When someone becomes successful and is well known for it, the question that often comes up is, why are they so successful? People on the outside, viewing the person and their success, often answer that question, based on how smart they are or what traits they have. These common answers are very surfaced based and do not accurately explain why people are successful. Fortunately Malcolm Gladwell shows and explains to us how we need to dig deeper below the surface to explain success.
In one of his most popular books Outliers, Gladwell, who was honored by the American Psychological Society and the American Sociological Society, takes a look into the source of success and finds that it is more than the "surface" explanations. Now halfway through the book, Gladwell has really emphasized the exposure to "extraordinary opportunities" is key to success. Gladwell uses three very different examples and show that they all have one thing in common; they are all based off of the exposure to opportunities.
Gladwell compares The Beatle's success, Bill Gate's success, and Billy Joy's success. Each person and or group is very different but had all been exposed to an opportunity that got them to be so successful. Because The Beatle's got invited to perform in Hamburg (where they got recognized) they became successful. Because Bill Gates attended Lakeside Elementary School (a first elementary computer room) he became a billionaire. And because Billy Joy was around when the solution to programming problem emerged, he became a successful computer scientist. By bringing three very different situations and showing how they evolved from "extraordinary opportunities," Gladwell demonstrates one of the deeper reasons of success.
Gladwell also uses data to support his reason for why people become successful. For example he includes a chart that shows the lists of professional hockey players and their birthdays, supporting how they are mostly all born in January through March: contributing to their success. Because Gladwell supports his findings and comparing different situations, he successfully achieves his purpose.
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