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Summary of malcolm gladwell's outliers
Malcolm gladwell outliers thesis
Luck is when opportunity meets preparation. essay
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Vivian Gindi
As incoming freshmen with high hopes and motivation, we all have one underlying question: how do we tackle college successfully?
In the book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell proposes a theory of success after analyzing many success stories. He claims that the ingredients to success include luck, opportunity, hard work and culture.
Gladwell proves that although luck is a major factor of success, what can make one successful is taking advantage of the opportunities that present themselves due to the lucky circumstances. Bill Gates had a lucky series of events that lead him to who he was. He was fortunate enough to attend a private school that had a computer club, a remarkable occurrence for that time. Jumping on that chance, Gates was the given the opening to work for the ISI (Information Sciences Inc.). He took
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Undeniably, Gates put in a tremendous amount of effort to reach success. The next principle that Malcolm Gladwell emphasizes in his book is hard work. Once a person is given the opportunities to become the best, what will distinguish the people who will rise to the top are those who work much harder. Gladwell coins the phrase, “10,000 hours,” as the magic number of time it takes of hard work to reach greatness. Without 10,000 hours of practice, no matter how much luck and opportunity is given, one cannot reach the top level. Musicians, including Mozart, have only reached their potential after practicing for ten thousand hours. As a violinist, this principle is clear; when I practice more, I play better and am able to learn more. The more practice we put in, the better we will be. As a college student, it is important to stay on task and master 10,000 hours of whatever that student strives to be good at. It is important to learn this lesson as freshmen so that we can delve into our studies, practices, games and work and hit our
In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell argues that there is no such thing as a self-made man, and that success is only the result of a person’s circumstances. However, throughout the novel Gladwell points out that your circumstances and opportunities only help you become successful if you are willing to take advantage of them and work hard. From a twelve year old living in the Bronx, to those who were born at just the right time to become millionaires, one thing is the same throughout; these people because successful because they seized the opportunities they were given. The advantages and opportunities that came from their circumstances would not be important if they had not grasped them. Every successful man is self made, because he has seized the
Malcolm Gladwell is a canadian-english journalist, speaker, and bestselling author. In his bestselling book “Outliers”, Malcolm Gladwell discusses success and what patterns correlate with it. He states that how much time you put into a certain activity, specifically 10,000 hours, can put you in a elite level of proficiency. This in turn can give someone the tools to allow them the ability to be successful. Using historical citations, patterns, and real life examples, Gladwell forms his 10,000 hour rule. Due to his knowledgeable yet calm tone Gladwell seems to show credibility. His intended audience could be people who enjoy statistics or people who want to be successful and find possible ways to do so. Gladwell uses a logical appeal to show the patterns he has found through his studies of success. He supports his claim with overwhelming statistics which back it. He also uses similes to help better understand how he can relate the patterns he has found for the elite in a certain activity to other things. Foil is probably Gladwell's best means of convincing the reader to his thesis of the 10,000 hour rule. He uses Foil to compare success and we define to legends such as Bill Gates The Beatles and Bill Joy. Overall Gladwell uses Logos, similes, and foils to support his claim of the 10,000 hour rule.
Is success is achieved through hard work and dedication? Most people seem to think in this way, only one person who does not think in that way: author Malcolm Gladwell. In his article “10,000 Hours,” he talks about a rule you must follow to be successful; that rule is the 10,000-hour rule. Gladwell uses a study from Anders Ericsson in his article to support his thought; therefore, this article is rhetorically effective because he has credibility and he uses logical evidence to convey his argument.
Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers, gives the definition of an outlier to be “something that is situated away from or classified differently from a main or related body” (3). While he does supply this definition he never specifies what he defines as success. Using his numerous examples of what Gladwell considers to a successful person, it is safe to conclude that his definition would be – success is a mixture of opportunity, intelligence, and hard work. When these three characteristics are combined it equals great success, and cannot be reached with only one or two of these things, all three must be present. Gladwell presents multiple instances where these three qualities contribute to an individual’s success.
In the book Outliers, written and published by Malcolm Gladwell in association with Little, Brown and Company in 2008. There is a section in the book called the "10,000-Hour Rule'' that explains it takes roughly ten thousand hours of practice to achieve mastery in a field. Does this sort of idea work to acheive greatness in any profession? How does the writer go about figuring out this rule?
In his book “Outliers”, Malcolm Gladwell emphasizes a lot about luck by illustrating the importance of birthdays for Hockey players, by comparing the success of geniuses with super high intelligence, and by showing how successful people got opportunities and support because of their luck. At a glance, every reader can find out luck plays a crucial role in success, but does Gladwell wants us to believe luck is all that matters? Although he emphasizes a lot about luck in his book, I don’t think he believes that successful people are just lucky because every successful people he introduces in his book are not just lucky in their lives, but are great hard workers and risk takers.
Mozart had several hours of training and practicing the art of composing before he created his first masterpiece, consequently making him more successful than others. Furthermore, Gladwell support also his argument of timing which plays a key role in individual success by using statistical analysis, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were born not apart from each other and from another set of entrepreneurs, that had great influence in the computer age. Making both an example that being at the right place, time and right age, a key factor in their success. Additionally, Gladwell makes a point that 14 of the 75 richest people in history were born nine years apart. Such as the Rockefellers and the they came of age on one of the greatest economic revolution in American history, such as the build of Wall Street Financial firms and the railroad industry. He argues that achieving success requires a massive amount of practice. Even if they are born with talent, success will be impossible if there was no spare time or a support system that is required to accomplish over 10,000 hours of practice. Gladwell argues that individuals with innate talent will never be successful without practice. There have been studies that found that no experts have rose to the top without many hours of practice. Also, this research has concluded that 10,000 hours is the special number,
In the book “Outliers: The Story of Success” authored by Malcolm Gladwell, he explains what an outlier is and what it means to be “successful”. Throughout the novel, Gladwell provides examples by writing different stories in nine various chapters to support his claim. Gladwell believes that success isn’t gained by natural talent, but by the effects of other circumstances and that these people are called outliers. It’s the argument of nature vs. nurture that Gladwell wants to address in his book. Many people in society would think that a particular person is successful due to the individual’s natural talents, although that can be true to a certain extent, Gladwell wants to disapprove that idea in people’s mind and wants the public to look at
Malcolm Gladwell’s overall purpose of Outliers: The Story of Success is that success is largely determined by an individual’s socioeconomic and sociocultural environment, and individual ambition, effort, or talent, are less significant, contrary to the societal notions associated with success. In other words, success is not something that someone randomly gained; success is earned through opportunities that develop dedication, interest, and skill over time. By doing this, will one become an outlier, or “something that is situated away or classed differently from a main or related body,” (Gladwell 3) that distinguishes great from good and best from great, as exemplified by “The striking thing about Ericsson’s study is that the and his colleagues couldn’t find any “naturals”, musicians who floated effortlessly to the top while practicing a fraction of the time their peers did.” (Gladwell 39) Gladwell also acknowledges societal norms such that “All of the fourteen men and woman on the list above had vision and talent,” (Gladwell 62-63) to assert hard work, ability, et cetera can lead to success, but a social environment that offers such opportunities immensely increases the likelihood of success.
The definition of success varies around the world, but according to Malcolm Gladwell its achievement can be broken down into a few components. Although Gladwell never truly establishes credibility in his book Outliers, he still backs up his proposed theories with reputable studies and sources which intrigue the audience to keep reading.The purpose of Outliers was to enlighten people about the different elements of success while also informing them of real life situations where seemingly less than likely people beat the odds and became the powerful figures that they are today. The intended audience is anyone who is looking to become successful or who is perhaps interested in the idea of success itself and wishes to learn more about it. Understandably, a secondary audience could be high school students who are about to venture out into the world on their own because with this book they will hopefully start paying attention to different factors of their lives and seizing opportunities that they may have otherwise passed up. Malcolm Gladwell talks about the 10,000 Hour Rule and also how I.Q. does not amount to much without creativity. He also speaks of how chance opportunity comes into play and that the distant background of a person still reflects how they handle situations in their present day life. Gladwell’s Outliers successfully informs the reader about the different components that add up to success with probable theories and credible studies to make for an interesting and motivational read.
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
If people work hard, focus, and are disciplined, they will succeed in the future. This has become a universal idea taught by parents, teachers, and peers. People have passed down this idea to the younger generations and they chose to live by this moral that makes sense. In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell debunks the universal idea that working hard will allow people to play hard and get further in life. Gladwell eliminates the traditional ideas of success by showing that opportunities, family background, and being born at the “right” time are actually what lead to success.
In Chapter 8 and 9 of Outliers: The Story of Success, Gladwell exams some of the ways that Asian and American students learn math, arguing that some of the principles in the US education system should be reconsidered. I generally agree with Gladwell’s point of view. I believe in two ways, students ' principal spirit and the length of students’ studying, the US education system leaves much to be desired, though an overhaul is in progress.
In the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, Gladwell gives his viewers many points on his understandings of where success comes from. In his introduction, he believes that the health of the community is a version of success, and he believes that that comes from the connections that the villagers had to their family, friends and neighbors. He also expressed his belief in chapter one that success comes from the small advantages one is born with, but can also be achieved from dedication and hard work. Gladwell used the Canadian Hockey League as a prime example of being born with advantages. He made the argument that the success that these hockey players had generally came from the month in which they were born. The Hockey League cutoff date is January
We usually challenge or make a goal for a lot of benefits for the rest of life, but they didn’t do that. They only had interest for computer and wondered about producing a great system. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates also decided to take a risk which is breaking the school. They actually stopped their study at similar time and started to challenge computer work. Their results were impressive to the world and they became the most famous celebrities in IT. Taking a big risk was great to them and other computer scientists started to challenge by these success. They had a big benefits which are achieve amazing developing or economic success as their