By Kaelyn DiGiamarino What if the pieces of advice we have been given to succeed are leading us to fail? Conventional wisdom says intelligence and ambition will get us where we want to go; Malcolm Gladwell says otherwise. In his third book, Outliers, Gladwell proposes that instead of looking at successful people’s characteristics as explanations for their accomplishments, we ought to look at their surroundings. Perhaps it is not what successful people are “like” that is important, but rather where they came from.
Known for his bestsellers The Tipping Point and Blink, Gladwell continues to strike his readers with surprise. He questions the intuitive and his pieces pick apart the subconscious biases every person holds. Gladwell’s curiosity is unrivaled and he continually confronts his readers with truths that have always been present, but never noticed. Outliers is a book that is both comforting and disconcerting. The idea that one’s likelihood of success is chosen for one by the cards life deals makes room for a little bit of optimism, but also a great deal of doubt. In the end, how much is hard work really worth if this is true? Gladwell taps into the power of narrative to entice the reader into a success story, with an inspiring overview of an individual’s greatness. Only once he has captured your imagination and lured you to the ending you expect does he swiftly dismantle every detail. Gladwell explores how commonly we confuse maturity with ability and how accumulative advantage, unusual opportunities, and practical intelligence play stronger roles than we typically think. Gladwell proposes provocative theories such as that only those born in January will make the Canadian national hockey team, or that South Korean pilots are more likely to crash their planes than pilots from other countries. He suggests that there is a reason Asians are more successful in mathematics than those from other cultures, and likewise a reason that you have never heard of the man with the highest IQ. It is not uncommon for business students to feel overwhelming pressure to succeed; there is enormous focus on grit and determination, on hard work and hard sells. Every choice seems to be excessively weighty, and the fear of missing an opportunity early in one’s career is immense. Business majors read case study after case study on inventors, innovators, and disruptors. One wonders how these individuals found a way to stand out from the rest of humanity. Did they pave a path with grit and ambition, or did they simply stumble upon a road laid out for them? There is no doubt that Gladwell’s myriad of case studies and data creates compelling arguments. He pushes his readers to confront the hidden advantages of generation, family, culture, and class, and will undeniably make you question where you fall on the spectrum of human potential. Whether you subscribe to luck or to grit, Gladwell’s peculiar perspective is provocative and memorable. “It is not the brightest who succeed. Nor is success simply the sum of the decisions and efforts we make on our own behalf. It is, rather, a gift. Outliers are those who have been given opportunities – and who have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them.”
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