Malcolm Gladwell
British-Canadian journalist and author; staff writer for The New Yorker; author of The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers and David and Goliath; host of the podcast Revisionist History and co-founder of Pushkin Industries.
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Malcolm Gladwell did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
The line under a date shows how recently it was said: empty within a month, full after three years.
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Their wordsLook, these guys are in the luxury handbag business. They’re not in the education business.
↗Malcolm Gladwell Wants to Make the World Safe for Mediocrity (Conversations with Tyler, Ep. 20)conversationswithtyler.com 1st of 7 in this piece
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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.
↗Malcolm Gladwell Wants to Make the World Safe for Mediocrity (Conversations with Tyler, Ep. 20)conversationswithtyler.com 2nd of 7 in this piece
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Our reading
Encouraging experimentation and opening opportunities requires much more tolerance of mediocrity
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.
↗Malcolm Gladwell Wants to Make the World Safe for Mediocrity (Conversations with Tyler, Ep. 20)conversationswithtyler.com 3rd of 7 in this piece
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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.
↗Malcolm Gladwell Wants to Make the World Safe for Mediocrity (Conversations with Tyler, Ep. 20)conversationswithtyler.com 4th of 7 in this piece
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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.
↗Malcolm Gladwell Wants to Make the World Safe for Mediocrity (Conversations with Tyler, Ep. 20)conversationswithtyler.com 5th of 7 in this piece
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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.
↗Malcolm Gladwell Wants to Make the World Safe for Mediocrity (Conversations with Tyler, Ep. 20)conversationswithtyler.com 6th of 7 in this piece
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Our reading
Extracting running talent from a population needs a very broad base, and that base is gone
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.
↗Malcolm Gladwell Wants to Make the World Safe for Mediocrity (Conversations with Tyler, Ep. 20)conversationswithtyler.com 7th of 7 in this piece
The line under a date fills as the words age, a quarter at a time: past a month, six months, a year, and three years. Empty means said within the last month; full, more than three years ago. It says when, not whether it still holds — a change of mind is marked on the claim itself.
Dashed means we only know the words existed by that date; they may be older.