Seneca College ISC 100 Reflection Paper: Outliers and Success Concepts

This reflection paper analyzes two key concepts from Malcolm Gladwell's book, 'Outliers: The Story of Success.' The paper defines 'Accumulative Advantage' and explores the debate between inborn talent and deliberate practice as drivers of success. The student uses examples from the book and their personal experiences to illustrate these concepts. The paper discusses how these concepts relate to achieving success at Seneca College and beyond, providing specific actions the student could take in various scenarios, including group work. The analysis demonstrates an understanding of Gladwell's ideas and their practical application, offering insights into the factors influencing success.

Running head: REFLECTION PAPER
Reflection Paper
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note

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Question-1
Accumulative Advantage is defined as the process by which the children gain an
additional ability in certain fields since the time that they were young. This additional
advantage can come from various forms such as engaging in various kinds of sports, or
painting or other such practices. In his book, Matthew Gladwell states this same example
from the perspective of a hockey player. He says that the hockey player, who is really good at
the sport starts his training a bit early than his teammates.
Starting the training a bit early not only gives the hockey player a bit of an advantage
than others but also helps him to make his badminton skills more perfect than before. This is
what the author in his book has referred to as Accumulative Advantage. The author states that
it is through accumulative advantage that people can develop extra talents by indulging in
various kinds of sports in their childhood. Therefore, indulging in other kind of sports not
only gives the players opportunities to make their skills better than the others when they grow
up. The benefit of such accumulative advantage is that these people who indulge in classes
from their childhood are able to become experts in their fields. This is what the author refers
to as Accumulative Advantage. This concept not only stands for the hockey players but for
other sports persons or persons from other professions. Thus, this is what the author Matthew
Gladwell says when he refers to the term accumulative advantage in his book Outliers – The
Story of Success.
Question – 2
By reading author Matthew Gladwell’s book Outliers – The Story of Success, I feel
that the concept of success depends more on deliberate practice than on the concept of inborn
talent. This is because I feel that every kid is born in the same way. No one is more special
than others when they are born. However, it is by practice that they become special in their

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lives. A baseball player who is quite a star, is not born with the stardom in him. He has taken
a lot of time to reach in the position that he is today. He has achieved this through deliberate
training and other practices. This again makes me feel that success mainly depends on
deliberate practice than inborn talent.
The baseball player that we are discussing in this context has not become a superstar
just by taking birth. He had to practice his craft every day from a very young age and had to
face hardships in his life. This hardship has helped him to reach the position that he is in
today. Thus I feel that the road to success is not easy, it is extremely difficult and might
involve a lot of obstacles which might make an individual think of giving up. However, it is
only by never giving up and continuing on the path to success that the individual will finally
be successful in his life. Practice and struggle are the two things that will help an individual
reach the road to success. That is exactly the reason why I feel that a person can only be
successful in his life if he follows deliberate practice rather than believing on the concept of
inborn luck.

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Reference List
Gladwell, M., 2008. Outliers: The story of success. Hachette UK.