Outliers: The Story of Success

• Author: Danisha L. Morris
• Position: U.S. Army Student, 58th Judge Advocate Officer Graduate Course, The Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School, U.S. Army, Charlottesville, Virginia
• Pages: 236-242

236 MILITARY LAW REVIEW [Vol. 205

OUTLIERS: THE STORY OF SUCCESS1

REVIEWED BY MAJOR DANISHA L. MORRIS*

To build a better world we need to replace the

patchwork of lucky breaks and arbitrary advantages that

today determine success . . . with a society that provides

opportunities for all.2

I. Introduction

An outlier is defined as “something that is situated away from or

classed differently from a main or related body.”3 In this book, the term

outlier is used to describe men and women who have managed

extraordinary successes,4 men like Bill Joy, who has been called “one of

the most influential people in the modern history of computing.”5

Contrary to popular belief, outliers don’t reach astronomical success

simply because they are somehow better, smarter, more determined, or

work harder than most. The true secret to extraordinary success, as

successfully illustrated in Outliers, is, rather, that these individuals are

“invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary

opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work

hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot.”6

Using case studies, interviews, and his own family history, Malcolm

Gladwell examines these “hidden advantages”—cultural legacies,

parentage, and when and where a person is born—and illustrates how

they contributed to the success achieved by individuals chronicled in the

book. In so doing, Gladwell succeeds where so many other authors who

write on success have failed: He cleverly avoids coming across as

another salesman, peddling the usual lists of “effective habits” and the

promise of “self-help”7 while simultaneously rejecting the concept of

* U.S. Army Student, 58th Judge Advocate Officer Graduate Course, The Judge Advocate

General’s Legal Center and School, U.S. Army, Charlottesville, Virginia.

1 MALCOLM GLADWELL, OUTLIERS: THE STORY OF SUCCESS (2008).

2 Id. at 268.

3 Id. at 3.

4 Id. at 17.

5 Id. at 36–37.

6 Id. at 19.

7 See, e.g., STEPHEN R. COVEY, THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE, PHEN

(1989).