{"id":59972,"date":"2022-02-16T19:54:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-16T23:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=59972"},"modified":"2022-02-25T10:15:24","modified_gmt":"2022-02-25T14:15:24","slug":"malcolm-gladwell-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/malcolm-gladwell-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Malcolm Gladwell: Success Comes From Opportunity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is the key determinant of success in life? Is it hard work? Genetics? Privilege?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Malcolm Gladwell, success is impossible without the opportunity to become successful no matter how hard you work. Furthermore, Gladwell writes that people who get opportunities early in life have a huge advantage over those whose opportunities come later in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s why earlier opportunities are more impactful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Opportunity Is Key to Success<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to Malcolm Gladwell, success is the product of opportunity. While a person\u2019s individual attributes\u2014like talent and work ethic\u2014may determine their potential<\/em>, Gladwell asserts that external factors determine who has the opportunity<\/em> to reach their potential<\/em>, and who faces roadblocks. <\/strong>In other words, it\u2019s impossible to achieve success if you don\u2019t have the chance to put your skills to work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, early opportunities are better than opportunities that become available later in life because of early opportunities: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Create self-fulfilling prophecies<\/li>
  2. Benefit from an accumulative advantage<\/a>.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    Seemingly Minor Aspects of Upbringing Can Have Big Impacts <\/strong>

    In addition to the benefits that Gladwell describes, your childhood experiences and environment have an outsize impact on your life trajectory because they shape your foundation as a person\u2014they can endow you with valuable tools or burden you with additional challenges. Research shows that the ways in which your upbringing impacts your trajectory in life<\/a> can be physiological or psychological, and often unexpected. For instance

    – If you grew up watching your parents work out arguments collaboratively and constructively, you\u2019re more likely to have high self-esteem, strong social skills, emotional security, and solid academic performance. 

    – Kids of high-income parents have higher SAT scores than their low-income peers. 

    – If you grew up in a low-income household, you\u2019ll have a lower working memory\u2014which lets you hold multiple ideas in your head at once\u2014as an adult.  

    – If you\u2019re the son of a working mother, there\u2019s a greater chance you\u2019ll spend more time taking care of your kids and contributing to housework as an adult. 

    – If you\u2019re the daughter of a working mother, you\u2019re more likely to work in a management position and     make more money<\/a> than daughters of stay-at-home moms. <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Advantage #1: Self-Fulfilling Prophecies<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Gladwell states that children who are taught (directly or indirectly) that they\u2019re gifted, talented, or smart tend to live up to that expectation<\/strong>. They believe that they are talented and therefore act like they are talented, which leads to them developing actual talent. This is a self-fulfilling prophecy, meaning that belief influences reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Likewise, children who are told that they\u2019re unintelligent or unremarkable tend to believe and embody that description.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Nuances of Self-Fulfilling Prophecies<\/strong>

    In Mindset<\/em>, psychologist Carol S. Dweck describes how self-fulfilling prophecy has a substantial impact on children\u2014and some of her findings may be surprising. Paradoxically, Dweck\u2019s research revealed that children who are praised for being smart tend to shy away from difficult tasks<\/a>, rather than rising to the challenge. These children want to uphold their reputation for being smart, so they avoid doing anything that risks failure, for fear of showing shortcomings in their intelligence.

    Dweck concluded that this reaction comes from a     fixed mindset<\/a>, a belief that abilities (like intelligence) are unchangeable; when you view your abilities as unchangeable, you feel you must constantly prove yourself. By contrast, a growth mindset<\/a> is based on the belief that the abilities you\u2019re born with are a starting point, which prompts you to work hard, seek challenges that stretch you, and welcome mistakes as opportunities to learn. The two different mindsets dictate people\u2019s aspirations and how they approach success, failure, and effort.

    In sum, this type of self-fulfilling prophecy depends on whether parents     praise children<\/a> for their talent (fixed mindset) or their effort (growth mindset). <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Advantage #2: Accumulative Advantage<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    In addition to self-fulfilling prophecies, Gladwell writes that early opportunities lead to more opportunities, creating a snowball effect. In other words, the benefits of one small advantage compound over time to create exponentially greater success<\/strong>. This is called accumulative advantage, or the Matthew effect<\/a>. By the same token, the Matthew effect also describes how small disadvantages tend to snowball into larger ones.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    (Shortform note: This principle is also called cumulative advantage<\/em><\/a>, which sociologist Robert Merton coined in 1968 when he described how scientists who are already well-known often receive more credit than their co-authors in group studies. The term \u201cMatthew effect\u201d refers to a Bible verse in the book of Matthew: \u201cFor to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For example, consider how one opportunity changes the trajectories of two young girls who want to be professional actors. The first girl gets the lead role in her middle school play, which sets off a series of events: <\/p>\n\n\n\n