Malcom Gladwell, the author of Outliers, discusses the important factors that create a lucky combination that allows an individual to unlock their potential for success; this happy combination is what sets individuals apart from others, making them outliers. The factors that lead to success go beyond analytical intelligence, and situations are both within and outside of physical and personal control. Gladwell says that an individual is not capable of achieving great success without some, if not all, of these factors coincidentally aligning to benefit the individual. These factors are the product of luck and hard work, learned and inherited behaviors, and most importantly, help. of others and the social location position. A prodigy would be lost in the crowd if he did not possess the skills to stand out from others and be able to influence social situations in his personal favor. These factors that Gladwell believes make an individual successful include having a talent and the means to practice that talent excessively, extraordinary opportunities, the home and place in which an individual grew up, the feeling of right to oneself and the acquired practical intelligence, and culture. legacy. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay When thinking about success, most people imagine a highly talented person who climbs to the top through personal perseverance. However, sheer talent is only a fraction of the cause of success, and certainly not the most important. Most trades can be taught and learned through extensive practice, even if there is innate talent. However, this talent is wasted when an individual does not have the means to practice and hone their skills. Mastery of a skill is generally considered to be the achievement of ten thousand hours of intentional and purposeful practice, which is an extremely long time. For an individual to recognize their talent at a young age and have the means to practice so intensely would mean that their parents could afford to give them the time and support that would be necessary to put in that much effort (42). This talent should then be given the opportunity to advance beyond simple passion and practice. Opportunity is a major topic discussed by Gladwell because it is through opportunity that an individual is able to take practiced talent and turn it into a powerful advantage over him. others. Although it is unfair, people do not receive the same number of opportunities throughout their lives. Institutions are part of what brings opportunities, like those of Bill Gates. Gates attended Lakeside High School as a young teenager; the school had also raised funds for a timeshare terminal in 1968. Another opportunity was living within walking distance of the University of Washington, where there was free access to a terminal. between three and six in the morning (54). Gates also got a chance through the social connections of ISI founder Bud Pembroke of TRW, who needed programmers familiar with the very skills Gates exercised (53). Opportunities are specific to place, time and social connections; in other words, the social situation of the individual in history. Opportunities can also arise from the very family an individual is born into and the benefits the family can provide. Growing up in a family actively engaged in developing skills andthe mind creates a beneficial environment for an individual, but the location in which a family lives allows an individual to be offered different opportunities, which proves to be equally important. As seen with Bill Gates and the good fortune to live so close to a university that had free access to a terminal at a time when computers were also rare. As with going to a high school that had a terminal, the location is important. It is rare that a person is raised in a field in which his or her specific talent could be exercised in a special way to which others do not have access, at a time when that skill becomes necessary. Such luck can also be observed in family behaviors regarding mental development. It is usually the wealthier upper middle class families who pay extreme attention to mental development and thus imbue the young mind with a sense of entitlement in which the individual is not afraid to put himself on the same level as others ; the child, for example, will not be afraid to question doctors or teachers or share their personal opinions with these authority figures (106). Although it can also be taught to individuals from lower classes, it is seen more often in upper classes because parents from lower classes are generally shy around authority figures and tend to be quiet and submissive, thus teaching children constraint (107). Interacting with authority figures is a cultural advantage gained through parental encouragement and is a skill that Gladwell believes is necessary for success (108). This right is the foundation for an individual to interact in social environments and acquire the skills of practical intelligence; it is the knowledge of what to say, to whom and when to say it for maximum effect in order to influence situations in personal favor (100). There is also another contribution that families make to an individual's success, and that is behavioral traits. Cultural heritage is the behavioral traits passed down from generation to generation, even going back hundreds of years, derived from the nature of the particular culture from which a lineage originates. . Some cultures value personality traits differently, depending on how necessary that trait is for the region. For example, people whose rocky mountainsides were their ancestors' residence tend to become more aggressive in situations that threaten their honor because their ancestors had to defend their reputation and stocks on rugged terrain (167). This cultural tendency to be aggressive, along with other traits and behavior patterns, is rooted in genetics and is present throughout generations to come. Other character traits, like hard work, are also a product of culture. Gladwell explains that the reason why Asian countries are able to excel so significantly in mathematics compared to others is due to their long tradition of growing rice, which is a very tedious and precise practice (233). This hard work ethic applies to all aspects of life, including education, meaning that giving up on math is not an option; one is expected to do calculations until the answer is found (230). These behavioral traits affect an individual's response to situations and, therefore, the ability to create the social network and situational skills that are beneficial for success. These behaviors transform into skills that generate possible opportunities to use a mastered talent as an advantage over others, allowing.