A Roman poet, Horace once said “Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant.” By reading Outliers: The story of success, I agree with his statement. Malcolm Gladwell established multiple individuals who took important responsible risks and were given opportunities that lead to their success in life. Two individuals that stood out were Joe Flom and Louis Borgenicht. They came with nothing and worked their way to the top of success.

Flom appears to be shaped from the experiences in his environment. Even though he had great characteristics like talent, ambition, and intelligence, it was not adequate to succeed because he was a Jew. In order to illustrate the the validity of this …show more content…
He tells a story common to many New York garment workers. A young couple, Louis and his wife Regina Borgenicht moved to New York in search of a better life. Theirs was a leap of faith like many other immigrants who moved to America back in those days. They both were skilled in clothing and manufacturing. Louis tried many professions but his main goal was to have enough money to raise his family and provide food on the table, “Louis has decided to try being a pushcart peddler. He sold towels and table cloths, without much luck. He switched to notebooks, then bananas, then socks to stockings. Was there really a future in pushcarts?” His wife had given birth to a second child, Louis’s urgency grew. He now had 4 mouths to feed. He had then thought of an idea to start selling child’s aprons after they noticed there didn’t seem to be many for sale, and had a great deal of success. They worked long exhausting hours, but eventually made enough money to buy a factory and hire employees. It was an exhausting life, but Louis Borgenicht was his own boss, doing engaging, complicated work, and being rewarded for his efforts. He may have been tired and had to much work, and not enough money but “He was alive. He was responsible for his own decisions and direction. His work was complex: it engaged his mind and imagination. And in his work, there was a relationship between effort and reward” (Gladwell 149) In other words, his work was