Tom. great article! Yes, I believe successful people are much more likely to be self-made rather than a "product of their environment" or "product of their time or era", etc. Malcolm Gladwell seemed to cherry-pick a few examples here and there, and then build a narrative around those examples to try to "prove" people are successful due to their circumstances. You did a very good job showing such thinking overall is just not true. It was a bit of a long article but worth the time in reading it.
Thanks Joe glad you found it enlightening. After publishing the post ppl have come out of the woodwork to say they felt something wasn’t quite right reading Outliers. My aim was to articulate that.
It's a balance, I think, and Gladwell is a positive force in furthering and underrepresented side.
https://ancientwisdommodernlives.com/p/success-control-luck-self-help-books
Incredible essay!
Thank you!
Tom. great article! Yes, I believe successful people are much more likely to be self-made rather than a "product of their environment" or "product of their time or era", etc. Malcolm Gladwell seemed to cherry-pick a few examples here and there, and then build a narrative around those examples to try to "prove" people are successful due to their circumstances. You did a very good job showing such thinking overall is just not true. It was a bit of a long article but worth the time in reading it.
Thanks Joe glad you found it enlightening. After publishing the post ppl have come out of the woodwork to say they felt something wasn’t quite right reading Outliers. My aim was to articulate that.