The Three Lessons Of Joe Flom

In The Three Lessons Of Joe Flom chapter 8, this chapter is about the garment industry and its meaningful work. It tells the story of Louis and Regina Borgenicht who were immigrants that came to America and struggled to make a life and business for themselves. Louis started out selling fish in the street but once his wife Regina gave birth to another child, the pressure was on for him to find a job that could support his family. One day while outside looking for inspiration, Louis saw a young girl with an apron on. He then had bought pieces of fabric with the little money he had left and took it home. He and his wife had spent the whole night cutting and sewing the garments into 40 children's aprons of all different sizes. The next day he went to the streets to sell and within 3 hours, all the aprons were sold. In this moment, Louis had realized that this was the business that he and his wife were meant to be in. While the first version of this story presents itself to be clear cut and simple, Gladwell goes deeper and breaks down the history and background which led to and contributed to this story. Before arriving to America, Borgenicht had become very familiar with fabrics and garments in Europe to the point that just by touching something, he knew what thread count the garment was and where it came from. Regina his wife had also been running a dress making business since the age of sixteen. Malcolm Gladwell's lesson in this story ultimately shows that success does not appear randomly. One's culture as well as experiences play a big role which determines one's success. The Borgenicht's background experience in garment is what ultimately helped them be able to succeed and make it in the clothing business as they set up a new life for themselves in America. This story interested me and showed me how events connect to one another and determines the outcome of situations.