The Journey Is The Destination iIn Laurence Shames’ Sweet Smell of Success

“A good name...is better than silver and gold,”- Proverbs 22:1. This quote is taken from one of the oldest books known to mankind, and although the Bible is controversial, few could deny the truth in the words above. Indeed, a good reputation builds trust, which in turn breeds opportunity. However, a person’s reputation can be ruined by the unkind or even slanderous words of others. That is why people should take into account the 4-way test of things we think, say, or do. For being truthful and fair to others, as well as upbuilding the relationships of of our peers and striving to benefit them, will grant people the opportunity to create a name that is finer than precious metals. To be sure, the 4-way test will prevent the tarnishing of reputations

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.

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).

From day one, middle-class merits are expected to do great things; they are expected to excel in school and sports, Brooks contends (194). He furthers this by saying that the activities that the middle-class participates in become the “bricks” of their identities (195). Brooks argues that character is not created in youth and just retained throughout life, but is built up gradually and people must struggle to maintain and improve throughout their lives (195). He moves his argument forward by talking about how society will reward these meritocrats (195, 196). Brooks believes that society is constantly praising these kids, and that this praise pushes them towards the realization that their success means nothing, unless they give back to society (196). He uses the example of a baseball player enjoying trips to clinics to share stories with the younger kids there (196). Brooks then moves into discussing the choices meritocrats must make later in life; he insists that some people can choose to be made famous because of looks or money (196). He says the other side of this, is to choose an opportunity more worthy of your time and others’ praise

Success has been pondered over for centuries. How does one gain success? Is it worked for or is it only designated for a special few? Looking past the multitude of self help books that have been written, many like Malcolm Gladwell have begun to consider factors beyond just “working for it” as a contributor to success. One of these factors are cultural legacies. Though it is true that cultural legacies can be extremely powerful and that we should acknowledge them when considering someone’s success, it should be evident that the extent of power culture has is less than what Gladwell proposes. The place someone originated from has extremely influential effects on how that person thinks and acts, and in turn how they gain their success. The culture they grew up with becomes deeply rooted in their minds and results in different thought processes that shape the mindset they have while developing into an individual. However, Gladwell overestimates how powerful

Malcolm Gladwell insists throughout his book, Outliers: The Story of Success, that the recipe for achievement is not simply based on personal talents or innate abilities alone. Gladwell offers the uncommon idea that outliers largely depend upon “extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies” (Gladwell19). According to Gladwell, successful men and women are beneficiaries of relationships, occasions, places, and cultures. The author draws on a different case study in each chapter to support a particular argument concerning success. Despite his indifference and suppression in regards to counterarguments, Gladwell’s claims are effective for many reasons, including through the accounts of experts, tone and style of writing, and the

We all have different definitions of success. Most people allow their definition of “success” to de driven by someone or something else (status quo), for in Ragged Dick by Haratio Alger written in 1868, the protagonist Dick also last known as Richard Hunter looked at what someone else thought of a success and tried to attain it. This book tells about a poor boy struggles to become a success. Although Haratio Alger emphasizes the importance of pluck, luck and virtue, in attaining success, it is clear that success also depends on who you know, how you look, and what you are willing to change. Even though Fosdick had courage, what really mattered is how and who got him there. I think that as far as achieving success and happiness, it should be

A person’s reputation is the beliefs and opinions that are generally held about them by other people. Abraham Lincoln stated “Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” This quote shows that the reputation of a person is only a small part of a person. What really matters in a person is their character. Someone can have a bad reputation and still have great character. If someone can get past what others think about them then a good reputation is not overly important.

In other words, having a good reputation can be good, as can most things, as long as one does not focus solely on it.

“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are. While your reputation is merely what others think you are.” -John Wooden.

Another area many people tend to aim to be successful in is the concept of the American Dream. It is thought that if you live in America you need to fulfill the goal of achieving the American Dream and if it is not achieved or not meant to be achieved then the life lived has been a failure. Older generations and even present generations want the younger generations to get good grades, have a ‘successful’ college life, get a professional job, get married, have kids, and buy a big, just because that is normal to everyone but some may choose to live their life not as vanilla. William Zinsser talks about how everyone just follows the social norm in order to be seen as successful, “Our advertisements and TV commercials are a hymn to material success, our magazines articles a toast to people who made it to the top... He is our national idol, and everybody else is our national fink” (Zinsser 601). Becoming a specific type of successful is being pushed onto teenagers who are still struggling to find out who they are and what they want to do. They may want to figure out a different way to become successful in their own independent way.

We as human beings all strive for success. We use success as a measure of everyday life.

“There is something profoundly wrong with the way we make sense of success” (Gladwell 18). In Outliers Malcolm Gladwell is trying to convince his audience that they misunderstand how people become successful. Many believe one only needs hard work and determination in order to achieve success. However, Gladwell complicates this idea by explaining that hard work and determination is not how people become successful and instead, it is all about the opportunities one is given that decides if he or she is successful or not. Gladwell uses the rhetorical appeals of pathos and ethos in order to persuade his audience to accept his idea of the process of becoming successful.

The quote, “The key to success is bringing your identity in line with your reputation,” is important to know, but to know it you first have to know what identity is. Identity means the fact of being who or what a person or thing is. You also need to know what reputation is. Reputation means the beliefs or opinions that are generally held about someone or something. By knowing those two things you can piece together what this quote means, it means to have success your identity and reputation have to match. I agree with that because if Timmy one and Timmy two try for the same job and the person who chooses the person who gets the job he is going to go to each of their friends and ask if their friends act nice around them, so if Bob one says he is funny and cool but people say that he is annoying and mean then the people hiring won’t want him because his reputation and identity aren’t in line.

President Abraham Lincoln once said, "Reputation is the shadow. Character is the tree." To many, this quote means that Character is like a tree which bears the shadow of their reputation whether it be good or bad.