Success is Out of Our Hands
Is there a significant correlation between success and skill? Nowadays, the path to success seems to be different for each individual, as some people have unfair advantages to help them excel faster. Often times, these advantages stem from circumstances, no one even has control over. Through his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell claims that the idea of a self-made man is a logical fallacy as almost all successful people have had a leg up over others. While a small portion of success is due to pure talent, to a large extent, Gladwell’s argument holds true as most super-achievers can attribute their accomplishments to their time of birth, family upbringing, and receiving extra opportunities to perfect their skills.
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To further support his claim, Gladwell contrasts two intelligent people who attain different levels of success. Chris Langan was a very bright individual who seemed to be held back, never reaching his full potential as a result of his upbringing. It must be noted that Langan grew up in poverty. In fact, after his mother forgot to reapply for Langan’s second semester financial aid, he had no other choice but to drop out of college. This deprivation of college education resulted in the lack of formal success. On the other hand, Robert Oppenheimer “was raised in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Manhattan, the son of an artist and a successful garment manufacturer. His childhood was the embodiment of concerted cultivation” (Gladwell 108). Without any complications from his family, Oppenheimer attended Cambridge University, but “grew more and more emotionally unstable” (Gladwell 98) as he was battling depression. At one point, he attempted to poison his tutor with some chemicals; but he was only put probation. Even with his notoriety, Oppenheimer was still able to secure a job with the Manhattan Project where he was in charge of atomic-bomb effort. Clearly, family background had a huge effect on the outcome of each man’s life. With a more privileged childhood Oppenheimer “possessed the kind of savvy that allowed him to get what he wanted from the world” (Gladwell 100). Children from higher class families have more practical intelligence, meaning "‘knowing what to say to whom, knowing when to say it, and knowing how to say it for maximum effect’" (Gladwell 101). Unlike Oppenheimer, Langan, with a lower-class upbringing never learned this skill. “It may seem like a small thing, but it was a crippling handicap in navigating the world beyond Bozeman [Langan’s stepfather]” (Gladwell 110). With the lack of practical intelligence, Langan could not bounce back