UNDERDOG THEORY
Gladwell’s theory of underdogs relates to what problems we face in life. As said in his book David and Goliath, the underdogs overcame their weaknesses or turned their disadvantages into strengths by using unconventional methods and thinking outside the box. There was David who came off as weak to his peers but showed how strong-willed he really could be. There was Vivek Ranadive that made a way for his team to defeat their opponents even though he had the lack of knowledge. There were also The Impressionists that didn’t want to follow everyone else and made their own Salon to put their work in it that others disapproved. His theory of underdogs using willpower, strategy, and management, makes me believe that he is precise and his book favors our lives.
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He was a shepherd boy battling a giant who was named goliath. All of his peers looked at him as a weak man as he volunteered to fight against Goliath for them when no one else would. He wasn’t as weak as he seemed to be; he had willpower. Instead of fighting goliath face to face, David distracted the giant by hitting him with a sling, which knocked him die. He then ran up to him and cut his head off. Goliath was defeated in seconds. It shows that he wasn’t so much of an underdog after all. Vivek Ranadive was a female basketball league coach who is the next underdog. The problem was that he didn’t know anything about basketball and the girls he had on his team, had no clue how to play it. He realized that his weakness was the lack of experience. What he did was use an unconventional method to defeat every team the girls went up against. That method was called the full-court press, which is a term in basketball to pressure the offensive team the entire length of the court before and after the inbound pass. Vivek was the underdog who turned his weakness into a great
I found Gladwell’s first chapter of Outliers entitled “The Matthew Effect” to be both interesting, confusing, and perhaps somewhat lopsided. Based on Matthew 25:2, Gladwell simply explains, “It is those who are successful, in other words, who are most likely to be given to the kinds of special opportunities that lead to further success.” (Gladwell 2008, pg. 30) The Matthew Effect seems to extend special advantages and opportunities to some simply based on their date of birth.
Loving God and hating his own mother kept David strong. David loved God, he prayed every night to God. He hated his mother so much he wanted to outthink her tricks, he did. He used different tactics like over exaggerating his pain when he got beat, putting a wet cloth over his mouth when his mother put cleaning products in a room with him. David kept counting time in his head in order to make the time pass faster.
David was the youngest of seven brothers and was in charge of tending to his father’s sheep while his father and three of his brothers went to war. The Israelites were at a standstill with the Philistines, but were too scared to fight because the Philistine army had a huge giant, named Goliath. David was a scrawny, young boy, but he told Saul that he wished to kill Goliath. He had never killed another human before, but his strength was in his faith that God would protect him. Even though he was offered armor and a sword, he took only what he was used to: a staff, a sling, and five smooth stones. In the end, David hit Goliath with a rock and then cut his head off with Goliath’s own sword. The rest of the Philistine army ran away in fear, leaving the Israelites
Imagine a book that offers the reader a key; a key that enables them to ride down the highway to success and see all of the stops along the way that are instrumental in achieving success. Malcolm Gladwell does precisely this in his novel Outliers, which examines some of history’s most successful people and then attempts to explain why they specifically became successful beyond their wildest dreams. Gladwell is a reporter for The New Yorker and an accomplished author in the areas of psychology, sociology, and social psychology. In Outliers, he presents his reasoning as to why some people become successful and some do not. One of his major points in this regard is the ten thousand hour rule, meaning that to master a topic and become extremely successful in that area, one must accumulate at least ten thousand hours of practice in that area. He closely examines the early lives and careers of some of history’s greatest success stories to make a fine argument for his case. However, his strong arguments in support of his theories on success are not as strong when they come to countering the “typical view”, as Gladwell sees it. Outliers is different than most persuasive novels in that by proving his point, Gladwell does not necessarily disprove other people’s view on success. He effortlessly utilizes logos, along with numerous examples and parallelisms to support his theories. However, his lack of ethos and strong counter-argument allows for the audience to understand his ten thousand hour rule without necessarily supporting it wholeheartedly. After proposing something unthinkable to the average mind, Gladwell goes on to explain his ten thousand hour rule theory using two, very descriptive, very in-depth anecdotes. He shows how multi-bil...
Success has a different meaning for every person on Earth. The majority of people define success as an individual’s “attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence” (Success). In accordance with the rest of society, Malcolm Gladwell defines success as an individual’s accumulation of “a predictable and powerful set of circumstances and opportunities” given by the environment to help a person succeed in the business world (Gladwell 155). Advantages come in the forms of birth dates, learning styles, work ethics, demographic luck, and job needs. Similarly, opportunities given by the environment circulate around a person’s ability to complete “ten thousand hours… of greatness” (41). Before reading Gladwell’s book “Outliers: The Story of Success”, I would have complied with society’s and Gladwell’s
Malcom Gladwell, is an author of numerous New York Times Best Sellers, who uses several techniques in his writing to clarify and support his argument. Gladwell’s techniques are using stories to appeal to the reader’s emotions. Using scientific facts and research to logically strengthen his argument. Also, writing about controversial issues to establish credibility with the readers. These techniques are found in “Offensive Play”, “Small Change”, and “Harlan, Kentucky”, works by Gladwell.
Gladwell gives differing definitions of intelligence. Yet his definition of success is singular—"worldly" success in terms of wealth, power, and fame. Are there also differing definitions of success that Gladwell doesn't consider? If so, what are they, and what does it take to achieve those versions of success? What is your definition of success, and how does it compare to Gladwell’s? Has your definition of success changed at all?
The common characteristics allowed all of the underdogs to prevail in challenge situations are they are willing to do things they want and never give up. They use their knowledge, intelligent and hard work to achieve their goals. They also make their own strategy to fight their opponents. They are doing thing that their opponents never expect that. According to Gladwell, not all the underdogs do what it takes to prevail because “Underdog strategies are hard”. The underdogs seem have no chance to win in a battle, this make they have to work and practice harder to prevail. There are not every underdogs are going to practice two hours a day; less talking and “moving almost ninety-eight percent of the practice” as Vivek Ranadive basketball team did. Gladwell’s main idea in this chapter is we do not have to be afraid of our weakness, we can beat anything if we work hard and create our own strategies to fit in that battle. We should go outside the box, doing unconventional thing and freedom to create our strategies. My little cousin fits Gladwell's perspective. She is ten years old; she love
David was a hero to the Israelites because he was able to kill Goliath, who had
Malcolm Gladwell’s “Troublemakers” is an article in which he explores the way societies make generalizations. Malcolm explains how Ontario has banned pit bulls due to a boy being attacked and people viewing that one example to be enough to distinguish all pit bulls as vicious and bloodthirsty. He goes on to employ that all dogs even resembling pit bulls or that have some pit bull mixed into them have been banned as well, because anything that looks like a pit bull has now been deemed dangerous for the people in that society. Not only does Malcolm point out other ways societies generalize people, like racial profiling a terrorist, but he distinguishes how steps could have been taken to eliminate the threat of the pit bull but it seemed to just
“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).
Malcolm Gladwell makes many debatable claims in his book “The Outliers”. One of these controversial topics is brought up in chapter three when he talks about a person’s IQ and how that relates to one’s success. Gladwell says, “The relationship between success and IQ works only up to a point. Once someone has reached an IQ of somewhere around 120, having additional IQ points doesn’t seem to translate into any measurable real-world advantage.”After reading “Outliers” I believe that this is the greatest controversial topic. I agree with Malcolm Gladwell because there are a high amount of people who are not incredibly smart that are very successful, success can be viewed differently by different people, and from my own experiences on the U-High
What would happen if our world today was monotonous, sorrowful, and grey? What if no one was here to form new creations, and think of bold ideas? Would triumph have a definition? Would there be outliers in our world today? We are constantly thinking, always generating new ideas and forming new thoughts. People even proceed by creating inventions, and building objects no one would of thought would be made today. But, what we don’t perceive is how they became successful and how they took advantage of the moment that was given to them. In the novel, Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell, the author explains that an outlier is one who is given an opportunity and knows how to take advantage. He believes that in order for a person to be successful they need at least ten thousand hours of hard work and effort in order to succeed at a skill. It is clear to me that like Malcolm Gladwell, I believe
We all understand what success is, but what allows for a person to become successful? Malcolm Gladwell wrote his book Outliers to study this topic and settle once and for all why some people are more successful than others. Gladwell uses the success stories of people throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to discover just exactly what it is that allows for one to be successful. He explains that there is much more to becoming successful than just natural talent and skill. Gladwell states in Outliers that success is the product of the time we were born, our dedication, and most of all where we come from.
Gladwell demonstrates that hard work does not get people to high places but a series of opportunities and other factors will. What people have grown up to think about hard work is not true and it is demonstrated through these various examples. People will not be able to succeed, practice, and master their skills without opportunities, timing, devotion, and moral support. There is no such thing as “rags to riches” because those people would not be rich unless they had opportunities in their life. Remember that with out these key factors, people will never be able to succeed.