Outliers Gladwell Analysis

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

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

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).

The meaning of "success" has numerous interpretations, whether it is your own or society's definition. Within Outliers author Malcolm Gladwell explains that being successful has nothing to do with what kind of person you are, so whether you are intelligent and hardworking or lazy and aloof, it depends on your circumstances growing up. Whether your parents happen to be immigrants, you are one of the smartest men in the country or you make a habit of practicing an activity for a certain amount of hours a day, 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, therefore, there is no definite meaning of success other than one's interpretation.

Success has several definitions and differs for each person. However, In Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers”, Gladwell prattles about Lewis Terman, a young professor at Stanford University during the First World War who conducted a special experiment that who charted some people from childhood into adulthood. After scanning through the results, Gladwell concludes that socioeconomic status and class as a good indicator whether an individual was destined for the higher or lower group. However, Gladwell’s findings are not truly correct due to the fact that socioeconomic class and status are only some of the factors that determine whether a person belongs to the higher or lower group.

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.

Example Two - Two families in Harlan, the Howards and Turners, put small town on map, because

Malcolm Gladwell argues that hard work and practice has more value than “innate talent” (Gladwell 1) in an excerpt from Chapter 2 “The 10,000-Hour Rule” of his novel Outliers: The Story of Success. Although he acknowledges that talent can be a factor in success, Gladwell believes that a person’s choice to work hard is what ultimately determines their achievements. To support this claim, he alludes to famous musicians and cites psychologists and other scientists to establish credibility, with the attempt to convince the audience that hard work overrules talent. His passage has a very clear and academic tone, making it easy for the audience to understand and not get confused.

In chapter seven and chapter eight of Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell effectively claims that acknowledging cultural legacies betters the chance of success. In chapter seven of Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell entices readers on the topic of plane crashes in the aviation world, while commendably and credibly synthesizing the controversy around the question of how and why plane crashes occur.  When illustrating the terrible crash of Korean Airlines Flight 801 in 1997, Gladwell intricately describes the language, words, actions, and psychology of the pilots and crew members associated with the plane crash to better the authenticity of his claim.  Combining these ideas, Gladwell forms a theory that arguably proves to be true

In Outliers, the writer Malcolm Gladwell, makes the assertion that “if you work hard enough and assert yourself, and use your mind and imagination, you can shape the world to your desires.” I believe that this statement given by Gladwell is true. To become successful, people have to be willing to assert their selves and be committed to what it is that they desire. Also you have to be willing to “think out of the box” and be capable to use your imagination and minds together. If possible to do all of these task they will be able to become successful.

According to Malcolm Gladwell (2008), “If you work hard enough and assert yourself, and use your mind and imagination, you can shape the world to your desires (page 151).” Many of these “outliers” that Gladwell gave example to, though, were subject to opportunity and circumstance, not just the action of hard work and assertion. Hard work and intelligence were a huge part of the outliers’ stories, but so was their childhood home, birthdate, and social status.

Every book as a meaning for being written, and every teacher has a specific purpose for a book to be read by their class. Each book presented to this class provided a multitude of life lessons to take from them. These books are Choosing Powerful Words, Outliers, and How to Win Friends and Influence People. Each book was assigned for a given purpose whether it be to teach the class the eloquence of words, how to use those words to influence others, or just being successful in life. Choosing Powerful Words was written by Ronald Carpenter and is a source for tips about speaking and using your words to better present your message to others. In his book, he states that two ways to do this are emphasis and metaphor. In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell provides examples of successful people who’s achievements ‘fall outside normal experience”. In this he explains the ten thousand hour rule as well as the Matthew Effect. The final book for reading is How to Win Friends and Influence People, written by Dale Carnegie. Originally published during the depression, Carnegie gives tips for being a leader as well as techniques in handling people. Two key components of this are to not criticize, condemn, or complain. One aspect of being a leader is to praise every and the slightest of improvements. Each of these components of each book are important and can be related to parts of every person’s life in some manner.

How much of our lives do we actually control? Gladwell and Epstein have different opinions on how much we can control. Gladwell believes preparation and practice are more important than innate talent. Epstein disagrees he believes destiny for success is predetermined by natural abilities. Meaning success is determined by genes in easier terms. However, Gladwell better explains the idea that practice can lead to success rather than natural talent. In order to support Gladwell's side, the information in the story the outliers will be most supportive. The story mostly explains that it takes time to be successful and reach goals and a person doesn't need natural talent to be a hardworking athlete. On the other hand, Epstein's side is supported in the story the sports gene. In this story Epstein explains that most of the successful athlete's today are born with natural talents.

Malcolm Gladwell uses a particular structure in his book Outliers; each chapter consists of a backstory, an example, an analysis, and other stories. In Chapter 2 The 10,000-Hour Rule, he opens with the backstory of Bill Joy, a computer programmer who co-founded Sun Microsystems in Silicon Valley. Starting off with a successful person is one of Gladwell’s tactics; he draws you in with a poster child for success. Also, throughout the books he uses engaging pop culture references: “the university’s enormous mainframe computers stood in the middle of a vast white room, looking, as one faculty member remembers, ‘like one of the last scenes in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. ”’(34) This approach helps tremendously with visualization, while simultaneously creating a correlation to the book and author.

Malcolom Gladwell wrote Outliers to inform readers on how to achieve success in life. It looks into the lives of other successful people and shows how practice, equal opportunity, and the help of others one can achieve the success that many others have achieved.