What Is The Thesis Of Outliers Malcolm Gladwell

The rich and the famous of history are not exceptional individuals made successful by pure hard work; instead, they are lucky people possessing just the right mix of qualities, for which they are not responsible and without which their success would not be possible. This is the thesis of Malcom Gladwell’s Outliers, in which he uses examples from the worlds of sports, music, academics, and business to demonstrate the external factors which created the success of Canadian hockey players, American programmers, European musicians, and Jewish lawyers. His conclusions are astonishing, but may be more strongly stated than the facts warrant. Still, the evidence he cites demonstrates astonishing correlations which demand explanation, even if they are

Sharps wits, an incredible work ethic, and academic achievement, while necessary in some measure, are less important than, birth date, upbringing, and rare opportunities.

He points out how academic and sports cut-off dates result in children of up to 12 months age difference compete against one another for recognition. Those recognized for their skills will be groomed for success with extra practice and coaching. This creates a self-fulfilling prophecy, in which coaches raise for success those children branded as successful (p. 30). Considering the birthdates of minors in competitive hockey and children in schools, he shows those born just after the cut-off dates for their groupings (thus, the oldest) disproportionately outperform their younger

He is correct and perceptive to note the, often ignored, factors that contribute to the success of remarkable persons. However, the rhetoric of his argument is designed to instill the notion that those factors create successful people, as though remarkable persons were passive in receiving the success, not active in pursuing it. Many Canadian children born in January do not use their size advantage to become professional hockey players; some children born in December overcome the disadvantage. Bill Gates chose to pour ten thousand hours of work into programming; the fact that others did not have such an opportunity does not reduce the import of his committed