In Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, the author makes the point that we often look at people’s success the wrong way. In “ The Danger of a Single Story” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, it is brought out how we can be too quick to judge after taking a single thing we hear and forming an opinion or stereotype right away. Both Gladwell and Adichie try to alter the initial perspective we take on about things in our lives and encourage us to deepen our thinking.

 

Malcolm Gladwell expresses that people do not rise to success from nothing and that we need to understand that when admiring another person’s achievements. He states that “The culture we belong to and the legacies passed down by our forebears shape the patterns of our achievements in ways we cannot begin to imagine” (Gladwell 19). Often, we look at ones personality or qualities instead of where they came from. We learn that the successful person was always a little bit better than their peers and thus given more attention and opportunities. Gladwell encourages us to shift the way we think about successful people by understanding how their accomplishments exponentially grow after given one single opportunity. After changing our perspective, we no longer put ourselves down for not being as successful as someone else and realize that people were given different circumstances.

 

Adichie speaks out about the effects of judging something or someone based off of a single thing they have heard. She explains how sometimes we hear one story and make it the only story. This can be dangerous and lead to unnecessary stereotypes. On top of that, hearing one bad thing can make the good things go right over our heads. She encourages us to not stick to the first story we may hear about something, but rather keep our minds open. Adichie goes on to say that “when we reject the single story, we regain a kind of paradise” (Adichie). I believe that this is very true, and changing our perspective just a little can bring people together rather than draw them apart.

 

Malcolm Gladwell and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie encourage people to change their perspectives which will ultimately better everyone in the end. Whether judging our success to someone else’s or judging someone else based on a single piece of information, It is important to have an open mindset and point of view. With Gladwell and Adichie’s examples, we learn that taking on a different perspective can make things much more understandable and a whole lot better.