Preview

Successful Outliers

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1300 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Successful Outliers
Entrepreneurs are worshipped for their vast knowledge and achievements and often times, their contributions to society are praised and greatly appreciated. However, most of these successful individuals are not successful simply because of how creative or unique they are, but mainly for other reasons that are not seen at a first glance. In Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers, he writes that the success of these achievers is actually dependent on their upbringing, and the factors that made them who they are. His opinion remains true as most if not all successful people are really just ordinary people who had advantageous circumstances, favorable backgrounds, and the will to do hard work.
Most successful individuals or groups are not successful
…show more content…
The social ranking has a profound impact on how one will be able to interact with others and get their way in life. “The middle-class parents talked things through with their children, reasoning with them. They didn't just issue commands. They expected their children to talk back to them, to negotiate, to question adults in positions of authority( Gladwell 103). Middle class parenting style teaches the children how to properly converse with others and make them see eye to eye whilst still being respectful, meanwhile the upper class is more about just doing everything for the child and the lower is letting them grow naturally. An example of the middle class parenting style is Robert Oppenheimer. He grew up with his parents teaching him how to deal with others and subtly demand what he wanted. Oppenheimer is what one would consider a genius, and even though he grew up being fed with a silver spoon, he was still unstable and even tried to kill his tutor. However, he was basically let off with a warning due to how he could talk his way out of a situation. This is an example of how family stature plays an impact because at home, he learned how to communicate and deal with others, which helped him in court. He was then able to become the head scientist of the Manhattan project, again because he was able to persuade others to do what he wished. Had he been

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Outliers: The Story of Success is a book that examines the qualities and experiences of successful people in order to provide a blueprint for nurturing the human potential. According to the author, Malcolm Gladwell, human potential is not something one is born with but something that has to be shaped throughout one’s life course. Contrary to popular belief, having a high IQ or a lucky break are good opportunities to have, however, they do not contribute to an individual’s success alone. Gladwell realized that it took a combination of biological, personal, social, and environmental factors to help an individual reach their full potential. Examples of those factors that influence one’s success include timing of birth, area where one lives, family history, and culture. These factors make up concepts that Gladwell described as practical intelligence, social savvy, natural growth, and natural advantage. In addition to these factors, he discussed how anyone can succeed if they were willing to practice and work hard. He demonstrated this theory by researching the different stories of successful people and he found a common denominator, long hours of professional practice. He referred to this as the “10,000 Hour Rule. He mentioned that it took 10,000 hours or approximately 10 years of practice to perfect a professional trade. Outliers are successful people that are not your ordinary individual. However, the distinction of a true outlier can be attributed from the author’s recipe of success: the right combination of the different factors, practice, and hard work.…

    • 1470 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Aem 1200

    • 705 Words
    • 3 Pages

    5. In lecture, we quoted Scott Shane, “The Illusions of Entrepreneurship”, as follows: “The typical entrepreneur isn’t a Silicon Valley tycoon, but rather a white man, married and in his forties, who started his business because he didn’t want to work for someone else and who is just trying to make a living. Psychological factors account for very little of the difference between entrepreneurs and other people, much less then…

    • 705 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    outliers

    • 1332 Words
    • 6 Pages

    When I first got this book, I did not expect it to be about what it was about. Outlier is a term that we use in math. Something out of the ordinary, a number that is not like the others, different. Who would have thought that this book was going to talk about people? I thought it was so clever to call people outliers. What an intelligent way to describe those people. To describe the people out of the ordinary, the talented ones and to explain why they are so.…

    • 1332 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Chapter eighteen of David Bornstein’s How to Change the World is titled “Six Qualities of a Successful Social Entrepreneur”. As the title implies, Bornstein, based on data he has collected for his book, lists the six qualities he believes are exhibited by successful entrepreneurs. He begins this chapter stating that though many people believe “highly successful entrepreneurs are more confident and persistent than most others” (Bornstein 238). He quickly debunks this idea by explaining that the key difference between successful and unsuccessful entrepreneurs is their motivation.…

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Outliers

    • 1214 Words
    • 5 Pages

    | In this chapter psychologists observe that real greatness comes from the amount of time on practice hours you put in. They came to a conclusion of when you accumulate a total of 10,1000 hours of practice by the time of your career you have reached the goal and are very successful. Or also proven that artist that have reached the peek of their fame when their practices have added to a total of 10,000 hours in their whole career.…

    • 1214 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Success is mostly recognized by the person who succeeds, but most do not realize the factors that upturn someone to great success. A well-presented book of people conquering success is, Outliers: The Story of Success, written by Malcolm Gladwell, lists prime examples of what it takes to be a true Outlier. An Outlier is someone that is above normal and achieves success beyond the regular. Gladwell demonstrates that almost all of society’s success stories are a paradigm: a pattern of fortunate events. Realizing that maybe we should be more aware of the paradigm of success in our world. Our perspective over the years have been that people complete success on their own, however, success has other driven forces. A true outlier does not obtain random…

    • 1900 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many people struggle with finding jobs they actually enjoy. Only thirteen percent of people enjoy going to work and twenty-four percent are not happy with the job they currently have. It’s obvious that loving your job affects your success business wise but it also affects you physically and mentally. Not only does having an enjoyable job make work easier but by loving your job, you will get more confidence, persistence, and motivation to do better in your field of work. It improves your physical and mental state by having a less stressful job. When having a job that you like, you have no problem waking up and going to work, but with a bad job everything seems like a never-ending chore. There are many different views on what “successful” is…

    • 867 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Success In Outliers

    • 1660 Words
    • 7 Pages

    “Success is not a random act. It arises out of a predictable and powerful set of circumstances and opportunities” (Gladwell 155). Gladwell is implying that success does not arbitrarily come to a person. It takes many foreseeable factors and circumstances. The claim that, “if you work hard enough and assert yourself, and use your mind and imagination, you can shape the world to your desires” (Gladwell 151) is valid to a certain extent. However, hard work and the use of one’s mind and imagination alone are not enough to make one prosperous. Many other factors come into play when aiming for success. In Malcolm Gladwell’s novel Outliers: The Story of Success, success comes to those who are given opportunities and to those who are born at the right…

    • 1660 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Outliers

    • 1270 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Is there a significant correlation between success and skill? Nowadays, the path to success seems to be different for each individual, as some people have unfair advantages to help them excel faster. Often times, these advantages stem from circumstances no one even has control over. Through his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell claims that the idea of a self-made man is a logical fallacy as almost all successful people have had a leg up over others. While a small portion of success is due to pure talent, Gladwell’s argument holds true as most super-achievers can attribute their accomplishments to their time of birth, family upbringing, and receiving extra opportunities to perfect their skills.…

    • 1270 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Candace Allen’s article titled “The Entrepreneur as Hero”, she introduced that every society needs heroes. First she said that heroes go to the unknown. Second is the encountering of the hardship and challenges. Third is the return with something new. The author tries to compare the pattern of the hero to the entrepreneur, finding themselves in a difficult situation then finding ways to get a solution. Furthermore, she also mentioned that “The heroic entrepreneur will continue to anticipate what the future will demand of him. He is no ordinary businessperson whose main priorities are simply turn profits, avoid loses, or seek to maintain his share.” “But to venture forth again and again into unknown to create and bring back that which individuals…

    • 1536 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    For instance, if there are two students who are studying in school, one who is poor, the other who is rich, will that effect their future? The poor student may spend time working part time in order to pay for school, and to support their family, while the rich student will spend that time studying. The rich student will also be able to afford the best tutor, allowing them to receive the higher grades, which will give them access to ivy league schools. The recognition the students from these institutions will receive will eventually lead to a promising career at a high end company. However, the student that cannot afford this will go to a mediocre school, and receive a mediocre job, with little chance of every reaching the position of CEO. Of course this point can be argued against by saying that hard work can change the outcome of any person, and even the less rich student can be more successful than the rich student. However, this is where the “front, middle and back office” concept becomes an issue. In Ho’s article, everyone in the “elite” group, who came from Harvard, Yale and other top schools was given better supplies, nicer food, and overall more benefits (Ho 2009: 76). The people in lower offices were working hard yet they had no recognition, unless it was criticism on a mistake. This shows how some people can work hard, but there is no moving up the social hierarchy that has been set in…

    • 1075 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Land of Opportunity

    • 430 Words
    • 2 Pages

    When a child is born he or she is automatically put into a social class which will shape the rest of their lives. When it comes to academics, schooling and jobs, the status you were born with affects every aspect of this. Teachers expect the poor kids to act and learn a different way than the rich kids, and even the test-makers of the Scholastic Aptitude Test have similar backgrounds to those of wealthy students, giving them a…

    • 430 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Success vs Excellence

    • 394 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In our present day, I would argue that most people settle for success over excellence. Success being the type of car they drive, the designer brands of clothes they wear, the type of house or neighborhood they live in, by their occupation, how much money they make or have in their bank account. Some even base it on the number of letters that appear at the end of their name. James Henslin (2010) in his book Sociology: A Down to Earth Approach, credits the Sociologist Max Weber for saying “Social class has three components property, power and prestige” (p. 238). Media, our environment and peers push these components upon us on a daily basis. Phrases like “he made it”, “I have to keep up with the Joneses” or “living the American dream” are a few that come to mind, that show how wealth is equated with success. According to Jon Johnston (1996) in his book Christian Excellence-Alternative to Success, he states “Success bases our worth on a comparison to others and Excellence gauges our value by measuring us against our own potential” (p. 32). This paper examines how Johnston distinguishes success from excellence and how these concepts apply to my life.…

    • 394 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    think again ENTREPRENEURS oN A dANCE flooR business is fixated by the here and now, but sometimes wisdom is eternally useful. THiNK AGAiN SUmmER 2006 ENTREPRENEURS ON A DANCE FLOOR…

    • 3103 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In his book, Outliers, Gladwell’s claim that success is determined as a result of one’s opportunities, legacy, and their ability to capitalize on them is valid and holds its weight when closely examined.…

    • 788 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays