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Intelligence In The Outliers By Malcolm Gladwell

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In the novel The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, the notion of practical intelligence surfaces when discussing how successful one is. He defined it as, “knowing what to say to whom, knowing when to say it, and knowing how to say it for maximum effect… It’s practical in nature...knowledge that helps you read situations correctly, and get what you want”(101). This means that it is more like street smarts and common sense; knowing what to do in any given environment. Gwendell believed that this kind of knowledge is key to becoming successful since it allows the person to be able to use any situation to their advantage. One example of this is the comparison between Robert Oppenheimer and Robert Langan. In this study, two males each born with an incredibly …show more content…

However, on the flip of things, Oppenheimer was born into a well off home which fostered his intelligence that landed him a position at Harvard. He completed school but in grad school, he made attempt to poison his tutor which he talked his way out of and only receives a punishment of probation. On top of that, he was able to talk his way into being the head of the “atomic-bomb effort”(98). This is one of Gladwell’s examples of how practical intelligence plays a roll on success because since Langan did not have any practical intelligence, he was not able to talk to his authoritative superiors. However, on the opposite end of the tracks, Oppenheimer’s practical intelligence allowed him to not only talk his way out of jail time after attempting to poison his tutor but also allowed him to become a leader in the Manhattan Project. This is because he was able to talk to others in a way that convinced him that they were winning even though he was. With this information in mind, I completely agree with Gladwell’s view on practical intelligence since I think that without it, intellectual intelligence is virtually

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