IQ And Success In 'Outliers' By Malcolm Gladwell’s

Have you ever failed a big test, and you ask the teacher in the most polite way possible if you could retake it. Almost like you were talking to a complete stranger. That is known as mitigated speech. Mitigated speech is where one person is hesitant or afraid to talk to a superior in a certain manner compared to someone on the same or lower level. Mitigated speech can commonly affect success and how people become successful. IQ, on the other hand, which is thought to be the lead factor, can leave one far from success. Even though, mitigated speech affects culture, the way people act, and how successful one can be, that might not always be the case for someone's IQ.

“The Trouble with Geniuses, Part 1”, chapter 3 of Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, describes Chris Langen who is currently known as the Smartest man in America, whose IQ is 195. Gladwell describes Langen’s childhood and how Langen was more intellectually developed than kids his age and older. Langen’s childhood was also described as dreadful and hard because his mom’s boyfriend abused him and his family was financially broke. With the lack of wealth and abusive childhood Langen was never given an opportunity. Langen was also unable to finish school because of a paperwork incident that he could have reached out and resolved. The main message of this chapter is that IQ or intelligence doesn’t always make you successful unless you have skills, IQ, and some sort of an advantage. Gladwell proved his point by giving us a very strong example of how one man’s high IQ didn’t help him reach his full potential. He explains that the smartest man known in America still only works a shift to shift job as a bouncer.

“Legacy”, chapter 6 of Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, is about Cultural Legacy and its effects on people. In this chapter Gladwell describes two appalachian families feuding that ended with many people within the family dying. At the same time family feuds like this were happening all over the Appalachians. These feuds ended up lasting for decades. The explanation for this behavior is tied back to something called “the culture of honor.” Many of these families came from Scotland, Ireland, and Northern England, places that relied on raising and herding animals. Theft of sheep and cattle was common. Because of their fierce drive to protect their animals and right the wrongs caused by thieving, a culture of honor was born. The main message of this chapter was to show that the culture of honor is still relevant today. He proves his point in doing an experiment on young college students, where students were insulted and what they recorded was the students reactions. In the case where someone was insulted acted more intermediate to the other person, and ironically the people who reacted poorly where from the same regions where culture of honor was said to still exist.

Chapter 6 relates to my life personally because my family has somewhat of a culture of honor in which you always have to stand up for yourself when you’re being insulted. Chapter 6 is represented to be true because many families still follow some sort of cultural honor today and it affects many people's lives. I could use this knowledge of cultural legacy to understand why people from other religions and families react differently than other people, especially when insulted. Knowing this information could help me to become more successful because it shows me that sometimes I have to take people’s cultural legacy into consideration to prevent myself from offending someone.

IQ might not always be the leading factor in success, but understand cultural legacy might be. Even though, mitigated speech affects culture, the way people act, and how successful one can be, that might not always be the case for someone's IQ. Although, many people believe that IQ, skills, and understanding of cultural legacy are leading factors in success, that might not always be the case. What do you think helps you be the most successful?