Success In 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

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.

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).

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.

Like no other before it, Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers gives insight into a world of success only a select few are able to view firsthand. Gladwell portrays date of birth, economic status, and obstacles that are overcome by luck rather than perseverance as the key ingredients for a recipe of triumph. Time and education seem to be the underlying factors while socio-economic status also plays a sizable role in determining who succeeds and who does not. While I do not consider myself an outlier currently, as so many of my peers and schoolmates enjoy what I enjoy, it is very clear that, given the opportunities afforded to me, it may not be long before I am considered an outlier and achieve success, both on a monetary and mental level.

Gladwell’s book Outliers is the most interesting book I have ever read. I say that because of the ideas that are presented and the way that he presents those ideas. He uses stories with characters to get the ball rolling of what he was to talk about. He then uses other books, professionals, and experiments to provide reasoning for his ideas. The chapter that I especially liked, and that I thought he did a good job of getting his point across in was chapter 6— “Harlan, Kentucky”. I believe in this chapter he did his best job of trying to get his point across which is, cultural background plays a bigger part in our way of living than we realize.

In the number one National Bestselling book, “Outliers- The Story of Success”, by Malcolm Gladwell, he conveys a message to the readers that our societies views of success are flawed. What do you think of when you think about “successful people”? I am sure a few words came to mind- rich, famous, accomplished, smart. An outlier is defined in the book as “something that is situated away from or classified differently from a main or related body” (Gladwell 3). An example would be the red apple we see on the back of this book.

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

In Outliers: The Story of Success Malcolm Gladwell argues that success is not earned through talent. He states that success is obtained through forces people can not control such as luck and opportunities giving to them by others. Success is also gained through backgrounds and the year in which one is born. To support his argument Gladwell uses facts, statistics, and a few anecdotes.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell is a book analyzing the traits and characteristics of the most successful people in human history, hence the title Outliers as it examines those who have stood out dramatically in society. Born in Fareham, Hampshire, England in 1963, Malcolm moved to Ontario, Canada at the age of six and spent his remaining developmental years in the country (Dphiffer). After graduating from Trinity College in Toronto in 1984, Malcolm began work for the Washington Post in 1987 where he stayed until 1996. Since then, Malcolm Gladwell has been a staff writer for The New Yorker, and in addition to Outliers he has also written two more New York Times best-sellers, and is highly regarded in the field of journalism and writing. He has received numerous accolades for his work including being named one of the top 100 most influential people by Time Magazine, along

In the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, he uses repetitive story plots to challenge the minds of America’s today and Americas’ tomorrow. It excels the limitations of what the reader was questioning what made someone so intellectual for instants, Bill Joy or where they came from, Joe Flom. The compelling story Gladwell was telling of who are Outliers; the turning point for Gladwell was when he gave his opinion instead of someone else’s story.

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.

The book Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell, examines the nature of success. He challenges the commonly held misconceptions about why people succeed and fail. Gladwell states that success results from a mix of factors such as opportunity, time, luck, heritage, and many others. Gladwell builds his argument by examining many “success stories” throughout the book. Gladwell’s overall message in the Outliers is that no one is self-made, no one can take one hundred percent credit for their own success because they had so form of help. After reading the book, I could not help but to agree with Gladwell. He helped me to better understand the steps it takes for a person to become successful.

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 not true. Some things you will never be good at, no matter how much practice you put into it. There are also a variety of factors that play into success and becoming a world class expert besides practice. Some things require much less practice than the magic 10,000 hour threshold that Gladwell established.