The Outliers exposes remarkable stories about successful people and goes behind the curtains to highlight key events in the life of these individuals that led them to their good fortune. For the most part Mr. Gladwell thesis is pretty simple; in order to win the lottery you must first buy a lottery ticket. Of course the author wrote a book on this therefore he goes a lot more into detail on how and why was the ticket purchased, what ethnicities tend to spend more money gambling and well you get the idea.
Todd Marinovish is a perfect example of an outlier therefore the ESPN documentary has some interesting contrast with the book. “The 10,000 hour rule,”” The Three lessons from Joe Flom” and “The trouble with geniuses” are the chapters that relate to “Robot Quarterback” the most. In Chapter 2 Mr. Gladwell talks about the theory of becoming an expert on any activity we do in life. Throughout this chapter he claims that 10,000 hours of hard work and practice are required to become experts in any matter. Now the 10,000 hour rule does not mean you will be the best it just means you will be an expert.
To be the best other things will come into consideration; on the mean time let us focus in becoming experts. The Beatles consider one of the best rock bands of all times had multiple hours of practice in Hamburg before they became famous. Another example in the book is Mr. Windows (Bill Gates) who as a teen would have the opportunity to practice in a nearby university for many hours before becoming a computer genius. Getting back to Mr. Marinovish he would be the perfect example of 10,000 hours applied to a specific activity in his case football.
From a young age Todd Marinovish was train to become a perfect quarterback and all the practice will make him an expert quarterback and those skills will come in handy through his high school, college and very short professional career. Throughout Chapter 5 the author Malcolm Gladwell talks about 3 important factors that can come in handy in order to succeed. “The three lesson from Joe Flom” talk about how famous lawyer Joe Flom became one of the world’s most successful lawyers of all times. Mr.
Flom was able to succeed despite been born in a time where equal opportunity was not at its best in our country. Despite the unfair treatment he was able to outsmart the system and even after having various opportunities shut in his face he still found a way to succeed in his profession. It is important to emphasize for comparison purposes that Mr. Flom was already an expert in his field just like Raiders quarterback Todd Marinovish; in other words Mr. Flom complies with the 10,000 hour rule. The three factors in Mr.
Flom success are family support and being in the right place at the right time. Through Chapter 5 we see how Mr. Flom came from a Jewish family who are by tradition Business people; in addition he was at the right place residing in New York and to complete the triangle of success his age was perfect for a lawyer after World War II. To sum up all this events Mr. Flom had 4 advantages over most other lawyers but so did Todd Marinovish toward other quarterbacks. We already agree on the fact that Mr. Marinovish is an expert quarterback but let see how the triangle of success applies to him.
First of all Mr. Marinovish senior came from a traditional family of athletes and therefore pushes his son towards becoming an elite athlete. Then, being a High school and College football player in late 1980 I believe was an advantage for Marinovish because the sport was not as popular as it is right now and therefore it was a little less competitive. Lastly and to complete the triangle of success being in California will help during his high school and college because of all the media that was evolve in his career.
I really doubt we would of know Robot quarterback if he would of being born today where there we have kids that play just as god as he did in every other high school and if the media would of not giving him the coverage they did. Mr. Marinovish and Mr. Flom both had the same opportunities so what is the reason that one was extremely successful and Marinovish career crashed? Well Chapter 3 and 4 will give us better understanding on what the “Trouble with geniuses” is.
Chris Langan smartest man alive with an IQ close to 200 and (versus) Todd Marinovish the best quarterback of all times; what happen to their God given talents? Mr. Marinovish never won a super bowl and Mr. Langan stop at 250,000 dlls in the television show “1 vs 100. ” Chris Langan might not have all the advantages that Todd Marinovish had but at the end of the day he was still the smartest man alive. Chapter 4 explains Chris Langan lack of family support. According to the book that would become a huge disadvantage because he would never develop people skills necessary to persuade and communicate with other people.
Being at the right place at the right time never seem to play in favor of Mr. Langan since his college career was ended because his geographical misfortunes. Now earlier I stated that Todd Marinovish was at the right place at the right time when he was in high school but that would seem to come back with a negative aspect. Staying in California during his university years had a negative impact in Mr. Marinovish career. He had problems with his university coach and his local friends got him addicted to drugs.
I believe that the problem with geniuses is that there cannot be a change in the map or else they will fall off their horses. On the other hand ordinary people are used to running so we know how to fall, cry, stand up and keep running. After all the advantages that Todd Marinovish had he was not able to fulfill the expectations that were set up for him. On his case people would have not care if he had fail as long as he would of fail with his head up. Is the way he went down that people remember and therefore blame him for throwing his career to the garbage. The Outliers” book and “The Marinovish Project” present a list of events that can set people up for a prosperous future. Still it shows that even if you can put your experience hours, have a good supportive family, and are situated with opportunistic environment does not guarantee success. Like people say, “There?s many a slip between the cup and the lip. ”
Works Cited
Gladwell, Malcom. Outliers: The Story of Success. Little, Brown and Company. November 18, 2008. Print. The Marinovish Project. Dir. John Dorsey and Andrew Stephan. ESPN. 2011. Netflix.
