Gladwell’s Formula for Success
Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers: The Story of Success delves into the different aspects and situations that allow for individuals to become immensely successful. In doing so, he has come up with an enticing formula that suggests that success is the result of fortunate circumstances more so than just hard work and innate talent. He attempts to make the reader view success differently than is traditionally accepted. His formulaic approach has resulted in much support as well as severe criticisms such as Michiko Kakutani’s remark that he “tries to extrapolate [his] observations into broader hypotheses about success…[pivoting] deceptively around various anecdotes and studies that are selective in the extreme”.
…show more content…
In this chapter, he presents a strong argument supporting this notion of accumulative advantage that can help predict success for individuals. This sociological phenomenon makes logical sense, that those who experience advantages in certain aspects of life at a young age would continue to separate themselves from those deprived of such opportunity. He applies this phenomenon to a wide variety of situations further supporting his argument. One example Gladwell presents is that statistically hockey players born directly after the eligibility age-class cutoff are more likely to succeed. Why? Because they are more physically mature than younger players, thus being selected for special competitive programs, which is the beginning of their accumulated advantage. Although this is a logical conclusion, upon further investigation of the 2007 Medicine Hat Tigers hockey team Gladwell cites it is clear that the players are far from average when it comes to height and weight. The players average a weight of 185.12 pounds and a height of 5’ 11.6” while the average American male from the ages 16-20 is 5’8” and 135-160 pounds (Donway). This clearly shows that despite their birthdays, there are other important factors such as genetics that allow them to fit the specific profile of an elite hockey player, being heavier and taller than the average …show more content…
Analyzing the successes of individuals such as Bill Gates to The Beatle’s, he estimates that an upbringing of accumulative advantages and ten thousands hours of practice can explain their success. While his examples seem well documented, he fails to bring into consideration many other variables that would have large statistical significance in his model of success. First off, 10,000 is a relatively arbitrary number that cannot be scientifically proven, only hypothesized with modern science. In each example, the individual studied seemingly had practiced more than ten thousand hours, but there is no indication that at exactly then thousand hours, something magical happens nor do they reach the pinnacle of their success. The examples Gladwell chooses to fits his theoretical model about success are too limited. He deduces that it was simply a result of accumulated advantages and a certain measure of practice that depicts success without providing empirical evidence. In the model Gladwell presents, he uses individualized case studies and generalizes them to fit as an explanatory model of success for all people. Additionally, he describes The Beatles’ success as having been a result of repeatedly being invited to play in Hamburg, thus performing many hours a day. While this could be true, and helped propel them to a successful career, The Beatles were only one
Malcom Gladwell, the author of The Outliers, analyzes the factors to success based on real-life example. Through statistical facts and logical reasoning, he attempts to prove how success is more than just hard work and being intelligent. He supports his arguments with accurately calculated statistical facts to gain the trust of his audience and to work towards 2proving his points. Gladwell determines the reasons of success by comparing well-known successful people and finding commonalities between those people. Gladwell does not believe anyone can be a self-made man.
Think of success like watching a tree grow the branches split into different paths one can take each split is another opportunity to prosper and grow beautiful leaves like trophies. An uncommon belief is that the process of becoming successful is like a tree branch, if one starts off strong, more paths appear growing from the sturdy branch, and achieving goals lead to leaves growing to show wealth. “It is those who are successful, in other words, who are most likely to be given the kinds of special opportunities that lead to further success,” (Gladwell 30). Author of nonfiction book Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell, agrees with this uncommon belief, in his book he argues that success does not come from intelligence or passion
In "Outliers: The story of success", Malcom Gladwell explained and gave examples of ways to be successful. There are many ways that Gladwell mentioned, such as luck, practice, background, family, and culture. There are many more of course, but I will save time. There are three of which I think are the most important, these being Intelligence, Social Skills, and Location; and these are explanations as to why I think these are the most important.
In Gladwell’s best-selling novel, “Outliers”, the belief that 10,000 hours of practice makes a person an expert seems to be a prominent theme. “The emerging picture from such studies is that ten thousand hours of practice are required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert–in anything” (Gladwell 40). According to recent research, 10,000 is the number of hours put in by all experts on certain skills, like music, sports, or art. This research is why the majority believes in the rule that Malcolm Gladwell made so famous.
This is a book about success in nowadays, money, power, career and life. The co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post - Arianna Huffington makes a beautiful bond in her writing – The Thrive – between personal experience and scientific prerequisite. Arianna Huffington redefines success and urges us to reconnect to ourselves. Doing things in our way is not an option, in the author perspective.
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell teaches you the understanding of success. Malcolm Gladwell in the book Outliers uses logos, pathos, and ethos to get his argument across. Outliers was written for the purpose to show the audience that success isn’t all on how hard you work, raw talent, intelligence or personality traits. Success comes from your culture, who your parents are, when you were born and the opportunities you have been given. The argument by logic, emotion and character are all put into Outliers to convince the readers that success is what you make of it.
Pod Cast Malcom Gladwell is author of Outliers The story of success. Gladwell speaks on success how circumstances may out come your success but that may not be that case. Tony Robbins a motivational speaker, author, and philanthropist. Robbins doesn’t see circumstances as a determined factor.
Gladwell’s Argument in Outliers Success is a concept that is constantly altered and has a different meaning from person to person. The stereotypical definition of success would be someone who has a high-paying job or is in the upper-class. Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Outliers: The Story of Success, approaches the concept of success in a different and unique way. Gladwell discusses how opportunities, cultural legacy, and hard work all coincide with each other to produce real success. He uses mostly logic and multiple unrelated anecdotes to support and provide evidence for his statements.
Intrinsic factors critically considered when people think about the main components of success. However, Malcolm Gladwell, a famous writer, contradicts this tendency through the book, Outliers. The book, Outliers insists that extrinsic factors define success rather than the intrinsic ones. Nonetheless, Gladwell himself goes against the topic of Outliers in his assertion: “if you work hard enough and assert yourself, and use your mind and imagination, you can shape the world to your desires (Gladwell, 2008).” The assertion implies that individuals could achieve success only with those intrinsic factors.
We hear success stories everyday on the news and on television yet, there is no one who explains how these individuals became prosperous. In Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell creates a blueprint for success through a series of short stories. Gladwell dissects the stories and looks at the individual’s background to connect every story with his theories as well as using statistics and facts to show credibility and logic. This method allows the readers to better comprehend his
One of the few negatives about book Outliers is that the author provides many arguments that an individual's success is influenced on situations in their lives that are inherited. For example one of the first examples Malcolm gladwell provides in the book is with hockey players. Gladwell explained that kids born in February have a better chance at playing professionally. This gave the impression that success is based more off of inheritance or ecology instead of individual merit and hard work.
In the book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell uses the persuasive techniques such as figurative language, rhetorical questions, and analogies to persuade readers that the American view of success is wrong, and that success is the product of opportunities, hidden advantages, and hard work. In Chapter Two, these techniques are used to describe his idea of “The 10,000-Hour Rule” - that belief it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at something. Gladwell’s basis for the 10,000-hour rule is that people who are experts in their field became so good from hidden and rare opportunities that allowed them to practice their skills. One example gladwell uses are The Beatles, whom Gladwell identifies as one of the most famous rock bands ever.
behavior, learning and memory of an individual ( 1). While Dr. Noble noted the more affluent children possessed larger hippocampuses than their disadvantaged counterparts (Brain Trust 47), Hanson notes that the lifestyle of less affluent families affect the hippocampus negatively. For instance, maternal separation can negatively impact the hippocampus, I.e. working mother's. The lower the income a household has, the more stress it faces. Outstanding stress can have long-lasting negative effects on the hippocampus (1.).
INTRODUCTION Hook In life, people always continue struggling to obtain what they want, and they always crave for a successful life. In general, success is defined to be the accomplishment of an aim or a purpose, and each of us has our own aims or purposes to reach. Background information For instance, a lot of sport athletes wish to be showered with a lot of trophies and glory.
Outliers, written by Malcolm Gladwell, is an informational book regarding the intricacies of success and how it comes to fruition in individuals. Outliers has served to teach students the means of being successful and the importance of seizing opportunities as they come. Personally, Outliers has changed my views of success in numerous ways. Before reading said book, I had always assumed people who were naturally talented or had specific privileges were the only ones who could get far. However, Gladwell’s writing has informed me that anyone, if they are prepared to work hard, can reach their goals.