Analysis Of Malcolm Gladwell's 'Outliers'

Finley Wells

Capstones

Mrs.K-R

Augest 11 2017

“People don't rise from nothing....It is only by asking where they are from that we can unravel the logic behind who succeeds and who doesn't”(Gladwell 18).

In Outliers Malcolm Gladwell calculates success. Through the repeated praxis of shattering the reader’s idea that masters in a particular field achieve their success through individual talent he unravels how their given circumstances was what truly led them to what they became. Example after example he proves how conditions as simple as the year they were born led to their later achievement; the author even demonstrated how a person’s culture can later affect their job performance. CoCo Chanel, arguably the most famed and inspirational fashion

In Outliers, Gladwell showcases Louise Farkas studies of New York immigrants family trees. Farkas found that many families who worked in the garment industry would, by generation, climb up the ladder of the industry. For example, Farkas recounts a tailor whose children all became garment makers or a leather tanner with kids who grew up to become bag makers. This correlation exemplifies Chanel’s advantage of family history in the garment industry. Growing up with parents who had even a rudimentary knowledge of the industry she would later go into gave Chanel an edge that would not be realized for years to

From when she was 12 to 23 Coco was sewing with few gaps in between. Chanel had over ten years to practice and perfect her craft. In Gladwell’s book it reads “researchers have settled on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise: ten thousand hours”(40). To reach 10,000 hours of practice and to subsequently reach mastery someone would need about 10 years. CoCo Chanel had 11.

During her time in Moulins Chanel met and courted Etienne Balsan, an affluent textile hier. For three years she lived with him at his castle in Compiègne serving as his mistress. There Chanel lived a life of wealth and luxury that would not have been possible without Balsan. Later in her career it was those riches that inspired many of her iconic designs; her times spent on yachts lead her to incorporate those traditionally sailors looks of striped shirts and bell bottoms into her later