Malcolm Gladwell is an English-born Canadian journalist, speaker, and author. He has been writing for the magazine, The New Yorker, since 1996 and has written five successful books, including Outliers: The Story Of Success. While his books are all incredibly wise and incredibly written, Outliers is a nonfiction book that examines the factors that contribute to high levels of success and the assumption we hold regarding that success.
He makes a compelling argument to his readers that people succeed from a variety of factors other than just their own hard work and self-knowledge. He states that one’s background, family upbringing, and environment have much to do with later success. To support this argument, he examines why star hockey players are more likely to be born in the first few months of the year, why Asians are good at math, how The Beatles became one of the most successful and popular acts in music history, and so on.
Through these stories, Gladwell points out that the people who are successful in their lives are where they are now simply because of the hours they’ve put in to be there.
In his book, he states “That’s it. And what’s more, the people at the very top don’t work just harder or even much harder than everyone else. They work much, much, harder.” It’s called the ten thousand hour rule. If you put in your ten thousand hours, you will become a master at whatever you’ve chosen to do.
Overall, this book is a fun and compelling book to read. Gladwell uses a plethora of stories that can pique anyone’s interests, from Jewish lawyers of the 1970s to the smartest men in the world, including the one and only, Bill Gates.
Gladwell speaks passionately about this subject and can be found as an inspiration to many to get up and work hard for your goals. It is a very eye-opening read and is highly encouraged that you crack it open before it’s too late.