Success is defined as the accomplishment of an aim or purpose and/or the attainment of popularity or profit.
Malcolm Gladwell’s, Outliers: The Story of Success, similarly tells different stories of different people and how their lives came to be. He examines what makes a successful person successful and he addresses the fact that one can come to be successful from several different factors; some self-made, some born to it and raised around cultural and societal forces as well as parental guidance, some because of great luck of time and opportunity, and others because specialization in their own talents or having passion for what they do. Gladwell debunks the myth that success is handed only to those who work hard. He does, however, suggest
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That, in his eyes, is the only way success can be self-made, by practice and perseverance. Otherwise, one must be at luck with the chances of opportunity handed to them, opening the doors to a road of success, like Bill Joy, and/or be born in a certain time period that maximizes their chances and highly influences their luck, like Bill Gates. He also suggests that parents play a role in the success of their kids, the more involved and present they are in their childhood, the more the child becomes one of greater success than one with a non-involved parent. Last but not least, he mentions the factor of how passionate the individual is about his work. It’s like a small chain reaction, the more meaningful the work is to you, the more hours and effort you will want to put in, the more hours and effort you put in, the better you become at what you do, the better you become, the higher the chances that will bring you success. With children of successful people, the apple usually doesn’t fall far from the tree. Looking down the branch of a family tree that values hard work, that can influence generations of …show more content…
However, when one achieves success, does that make that person a hard worker? Are they a happy person because they’ve accomplished so much? Are they labeled as a person who worked truly the best they could for what they earned? Gladwell makes it coherent that successful people are people taking upon the opportunities handed to them at fortunate times. Bill Joy and Bill Gates seized their opportunities to do computer programming at their school’s because their access to computers at a time when many other schools didn’t have the chance, giving them the advantage. Both Joy and Gates obviously took these opportunities and made something out of it the best they could and got their practice in early before the revolution of computers had officially risen, also making them lucky; date-wise. Does this imply that both Bills were hard working, self-made, successful men? Or does it simply just mean they had a great deal luck when they were represented with an opportunity that’d bring them great success down the road as long as they practice with the resources available to them? Gladwell explains the description of success as not simply of a person’s personalities and traits, but rather by considering more quantifiable things. Essentially, he suggests that some people’s success is not so much because of their personal qualities, it’s because they’re placed in
Malcolm Gladwell, in the nonfiction book Outliers, claims that success stems from where you come from, and to find that you must look beyond the individual. Malcolm Gladwell develops and supports his claim by defining an outlier, then providing an example of how Stewart Wolf looked beyond the individual, and finally by giving the purpose of the book Outliers as a whole. Gladwell’s purpose is to explain the extenuating circumstances that allowed one group of people to become outliers in order to inform readers on how to be successful. The author writes in a serious and factual tone for the average person in society of both genders and all ethnicities who wants to become successful in life.
Some people that are excellent examples of this include Bill Joy, Bills Gates, and The Beatles. All of these people were successful because of their hard work and dedication to what they do. How much dedication does it take? Gladwell states that to become an expert one must spend at least ten thousand hours on the skill. Prior to this milestone, these three were all nothing, no one knew who they were. Starting out I’ll discuss Bill Joy, a computer scientist who made vast improvements to the way we use technology today. Joy went to the University of Michigan looking to become a mathematician or a biologist, but he came out an expert in computer science. The world of programming was still a very new field at this time, so one would think that Joy succeeded due to his dedication and raw talents alone right? Gladwell disagrees, Joy just so happened to have gone to a school where instead of coding with punch cards students were using time-sharing, a much more efficient way to code. Joy was just so fortunate to go to one of the few schools in the entire nation that was using this method of coding. After Michigan, Joy moved on to the University of California Berkley whereby his second year he hit his ten thousand hour milestone. Prior to hitting this milestone, Joy wasn’t widely known in the coding world, but that would all change. Joy would go on to rewrite UNIX and Java, two
Malcolm Gladwell’s overall purpose of Outliers: The Story of Success is that success is largely determined by an individual’s socioeconomic and sociocultural environment, and individual ambition, effort, or talent, are less significant, contrary to the societal notions associated with success. In other words, success is not something that someone randomly gained; success is earned through opportunities that develop dedication, interest, and skill over time. By doing this, will one become an outlier, or “something that is situated away or classed differently from a main or related body,” (Gladwell 3) that distinguishes great from good and best from great, as exemplified by “The striking thing about Ericsson’s study is that the and his colleagues couldn’t find any “naturals”, musicians who floated effortlessly to the top while practicing a fraction of the time their peers did.” (Gladwell 39) Gladwell also acknowledges societal norms such that “All of the fourteen men and woman on the list above had vision and talent,” (Gladwell 62-63) to assert hard work, ability, et cetera can lead to success, but a social environment that offers such opportunities immensely increases the likelihood of success.
Those who have been successful are what the reader is led to think are the outliers. However, Gladwell makes a statement that contradicts this. “Their 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. The outlier, in the end, is not an outlier at all.” (285) That statement would mean that everyone else who has not been able to be extremely successful through their field is the outlier. Also, all the information given in the book about what contributes to creating the outlier would falsify Gladwell’s definition and previously quoted statement. Considering Mathworld’s definition, everyone else in the world who doesn’t meet Gladwell’s outlier criteria would be the outlier. Yet, reaching the levels of success told in the book is difficult and those who do become the minority, not the majority. The advantages and inheritances that contribute to the creation of success are not available to everyone. For that reason, Gladwell’s original definition is consistent with the statistical definition, however, the people he classifies as outlier would make his definition
Are the various millionaires from the world truly self-made men or is their success a result of a more complex outside source- the environment? In the book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell analyzes how people achieve success. He stresses the belief that success is obtained by other factors beyond personal characteristics like IQ, work ethic, talent and ambition. To truly understand success, one must go deeper and look at the “hidden” reasons, such as birthdates, hours put in, cultural background and timing. Individuals credit their own success on their merit, but it’s decided on other factors outside their control.
Even with certain qualities that that may make success more likely, it would be impossible for anyone to become a millionaire or a master of their craft without any hard work, even Gladwell states, “if you work hard enough and assert yourself, and use your mind and imagination, you can shape the world to your desires.” (Gladwell, 151) This quote is not the entire truth and Gladwell himself recognized this by also stating, “Success is not a random act. It arises out of a predictable and powerful set of circumstances” (Gladwell, 155) Hard work and the power of the mind are merely the tip of the iceberg in a pattern of predisposed
In this generation, many of us are told to create a trait that can lead us to success. A trait that will guide us to be the best version of ourselves. Others, are told, if they want to live a “good life”, they need to be intelligent. To be successful and intelligent, is to become someone extraordinary, standing out from the crowd. When an opportunity is given to you, do not be shy and take action. If you take too long to grasp the opportunity given to you, you will eventually miss a chance to do something great. In the book of Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success, he provides an informative nonfiction book to his readers about what makes a person successful. Specifically in chapter 4 of his book, Trouble with Geniuses: Part 2, Gladwell
Have you ever wondered how some people have come from nothing, a dark past that will surely set them up for failure, to live a remarkably successful life that they built on their own, while others are born privileged but fall far short of reaching their full potential? Many people believe that the answer to success is simply hard work. In Outliers, Malcom Gladwell believes that success is not achieved by the smartest or the hardest working but is simply a gift. He argues that although hard work and determination are necessary for success, social standing and certain advantages are the true aspects that create an outlier. This nonfiction book examines the many factors that influence whether an individual will find success or failure and uncovers certain explanations and patterns behind these everyday
In the book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell (2008) tells a series of stories of success and concludes his discoveries of underlying secrets in success. Gladwell divides his book into two parts: opportunity and legacy. For the first part “opportunity,” Gladwell explains that individual talent is necessary but not sufficient to achieve success because accessible opportunities matter a lot to one’s success. As to the second part “legacy,” Gladwell emphasizes the significance of cultural legacy and the historical advantages that can’t be ignored when considering the factors of success. Although some critics argue that Gladwell uses stereotypical examples, Outliers is a convincing book because its merits outweigh the defects.
Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers is an extremely informative read about success and the different aspects that attribute to it. Gladwell is able to use many studies and sources that back up his theories of how success is achieved. Although he is biased towards his theories, the only real argument that can be made in opposition to his theories would be a debate over exceptions to the 10,000 Hour Rule. Outliers ultimately has a positive effect on the audience by making them more aware of their own chances at success and how if they may be lacking in one area (education, opportunity, creativity) all hope is not lost. Gladwell’s piece is essentially timeless and will be able to be applied to future generations because he used examples from a few different eras that still make sense to today.
In “Outliers” Malcolm Gladwell organizes his argument for their being a rule for overall success by showing statistics of people who are defined as being successful such as Bill Gates, Billy Joy, and The Beatles. He also uses a Berlin music academy to help prove his rule. He presents an argument that Bill Gates and The Beatles and the violinist attending the music academy may have been born with innate talent but that is not the sole ...
In Chapter 8 and 9 of Outliers: The Story of Success, Gladwell exams some of the ways that Asian and American students learn math, arguing that some of the principles in the US education system should be reconsidered. I generally agree with Gladwell’s point of view. I believe in two ways, students ' principal spirit and the length of students’ studying, the US education system leaves much to be desired, though an overhaul is in progress.
Einstein was not always an extremely successful man and he had difficulties that would have prevented anyone else from succeeding, but eventually, several of his theories led to scientific advancements. One theory earned him a Nobel Prize, in physics one a PhD and another helped in the development of nuclear fission. If a person were only to take a quick glance at his life without a deeper investigation, they would find it difficult to discover the catalyst that led to his success. However, with the tools Gladwell provides his readers it does become obvious what led to Einstein’s life of success. Gladwell argues that a person needs to devote time to practice their craft; he calls this the “10,000-hour rule” (Gladwell 35). They must also have opportunity to succeed, as well as intelligence; they must at least be, smart enough to do so. He also claims that they must have been born at just the right time for success, too early or too late is a failure; he calls this the “Matthew Effect” (Gladwell 15). Gladwell even goes so far as to say that where they are born has a significant impact on their success; this he calls “demographic luck” (Gladwell 129). These tools provided by Gladwell to identify an outlier can explain if Albert Einstein is truly an outlier.
In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell argues that there is no such thing as a self-made man, and that success is only the result of a person’s circumstances. However, throughout the novel Gladwell points out that your circumstances and opportunities only help you become successful if you are willing to take advantage of them and work hard. From a twelve year old living in the Bronx, to those who were born at just the right time to become millionaires, one thing is the same throughout; these people because successful because they seized the opportunities they were given. The advantages and opportunities that came from their circumstances would not be important if they had not grasped them. Every successful man is self made, because he has seized the
The true definition of success is the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. Although, many people have different perceptions of success. Success is judged by the individuals themselves. Success can be defined in many ways including: wealth, happiness, fame, etc. Success can be anything from material goods to concepts. It all depends on your concept and how you achieve your goals. You have to have persistence within yourself. Varying on your profession, you will need a certain skill level. Your definition of success can be suitable best for you, but not for others. It is about truly not giving up, reaching your full potential, and self-fulfillment.