Research Paper On Outliers By Malcolm Gladwell

982 Words2 Pages

Is it possible to be the most successful figure in the world and being worth billions of dollars? It is possible; Bill Gates is the most successful figure in the world, and he is worth 79.2 billion dollars. Gates is a very successful entrepreneur who founded Microsoft, the biggest software company in the world. In Outliers, written by Malcolm Gladwell has many theories that he believes lead to success. Many of Gladwell’s theories correlate to Gates’ success. Bill Gates is the most successful figure in the world because of his determination, which is illustrated in his early life, advantages and in 10,000 hours of practice. Bill Gates was born in Seattle, Washington on October 28, 1955. When Gates was 13 years old, he found an interest …show more content…

As stated in Success Magazine, “The son of an influential Seattle lawyer, Gates was only 14 years old when he took his first experimental pokes at a small computer” (Success Magazine). Bill Gates had a strong obsession for computers at a young age as stated in Bill Gates Story, “In fact, Gates obsession with computers grew so strong that he exploited the schools programs, which used fairly archaic computer code, to allow himself more computer time” (Bill Gates Story). As a result of this, Gates was banned from using the computers: “The ban did nothing to stop Gates obsession with computers, however, and within a year the teenager was building complex programs on his own” (Bill Gates Story). While attending Lakeside School, Gates met Paul Allen who is the co-founder of Microsoft. As stated in Entrepreneur, “When Gates was 15, he and Allen went into business together. The two teens netted $20,000 with Traf-O-Data, a program they developed to measure traffic flow in the Seattle area” (Entrepreneur). Gates is very intelligent, and at a …show more content…

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Gladwell believes for someone to become successful he or she has to put in the time and effort. Gates is a great example of Gladwell’s 10,000 hour rule. He started computer programming at a young age and he put time into it as Gladwell states, “Bill Gates got to do real-time programming as an eighth grader in 1968” (51). During this time period not many eight graders were giving the opportunity to work with technology: “It was an “amazing thing,” of course, because this was 1968. Most colleges didn’t have computer clubs in the 1960s. Even more remarkable was the kind of computer Lakeside bought” (51).
Practice makes perfect someone isn’t going to get better at something or become successful if he or she isn’t determined, doesn't practice or put the time into

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