbringing. Gladwell has made an interesting argument about how people become successful. In this paper, I will be talking about how Bradley Byrne, US Representative for Alabama became successful using some information from Gladwell’s arguments.

In order to pursue what one wish to be, one must fully understand what they wish to be. As human beings, we desire to become better and achiever greater amounts. In simple words, we want to become an expert of some sort. According to the Oxford Dictionary, an expert is a person who is very knowledgeable about or skillful in a particular area. But with this simple description of an ‘expert’, what does it truly mean? Malcolm Gladwell, a famous writer and speaker, with 10, 000 hours one could succeed to become an expert in a certain area. Gladwell explains his theory of 10, 000 hours in his book, “The Outliers,” with various examples of not only talented but also respected figures such as an European Violinist, Bill Gates, and even the Beatles. In the book, these figures explain similar yet different situation where after a certain amount of practice or effort, approximately 10, 000 hours, they began to excel in their area of interest. Furthermore, Gladwell explains that there are none naturally talented or ‘gifted’ people who reach the level of expertise without a significant input of hours. In order to improve or master in an area, all individuals must contribute the minimum of 10, 000 hours. It is true, through practice and effort one could reach a level of expertise. However, there are different circumstances that oppose this theory, such as the continuously growing information, one’s passion, and the way of learning.

In the prevalent view today, a great number of people believe that the building blocks of success are within the personality and quality of the person. Malcolm Gladwell asserts a totally different nature in his bestselling non-fiction book Outliers, he indicates that majority of success comes from external forces in which few people are granted particular opportunities and advantages that not everybody is broken by destiny (i.e. Date of birth, family background, money, etc.). Although he poses strong evidence to back up his arguments, Gladwell, somewhat neglected the value of hard-work, knowledge and determination in his book. Gladwell’s theory of success holds some legitimacy; even so his record is ultimately depressing about the possibility of success. The

Outliers, a statistical observation that is markedly different in value from the others of the sample. This basically states that anything that lies outside of the norm is an outlier. In the book Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell he focuses on the different set of skills, timing, background, and effort a successful person needs to have in order to become successful. Unlike most books or biographies that write about the intelligence and ambition of an individual, this book looks around the individuals, instead of directly at them. Gladwell look at the outliers of these individuals, and determines how they have become successful, either by their skill, their luck, their effort, and their whole background and what lies around them.

There are many perplexities associated with the reasons why particular notable events occur and why certain people achieve success while many others fail. In Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers, the reasons for these unusual happenings are explained as he argues that many of the factors ignored by most people actually matter. Throughout the book, Malcolm Gladwell insisted that overlooked factors such as heritage, birthdate, culture, and time period are important in understanding the outliers in society. He used the word “outliers” to describe the people and events that stand out and throughout the book he uses different examples of “outliers” to examine and explain the why the person was able to become an outlier or

What is success? In Outliers, a novel by Malcolm Gladwell, success is explained by looking at people who stand out in their success, the outliers. He focuses on breaking down stories of success and determining how they got to where they are, and what components added to that success. Gladwell argues that success is not earned, but that it is given to people like a gift. He asserts that those who are successful were born at the right place at the right time, given the opportunity to practice their skills, and were taught hard work at a young age.

How does one reach success? In the novel Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, the main perspective of the novel is that success does not come from an individual simply by being lucky. In fact, success roots from our history, the environment we surround ourselves in, our values, and our cultural legacy. Every human being has the option of becoming successful despite a person’s disability, or the background a person comes from. Success is a gift. Gladwell describes what outliers mean to him, “Outliers are people who have been given opportunities and have the strength and presence of mind to seize them” (Gladwell 267). Malcolm Gladwell explained that often people are categorized into different groups of talent. Naturally, the group