Main Idea In this chapter, Gladwell explains in detail about “Law of the Few”. He mentions previous chapter that a tiny percentage of people affect the tipping point event. It is construct of three kinds of people who are “Connectors”, “Mavens”, and “Salesmen”. At first, “Connectors” are people who have many friends and acquaintances. The people have so many different worlds, and they can bring them all together. Second, “Mavens” are people who know things that the rest of people don’t know (they are data banks). They also have motivation to educate and to help people with their knowledge. The third, “Salesmen” are people who have a talent to persuade people. They have skill to harmonize with others. He also mentions that “word-of-mouth” is
“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).
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.
Even when one has a rough childhood and upbringing, they are able to take all of these hard times and turn them into motivation to work harder to improve not only their lives, but their family and friends lives. Through this hard work and dedication comes the 10,000 hour rule. Marcus Gladwell is a very well-known author, writer, and speaker from The New York Yorker; his first four books were on the New York Times best seller list and in 2005, Time magazine named Gladwell one of its 100 most influential people. Because of Gladwell’s outstanding achievements and background, it furthers his readers to believe that he is a very credible and knowledgeable resource. Gladwell’s purpose in writing Outliers is to teach and inform the audience about what an outlier really stands for and how some people become an outlier from a young age. Gladwell’s main audience is people around the world that are interested in the statistical studies. Gladwell, through the use of several rhetorical devices and examples is effectively able to express what it takes to be successful through the 10,000 hour rule....
Both Nicholas Carr and Malcolm Gladwell debated how the Internet has affected humankind in both positive and negative ways. Malcolm Gladwell is a staff writer for the New Yorker and the author of Small Change:Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted. Nicholas Carr is a writer who has formerly written for the New York Times, The Guardian etc, he also wrote Is Google Making Us Stupid? Gladwell’s and Carr’s essays identifies how the internet has a damaging effect on people.
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell looks at a number of social epidemics and analyzes their build up to the point where they tip. “Tipping” is that point where an epidemic booms, or grows, to its maximum potential. Gladwell begins defining “tipping” with a literal example of the famous shoes, Hush Puppies. Once considered old-fashioned, Hush Puppies experienced a social boom in the mid-90s when hipsters in New York made them trendy again. Gladwell continues explaining “tipping” with a medical epidemic of syphilis in Baltimore. Gladwell introduces us to three essential rules of epidemics: the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor and the Power of Context. The Law of the Few says a key factor in epidemics is the role of the messenger: it spreads through word-of-mouth transmission. Gladwell explains this theory with an example of how Paul Revere managed to spread the news of British invasion overnight. Gladwell continues to explain that there are several types of people that create these types of epidemics. They are called Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen. Connectors are those people that are very social and can literally connect with people with as little as two degrees of separation. Mavens are those that know a lot about a lot of different things. They may recommend a certain restaurant and you must go because you know what they told you about it is true. And Salesmen are exactly that: people that are easily social and persuading.
In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell expresses his theory of success through the 10,000 hour rule that is used to associate practice with success and achieving certain goals. He strives to influence the audience of his point of view and assumptions of successful people throughout the history of the world. Gladwell relates to various historical figures and people of well known talent and intelligence. As the author, Malcolm Gladwell believes to be very knowledgeable, influential throughout the novel. Although he provides interesting facts and statistics to his piece, Gladwell is unable to establish credibility to this information. During college and high school, he did not attain high grades that altered his decision to engage in advertising. After being rejected numerous times, he was later accepted to a journalism position. His insufficient experience and skills contributes to his low credibility and reliability. Gladwell aims to persuade or influence the audience of the importance of practice to fulfill success by also trying to teach the reader new skills. He reaches out to society to capture his inspiring discoveries including young adults in particular who are aspiring to grasp their desired dreams. He introduces the 10,000 hour rule as a goal to reach around the age of twenty or higher. Gladwell compares the lives of professional hockey players, Bill Gates, the Beatles, and Mozart to display their achievements in their later lives due to the amount of experience and practice they were able to endure. He claims that with exactly 10,000 hours of practice, expert level will be sustained in any given skill. Although Gladwell expresses his knowledge and theories of success through devices that exemplify logos and repetition of the 10,00...
Once in a while, it really hits people that they don’t have to experience the world in the way they have been told to. Gladwell believes that cultural legacies are powerful forces. Cultural legacies are the customs of a family or a group of people, that is inherited through the generations. According to Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers, Cultural legacies is something that’s been passed down for generations to generations. It depends on what type of legacies was passed that will affect a person. If a good legacy was passed down, someone can keep that legacy going by trying hard at keeping the legacies going. If a bad legacy was passed down; I believe that cultural legacies can be altered or changed, by good working habits, determination, and a positive mindset to succeed. Culture can affect either positively or negatively, but we have the power to turn our cultural
In the book, groups of successful people are broken down and Gladwell compares their individual characteristics to see if there are any abnormal trends. He starts with talking about how the chance birthdates of a large number of professiona...
Despite serving the same God and reading the same Bible and sharing the same moral values, Christians routinely disagree over how to respond to public policy issues. Why is this so?
“No, I believe it. I know that you will fail. There is something in the universe--I don 't know, some spirit, some principle--that you will never overcome" (Orwell 269-70). Winton had explained this O’Brein after getting caught committing multiple crimes by the Party. Winton emphasized that the Party will fail. Failure will occur by the power of something in the universe, something Winston is unsure of but believes in. He believes there is some spirit, some principle that the Party will never overcome. “1984” by George Orwell and “Little Brother” by Cory Doctorow, both disprove Winton’s claim concerning some principle or spirit that the Party will never overcome.
I strongly agree with Fromm’s viewpoints and interpretations of Orwell’s 1984 text. He warns that the future federal powers will dehumanize society and leave everyone alienated. Thus, I agree with Fromm to the extent that he acknowledges the fact that humanity can indeed cease to exist as a result of our own self-destruction as well as the effect of our actions. Many of his opinions and warnings expressed by Orwell to an extent appear in contemporary society.
Meaning, if an individual proves to have a fascinating or beneficial method, it is more than likely they will find large masses of followers- the paradoxical nature of the individual. One cannot be an individual without a collective, yet one cannot be an individual with a collective. People begin to think and behave in the same manner as the individual, a prime example of the chameleon effect; the nonconscious mimicry of one's interaction partners. Consider the character Randle McMurphy of the novel, One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, written by Ken Kessey. When McMurphy was first admitted to the Oregon psychiatric institute, his eccentric and individualistic ways were rejected by the Acutes; he was too full of life with his pranks and laughter, something completely absent from the lives of the Acutes and Chronics. “The first thing that got me about this place, that there wasn’t anybody laughing. I haven’t heard a real laugh since I came through that door,” (page__). Not only was McMurphy up against the residents, but he also strongly opposed the rigid and controlling methods of Nurse Ratched and the Combine; one of the most obvious examples of conformity in the novel. However, slowly as the novel progressed, it was clear that McMurphy was gaining in popularity as the Acutes accepted his individuality, deeming it more beneficial than the ways of the Combine. The power of the Combine lessened as the shared laughter between the members of the institute began; the ultimate symbol of rebellion against conformity, of individuality. “They laughed so hard about some of the things [McMurphy had] said to the nurse that the two Vegetables ... on the Chronics’ side grinned and snorted along with the laughter,” (page___). The Acutes and few Chronics began to mimic McMurphy's behaviours and attitudes, forming a collective which consciously chose to disobey Nurse
Gladwell states in his novel that success depends on the opportunities granted. For example, without being in the right place at the right time, Elon Musk couldn't have taken advantage of the Internet Boom. If the Physical Therapy program in the 1980s wasn’t a five year program, my mother would not have been able to afford schooling for her career. Furthermore, if presented the opportunity, Dr. Jekyl could have defeated his evil. All these sources come together to prove that personal merit will only get you halfway to your goals. It is imperative to recognize and take advantage of the opportunities presented to be
“Outliers: The Story of Success” is one of the non-fiction books written by Malcolm Gladwell. In the book, the author examines the factors that contribute to the high levels of success. The author adds that success is combined with a number of key factors such as hard work, opportunity and other factors like when and where the person was born. The books gives an insight into various un-answered questions such as why the majority of Canadian ice hockey players are born in the first few months of the calendar year or how The Beatles became one of the most successful musical band in the world. According to Gladwell, success is not only about innate talent but depends on various external factors and situations.
As described in novel The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference the course of any trend, movement, social behavior, and even the spread of a virus has a general trend line that in essence resemble a parabola with 3 main critical points. Any trend line first starts from zero, grows until it crosses the first tipping point, and then spreads like wildfire. Afterwards, the trend skyrockets to its carrying capacity (Galdwell, 2000). Then the trend gradually declines before it reaches the next tipping and suddenly falls out of favor and out of memory. Gladwell defines tipping points as the “magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire” (Gladwell, 2000).