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  • Essay / Secrets of Success in The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

    Malcolm Gladwell's success story, he redefines the secrets of success. Gladwell asserts that while an individual's success may be achieved through their innate talent and determination, it is primarily the result of a combination of external factors such as afforded opportunities, sufficient practice, innate privilege and cultural norms. He incorporates assessments of the Matthew Effect, the 10,000 Hour Rule, the history of geniuses, and cultural heritage to support his concrete argument. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The Matthew Effect talks about the role of opportunity in determining the success of athletes. To explain this phenomenon, Gladwell included the roster of players for the 2007 Medicine Hat Tigers (a Canadian ice hockey team) which included their dates of birth and noticed an unusual trend: approximately 68% of the athletes were born during of the first four months of the season. year. This is not just a coincidence, since the cause of this phenomenon is that the deadline for eligibility into Canada is January 1st. Those born after this date have a physical advantage over the rest of the players. Therefore, future coaches prefer players who have a physical advantage to be part of "representation teams", and these few selected athletes receive higher quality training and more practice. Since they have the possibility of an earlier birth, Gladwell uses this source to prove that this influences their chances of success as an athlete. The most successful athletes in the industry are those born in the early months because they get better treatment and opportunities. In summary, success does not necessarily mean that it is developed through innate talent and determination, but also through the opportunities that present themselves. The 10,000 hour rule explains that success is determined by an immense amount of practice. Available and accessible resources must support these hours of practice. Gladwell uses the personal example of Bill Joy to further this part of his argument. Gladwell begins to explain Joy's personal history and the success he experienced later in life; he was given various opportunities and time to perfect his craft. When Joy was asked in an interview how much time he spent on software development, he replied: "ten thousand hours." Using this source, Gladwell demonstrates the perception that devoting 10,000 hours to a specific task increases the chance of success. Since Joy had opportunities and was able to dedicate significant time to his work, he was able to complete the 10,000 hours he needed to perfect his craft. genius, their success is only possible with more than their “gifts”. To develop this point of view, Gladwell draws on a famous experiment carried out by Lewis Terman. Terman became involved in finding "young geniuses" (called Termites in this study) who had an IQ of around 150 or higher, and he decided to follow them throughout their lives, listing their accomplishments, their careers and their lives into adulthood. When the Termites reached adulthood, Terman then measured their success, filtering these “young geniuses” into three groups. The first group was called the “A” group, and they were the ones who were really successful in the lives of lawyers and doctors. The second group was group “B”, and they were the middle group, with a “satisfactory” result. The last group was called group "C", and they did not..