Leadership In Andrew Dubrin's Outliers

From books to newspapers, TV interviews to Blogs, extraordinary individuals seize the attention of the masses. People are awestruck by their talent, success, wealth, and genius which in turn catapults them to even higher degrees of fame and prestige. These icons seem to have a spark or a gift, something unquantifiable, which distinguishes them from the rest of the population. However, according to Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers, that is not the case. While a degree of innate skill is necessary for the rise of those who achieve world renown, Gladwell argues that each titan had the right conditions in place that led to his or her triumph. It was not some ethereal gift that granted success, but instead the convergence of opportunity, practice, and cultural legacy which ensured that those whose stories could have been fleeting were instead phenomenal. While Gladwell’s work revolved around a wide variety of individual stories, examination of Outliers through the lens of Andrew DuBrin’s Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills sheds light on how the principles presented in Outliers are tied to the forging of great leaders. The four primary areas for comparison include innate talent, opportunity, practice, and legacy. While each is individually valuable, only …show more content…
Yet people need the right opportunity to develop their cognitive intelligence” (Gladwell, 2014, p. 61). The distinction between cognitive intelligence and raw intellect is a facet of personal development that is vehemently emphasized in both works. In essence, once one meets a certain ability or characteristic threshold, opportunities and experiential development become far more consequential to success than does possession of increased talent beyond the