Outlier
1. The large difference between how I have thought and understood success compared to the way Malcolm Gladwell argues is the circumstances and families that create success. Previous to reading this book, I strongly believed that the way to become successful was to put in hard work. For example, my theory to success was similar along the lines to what Malcolm Gladwell discusses earlier in the book. He says, “Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good”(Gladwell, 2008). I believed if you practiced what you want to be successful at everyday, you would eventually end up reaching your goal. However, after reading Malcolm Gladwell’s opinion my beliefs are now different.
One of the more important examples Malcolm Gladwell mentions that showed how different I thought was the success story of Bill Gates. I personally believed that Bill Gates was successful only because he was an intelligent man who was driven by hard work and his goal to create the personal computer. Previous to this novel my only education on Bill Gates was from reading short articles about him and from what I have heard from friends and teachers. What I did not know about Bill Gates was his given circumstance and the support from his family and others. Malcolm Gladwell mentions that there important opportunities that were “incredible lucky series of events”(Gladwell, 2008), that created his success.
Some of the opportunities Bill Gates was given were his “free computer time at the University of Washington”(Gladwell, 2008) and also previous to that his mother along with others “had enough money to pay for his high school Lakesides computer fees”(Gladwell, 2008). Without the circumstance of Bill Gates receiving free computer time, chances are he wouldn’t have been nearly as intelligent and innovative with computers as he is today. To reiterate Malcolm Gladwell’s argument about super achievers are successful because of their families, in Bill Gates
One of the more important examples Malcolm Gladwell mentions that showed how different I thought was the success story of Bill Gates. I personally believed that Bill Gates was successful only because he was an intelligent man who was driven by hard work and his goal to create the personal computer. Previous to this novel my only education on Bill Gates was from reading short articles about him and from what I have heard from friends and teachers. What I did not know about Bill Gates was his given circumstance and the support from his family and others. Malcolm Gladwell mentions that there important opportunities that were “incredible lucky series of events”(Gladwell, 2008), that created his success.
Some of the opportunities Bill Gates was given were his “free computer time at the University of Washington”(Gladwell, 2008) and also previous to that his mother along with others “had enough money to pay for his high school Lakesides computer fees”(Gladwell, 2008). Without the circumstance of Bill Gates receiving free computer time, chances are he wouldn’t have been nearly as intelligent and innovative with computers as he is today. To reiterate Malcolm Gladwell’s argument about super achievers are successful because of their families, in Bill Gates
References: Gladwell, M. (2008). Outliers. New York: Little,Brown and Company.