In “Outliers”, Malcolm Gladwell’s use of logos allows for the reader to further engage their mind alongside Gladwell as he uses some of our world’s most successful people as prime examples to support his thesis that one’s success is greatly influenced by whether or not they were directly given the opportunity to succeed and their willingness to practice / advance their skill.
At a young age, Bill Gates was given the opportunity to use a computer owned by the private school in which he attended, Lakeside. By the age of 13, Bill Gates was able to do "real time programming as an eighth grader in 1968." He would spend hours upon hours in the computer room, eventually allowing him to get to the point where he was “programming practically nonstop for seven consecutive years”. This enabled him to exceed the "10,000 hour rule" which states that in order to be successful at something, one must practice have practice in that specific subject for a minimum of ten-thousand hours. Through the story of Bill Gates, we are able to make note of several important advantages that lead to his success- One, through his family’s income, Bill Gates was given the opportunity to attend a private school. Two, attending a private school then allowed for him to interact with a computer and a computer software through a school computer lab / club. Three, he practiced computer programming almost every day, “[i]n 7 months, Gates and his [peers ranked up approximately] 1,575 hours of computer time, averaging 8 hours a day, seven days a week.”.
Another example that Gladwell uses is the Beatles and their “British Invasion” onto the American music scene. The time laps between their first record and their legendary “The Beatles” album is close to a decade. With 10 years of practice under their belt, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr were undoubtedly rock stars in their own right. This is thanks to their opportunity to play a live showcase of +8 hours daily at a local strip club in Hamburg, Germany during the beginning of their career. These shows eventually accounted for approximately 1,200 live performances and over ten-thousand hours of playing as a band before the group was even considered to be “famous”. John Lennon later on went to say that the experience allowed for them to get “better and more confiden[t]” as a band while also forcing them to figure out [new ways of playing individually and as a group].”.
Finally, Exhibit A was a study done in the early years of the 1990s by psychologist K. Anders Ericsson and two colleagues at Berlin’s Academy of Music. With the help of the professors, the school’s violinist were divided into three groups, one group was considered to be the stars, another was made up of those considered to be “good” and the last were those who we unlikely to ever professionally play. After analyzing the average age that the musicians first picked up the violin and comparing each persons practice hours to one another’s, research couldn’t find any “natural” musicians nor could it find any individual that worked harder than everyone else and just didn’t have what it takes to be in the top of the class ranking. These two findings play vital roles in the suggested idea that “once a musician has enough ability to get into a top music school, the thing that distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he or she works.”
By using these 3 examples within the same chapter, Gladwell is continuously reinforcing his belief that opportunity and practice play a tremendous role in the success one endures while also giving factual evidence to support the 3 success stories and their relation to his thesis.
At a young age, Bill Gates was given the opportunity to use a computer owned by the private school in which he attended, Lakeside. By the age of 13, Bill Gates was able to do "real time programming as an eighth grader in 1968." He would spend hours upon hours in the computer room, eventually allowing him to get to the point where he was “programming practically nonstop for seven consecutive years”. This enabled him to exceed the "10,000 hour rule" which states that in order to be successful at something, one must practice have practice in that specific subject for a minimum of ten-thousand hours. Through the story of Bill Gates, we are able to make note of several important advantages that lead to his success- One, through his family’s income, Bill Gates was given the opportunity to attend a private school. Two, attending a private school then allowed for him to interact with a computer and a computer software through a school computer lab / club. Three, he practiced computer programming almost every day, “[i]n 7 months, Gates and his [peers ranked up approximately] 1,575 hours of computer time, averaging 8 hours a day, seven days a week.”.
Another example that Gladwell uses is the Beatles and their “British Invasion” onto the American music scene. The time laps between their first record and their legendary “The Beatles” album is close to a decade. With 10 years of practice under their belt, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr were undoubtedly rock stars in their own right. This is thanks to their opportunity to play a live showcase of +8 hours daily at a local strip club in Hamburg, Germany during the beginning of their career. These shows eventually accounted for approximately 1,200 live performances and over ten-thousand hours of playing as a band before the group was even considered to be “famous”. John Lennon later on went to say that the experience allowed for them to get “better and more confiden[t]” as a band while also forcing them to figure out [new ways of playing individually and as a group].”.
Finally, Exhibit A was a study done in the early years of the 1990s by psychologist K. Anders Ericsson and two colleagues at Berlin’s Academy of Music. With the help of the professors, the school’s violinist were divided into three groups, one group was considered to be the stars, another was made up of those considered to be “good” and the last were those who we unlikely to ever professionally play. After analyzing the average age that the musicians first picked up the violin and comparing each persons practice hours to one another’s, research couldn’t find any “natural” musicians nor could it find any individual that worked harder than everyone else and just didn’t have what it takes to be in the top of the class ranking. These two findings play vital roles in the suggested idea that “once a musician has enough ability to get into a top music school, the thing that distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he or she works.”
By using these 3 examples within the same chapter, Gladwell is continuously reinforcing his belief that opportunity and practice play a tremendous role in the success one endures while also giving factual evidence to support the 3 success stories and their relation to his thesis.