“The Matthew Effect” from Malcolm Gladwell ’ s Outliers

1. “The Matthew Effect” from Malcolm Gladwell’ s Outliers

2. Outliers: “The Matthew Effect” “What's next for Google, the most successful Internet company in the world?” -The Globe and Mail “The Secret To Google's Success” -Bloomberg Business Week “Google's Two Secrets of Success” -Forbes Magazine “Google's Must-Learn Secret of Success” -Inc.

3. Summary of “The Matthew Effect” “Do you see the consequences of the way we have chosen to think about success? Because we so profoundly personalize success, we miss opportunities to lift others onto the top rung.” “Canadian hockey is a meritocracy.” “Those were the ingredients of success at the highest level: passion, talent, and hard work. But there was another element.” “In all my years in psychology, I have never run into an effect this large,” Barnsley says. “You don’t even need to do any statistical analysis. You just look at it.”

4. Author’s Claim in “The Matthew Effect” According to his examples and explanations, it seems that a claim Gladwell makes in the chapter - which communicates his message about success - is that something other than hard work and effort (in this case timing) might contribute to an individual’s achievement.

5. Author’s Claim in “The Matthew Effect” Section 5 In the beginning of this section, Gladwell defines the “Matthew Effect,” a concept that the chapter is titled after. Throughout this section, Gladwell explains how the idea of “accumulative advantage” proves that those who are born at the optimum time receive more advantages and thus - those who have received more – proving his claim of timing contributing to success.

6. Author’s Claim in “The Matthew Effect” Section 5 (cont’d) Throughout the chapter, he uses examples of Junior Major hockey players from Canada as examples of “accumulative advantage.” When players are born just after the age cut-off, they benefit from an extra two, six or up to twelve months in physical and technique development – this extra development allows them more time with better coaches and players, which gives them advantage over their peers.

7. Discussion Questions Level 1 What happens when we “profoundly personalize success” (32)?

8. Discussion Questions Level 2 How does the “Mathew Effect” specifically relate to hockey players born at a particular time? Level 2 How does the concept of “accumulative advantage” pertain to education?

9. Discussion Questions Level 3 How have you experienced the benefits or disadvantages of the “Matthew Effect” in the areas of athletic or academics?

10. Significant Quotes “Think for a moment about what the story of hockey and early birthdays says about success. It tells us that our notion that it is the best and the brightest who effortlessly rise to the top is much too simplistic” (30).

11. Significant Quotes “We could easily take control of the machinery of achievement, in other words – not just in sports but . . . in more consequential areas as well” (33).

12. Defining Success Overall, this chapter defines success as achieving a higher level of skill development and playing opportunity which begins with good timing; this particular example of success is not something one can initially work harder for – rather, through a fortuitous date of birth, opportunities begin to align to create a foundation for success gained by hard work and dedication later on.

13. Conclusion As you think about your own personal successes and failures from the past or present, know that your hard work has not been in vain. Continue to work hard for what you want because any failures may not have happened because of lack of trying but because of some other variable over which you had no control . . . like the day you were born.