Outliers Gladwell Analysis

In today’s society, everyone seems to have their own definition of success and how to achieve it. In Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers, Gladwell claims that successful individuals are not only naturally talented, but that they practice a lot. According to Daniel Levitin, “The emerging picture from such studies is that ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world class-expert--- in anything.” (Gladwell 40). Although I agree with both Gladwell and Levitin in that ten thousand hours of practice may help in achieving a level of mastery, I still insist that natural talent and environmental factors play a much bigger role in how someone becomes successful in a certain area, because practice …show more content…
One example is Richard Branson. According to Drake Baer from Business Insider, Branson originally started in the record business, but quickly got involved in other fields and is now the founder of the 400 companies in Virgin Group, which just so happens to also be launching people into space. Obviously, Branson did not spend 10,000 hours practicing to become a founder of 400 companies or someone from NASA. Branson simply had the natural talent and determination to become a successful businessman. Another famous example is Colonel Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken. According to the article, “20 Successful Entrepreneurs with No Experience”, by Annie Pilon on small business trends website, Colonel Sanders had no restaurant experience before starting what would become K.F.C. He started in the restaurant business only because he was running a local service station in Kentucky, and his chicken immediately gained attention from the people. Colonel Sanders did not spend 10,000 hours working in the restaurant business or perfecting his fried chicken recipe, but was able to effectively create one of the most successful fried chicken restaurants in the world by simply giving people great tasting