I recommend that internship managers read Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. I believe that Gladwell’s view of success and successful people is provocative and insightful. He provides numerous examples to support his position that successful people aren’t necessarily more ambitious or more skilled than less successful people. As a social worker and educator, I have long seen evidence of Gladwell’s theory that success is determined by:
- Access
- Opportunity
- Connections
- Repetition
Although Gladwell challenges many widely accepted stereotypes about what it takes to achieve the American standard of success, he gets it wrong in his explanation of why low-income children are parented differently than high income children.
“I am a story-teller, and I look to academic research… for ways of augmenting story-telling.” -Malcolm Gladwell
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Nicki Sanders, The Packaged For Success Coach, is an Adjunct Professor with an extensive background in developing and managing internship programs. She is a skilled program manager, coach, trainer, and group facilitator who has packaged her Masters of Social Work degree and 20 years of work experience into Packaged For Success, a full service training and professional development company.
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