Malcolm Gladwell Wants to Make the World Safe for Mediocrity (Conversations with Tyler, Ep. 20)

Their wordsLook, these guys are in the luxury handbag business. They’re not in the education business.

Their wordsIf you’re running a truly elite college, what you want to select for is the kids who are most powerfully motivated to leverage the intellectual assets of the institution, not the brand assets of the institution.

Their wordsWell, I suppose I could expand on this notion that, to encourage experimentation and open opportunities, one must also be much more tolerant of mediocrity.

Their wordsI suppose the best way to sum them up is that, like all highly competitive subspecialties, everyone wants to believe they have an answer that works for everyone when, in fact, the truth is that there’s probably 10 different ways to run, train effectively for long distance, and we’re just slow to understand how variable runners are.

Their wordsWhat I mean is that it’s very important, if you are a writer, to remain current. And the greatest danger you face is this fossilization of your positions and views.

Their wordsIt’s not as good, and it’s not as good because the truly effective satirical impersonation is one that finds something essential about the character and magnifies it, something buried that you wouldn’t ordinarily have seen or have glimpsed in that person.

Their wordsIn order to extract running talent from the general population, you need to have a really, really broad base and the broad base is gone.