Personalizing success
future he had hoped of dreaming of.
This is Alberto Montejo enjoying his retired life as an engineer
Taken by Lina Rubi Vargas
by: Miguel Vargas For Alberto Montejo, an immigrant
Success consists of going from
failure to failure without loss of enthu-
siasm. It shouldn’t be an achievement
for the wealthy but as living a life that
opportunities that provided him the
anyone can be proud of in retrospect.
from Yucatan Mexico, coming to the
United States was the beginning for a
life changing opportunity. It began as a
simple job opportunity but turned out
to be something greater. Life changing
In Malcom Gladwell’s book Outliers:
The Story of Success he stresses why
certain people become successful and
the factors that affect or have helped
their success, which can be connect-
ed to Alberto. Those factors were his
social class, opportunities he received
and practical intelligence. Which gave
him the motivation to thrive for what
he dreamed to become a reality.
Coming to the United States,
Alberto knew as an immigrant this
will be the start of a new life. He was
married at the age of 30 and had one
baby girl at the time. He finished high
school and decided to work. Coming
from the lower class it was difficult
to receive the things he needed and
able to get a proper education. Being
a self-taught engineer from Mexico,
he hoped for a job in that field in the
U.S. In Outliers: The Story of Success
Gladwell mentions a man named Chris
Langan and the idea of how ones’
social class can affect anyone’s success.
The author states, “If Christopher had
been born into a wealthy family…I
guarantee you he would have been one
of those guys you read about knocking
back PhDs at seventeen ” (Gladwell
110). Those who are fortunate and are
granted with money have it easier to
get what they want. As for the lower
the class they need to work twice as
hard to get what they want and if they
can’t afford it they lose a chance that
can change their lives.
Alberto didn’t know where
to start with his life in America, but
the amount of opportunities boosted
his confidence and made him stay in
America. His first opportunity came
in when he met a man in Greyhound
an offered him a job at San Pedro. He
didn’t know what the job was, but to
support his family and being able to
care for himself was the main priority.
Another opportunity was when the
owner of the house hold he lived in,
Alberto was told applications were enjoying the process of hard work
going out for mechanics and engineers and fulfilling your needs. He is an
for his company. It was a great oppor- immigrant who came to the United
tunity for Alberto to show how well States in hopes of a better life. From a
he works in the field. Connecting to lower-class family and having parents
the book Gladwell states, “That seems to not always be around would be
horribly unfair, and it was. But as is hard for him to find a job with just a
so often the case with outliers, buried high school diploma, he took on many
in that setback was a golden opportu- jobs that would make him one day
nity” (Gladwell 124). Failure turns to successful. His communication skills
motivation and push people forward. are what pushed him through difficult
Quitting right away doesn’t give you times and allow his setbacks to be
the success you want but persevering known more as opportunities. Success
and understanding how a failure can does not come easy, it takes time and
lead to a better objective. The author commitment to have faith and perse-
sends out the message that success verance.
does not come easy and trail and error
comes along the path.
Practical intelligence also
played an important role in Alberto’s
success. Gladwell provides an exam-
ple of a man named Sternberg and he
states, “Practical Intelligence includes
things like knowing when to say what
to whom, knowing when to say it, and
knowing how to say it for maximum
effect” (Gladwell 101). Alberto knew
from right to wrong, if he felt like
something was not correctly accom-
plished he would have to speak up.
He gave clear directions to people and
rules for them to follow. He would talk
to many people to help or, so they can
help him.
Coming from a lower-class
family his parents were not around
as much to support him. His parents
worked full time to care for the family.
At times when there was spare time
they would check up on him to see
how he will be doing in school. He
knew his parents couldn’t always be
there, so he made the decision to make
his family proud and made sure what
he did was going to make him success-
ful. Gladwell states, “If you were will-
ing to work hard, you could take the
responsibility for yourself ” (Gladwell
137). Alberto took the responsibility as
a young adult to take care of himself. It
was a decision that he knew would get
him closer to success because parents
can’t always be there to help.
Alberto defines success as