Malcolm Gladwell uses this phrase in his book Outliers. Gladwell explores the influence of family and other support networks in the lives of successful people. He intends his analysis to help debunk what he sees as the myth of rugged individualism as a primary factor in success. Many people who do well on their chosen path in life want to believe they got there on their own. Instead, Gladwell argues, they are merely ignorant of or willfully disregarding the advantages that helped place them in elevated status. The “hidden advantages” from which successful people benefit include birth (who their parents are) and many related social and economic factors. These include where they grew up, the kind of education they received, and the material resources they have had access to. The fact that not everyone will have the “strength and presence of mind” to maximize these advantages does not make the advantages any less real.