Analysis Of Outliers By Malcolm Gladwell

When you think of success what comes to mind? In sports it’s making it to the pros. In business it’s making your first million. In high school it can be as simple as acing that test you studied for all night. No matter what profession you are in, success is the desired goal. But the way you achieve your desired amount of success can all differ. For some it may be handed to them in the way of numerous opportunities. For others it may take an extreme amount of hard work (say 10,000 hours) to finally reach their top potential. In the book Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell the different ways people gain success is discussed. Whether it be through luck, hard work, or community interference, Gladwell explains how they can either

In the first chapter he takes the story of the Canadian hockey team and how majority of their team is comprised of boys with birthdays in earlier parts of the year. Gladwell discusses how being born in the earlier months, January through April, can change how developed you are when it comes to physical ability. According to psychologist Roger Barnesley 40% of the players will be born between January and March, 30% between April and June, 20% between July and September, and only 10% between October and December. This was because of the cut off date being set at January 1st which meant that all the players born after that date,within the first few months, would essentially have an extra year of growth and development then the ones born in, say, October. These boys would be respectively larger in size and have had more practice then the boys born in later months, making them practically a shoo in for the

Gladwell states that it takes 10,000 hours of practice before someone truly masters their skill. Bill Gates is known not only for being the richest man alive but also for being a well known college dropout. But before he dropped out, Gladwell points out, Gates spent countless hours in both his high school and college computer centers. Bill Gates states to Gladwell that “I had a better exposure to software development at a young age than I think anyone did in that period of time, and all because of an incredibly lucky series of events.” Gates seems to be a prime example of Gladwell’s beloved outlier; not only did he complete the 10,000 hour rule but he also took advantage of the many opportunities given to him that Gladwell believes in so