Malcolm Gladwell: Bestselling journalist and author (The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, Talking to Strangers, The Bomber Mafia) and host of the Revisionist History podcast.
What this episode covers
Malcolm Gladwell joins Stephen Bartlett to discuss his outsider childhood, the value of curiosity as a learned habit, and the humility required to be a great interviewer. He argues that successful innovators are by definition delusional about how long their ideas take to reach fruition, illustrated by the Bomber Mafia and the ATM's 25-year adoption curve. The conversation turns deeply personal as Gladwell becomes emotional discussing his late father and how grief keeps loved ones alive. He closes with a forceful case against working from home, arguing that belonging and feeling necessary, not pay, are what bind people to organizations, plus pointed warnings about alcohol and high-potency cannabis.
The guest's own work
Outliers
Malcolm Gladwell
“your books outliers blink have been very formative for me as over the last 10 years since I was running my businesses”— Stephen Bartlett
Blink
Malcolm Gladwell
“your books outliers blink have been very formative for me as over the last 10 years since I was running my businesses”— Stephen Bartlett
The Tipping Point
Malcolm Gladwell
“The Tipping Point in you wrote that book in 2000 yeah did that change your life”— Stephen Bartlett
The Bomber Mafia
Malcolm Gladwell
“I have this um book now in paperback the bomber Mafia and it's a story of these uh group of men pilots in the 1930s”— Malcolm Gladwell
Talking to Strangers
Malcolm Gladwell
“this is a big theme in my book talking to strangers yeah a whole chapter on alcohol and how a lot of what we talk about”— Malcolm Gladwell
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
Palm Pilot
Palm
“Palm Pilot was an early a way too early smartphone that was big in the kind of 90s and it it was used by a very small number of very technical”— Malcolm Gladwell
Big reveals from this episode
- Gladwell is deeply skeptical of the standard 'balanced life' definition of happiness, arguing it is a fairly stable trait and outliers express it differently.
- He claims innovators succeed because they are 'massively deluded,' radically underestimating how long an idea takes to bring to fruition.
- On Steve Jobs: his genius was understanding that being first is overrated; he was deliberately late to every market he won.
- Gladwell breaks down crying on the podcast while talking about his father, who died before meeting his daughter.
- Citing John Gottman, he argues contempt and neglect, not conflict or anger, are what truly destroy relationships and teams.
- He delivers a forceful argument that working from home is not in employees' best interest because belonging cannot form when people are disconnected.
- He argues much of what we call sexual assault among young people is fundamentally an alcohol problem.
- He calls 25-30% THC cannabis 'insane,' noting it was around one percent a generation ago.
Worth remembering
- By age 10 Gladwell had already lived in three or four countries: Jamaica, England, Canada, and possibly briefly the United States.
- His mother was 'complicit' in his skipping school, signing fake notes for the principal to diffuse his rebellious intent.
- Immigrants tend to do well largely because they are willing to move where opportunities are, unlike many rooted native-born people.
- The Bomber Mafia underestimated how long their vision of air warfare would take by roughly half a century.
- The ATM was invented in the early 1970s but did not become widespread in the West until the mid-1990s, taking about 25 years.
- A friend wrote that he knew his father better 25 years after his death than when he was alive, a line that resonates with Gladwell.
- President Obama had his clothes laid out each morning to preserve mental space for more important decisions.
- Women process alcohol differently than men; two people of identical weight drinking the same amount leave the woman more inebriated.