Dissecting the Success of Malcolm Gladwell
“For every hour I spend writing, I spend three hours thinking about writing.” – Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell (@gladwell) is the author of five New York Times bestsellers — The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, What the Dog Saw, and David and Goliath. He has been named one of the 100 most influential people by TIME magazine and one of the Foreign Policy’s Top Global Thinkers.
He has explored how ideas spread in the Tipping Point, decision making in Blink, the roots of success in Outliers, and the advantages of disadvantages in his latest book David and Goliath. In his latest podcast project, Revisionist History, Gladwell examines the way the passage of time changes and enlightens our understanding of the world around us.
In this in-depth, in-person conversation, we cover a ton, including:
His research and writing process
How he learned to ask good (and “dumb”) questions
Favorite books
Routines, habits, and tools
How he pulls together seemingly unrelated stories into a cohesive theme (and eventually a book)
Philosophies related to public speaking
His obsession with running
Why he eats as little as possible in the mornings
And much more…
If you only have 5 minutes, listen to Gladwell’s creative “recipes” for storytelling.
Enjoy!
Listen to it on iTunes.
Stream by clicking here.
Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as.”
Want to hear another podcast with a great storyteller? — Listen to my conversation with Cal Fussman. In this episode, we discuss Cal’s interviews with the most influential people in history, how he made himself a guinea pig (Cal boxed against world champion Julio Cesar Chavez), and his best life lessons (stream below or right-click here to download):
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QUESTION OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
Scroll below for links and show notes…
Selected Links from the Episode
Connect with Malcolm Gladwell:
Twitter | Facebook | Website | Podcast
David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell
What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell
Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell
Freakonomics
The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis
The New Yorker
The Washington Post
Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society
Google Docs
Lapsang Souchong black tea
LetsRun.com
Marginal Revolution
ESPN.com
2012 Summer Olympics
Strangers to Ourselves: Discovering the Adaptive Unconscious by Timothy D. Wilson
Merchant Princes: An Intimate History of Jewish Families Who Built Great Department Stores by Leon A. Harris
Spy novels by John le Carré
Thrillers by Lee Child
Another Green World by Brian Eno
Oblique Strategies: Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas by Brian Eno
Creative Whack Pack by Roger Von Oech
The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande
The Mennonite
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Japan National Tourism Organization
Panoply Media: A Podcast Network from Slate Magazine
Show Notes
What have been the easiest — and hardest — books for Malcolm to write? [08:05]
Who does Malcolm consider to be the “gold standard” of storytellers? [09:30]
What working at The Washington Post for 10 years taught Malcolm about dealing with writer’s block. [12:30]
Malcolm on story structure. [15:07]
As early as the research stage, sometimes good stories write themselves. [18:27]
Malcolm on taking and organizing notes. [22:18]
How does Malcolm determine what starts a chapter (or a book)? [24:49]
Trying different creative “recipes” for storytelling. [26:04]
How Malcolm plans his speaking keynotes (and how he got better at it). [28:24]
Malcolm’s speaking hero. [30:36]
The elements of a good speaking performance. [33:17]
Tying stories together to support a theme. [35:32]
Getting better at asking questions. [40:55]
The most worthwhile investment (of time) Malcolm has made. [45:57]
Malcolm’s favorite failures. [48:18]
Malcolm’s morning routines. [50:55]
Why is Lapsang Souchong a controversial tea? [51:30]
Why Malcolm prefers writing in noisy public places. [53:46]
How Malcolm winds down from a day of work. [54:42]
Malcolm’s bedtime routine. [55:45]
The worst advice shared with young people today. [57:27]
Malcolm’s flaws that turned into strengths. [1:02:07]
Malcolm on giving and receiving advice. [1:04:38]
The first person who comes to mind when Malcolm thinks of the word “successful.” [1:05:43]
Systems Malcolm relies upon. [1:10:28]
Two necessary contradictions elite runners face. [1:12:21]
Books Malcolm has gifted the most. [1:13:18]
The purchase of $100 or less that has had a positive impact on Malcolm’s life. [1:17:24]
The most articulate person Malcolm has ever met. [1:18:29]
Something Malcolm believes that other people think is crazy. [1:19:09]
Malcolm’s reaction to Peter Thiel’s disagreement with one of his positions. [1:22:14]
An innovator Malcolm finds particularly inspiring. [1:24:22]
Advice Malcolm would give to his 30-year-old self. [1:26:39]
How Malcolm started podcasting. [1:30:53]
What Malcolm finds most novel about creating podcasts versus writing books. [1:31:46]
How Malcolm feels about doing another season or two of podcasting. [1:33:14]
What would be on Malcolm’s billboard? [1:35:18]
Why does Malcolm believe in the legal maxim of “Difficult cases make bad law?” [1:36:07]
People Mentioned
Peter Thiel
Auren Hoffman
Stephen J. Dubner
Michael Lewis
Stephen Curry
John McPhee
Anne Applebaum
Niall Ferguson
Graham Gladwell
Bernie Madoff
Joyce Gladwell
Tyler Cowen
Laird Hamilton
Galen Rupp
Charlie Francis
Jeff Bezos
Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Timothy Wilson
John le Carré
Lee Child
Brian Eno
Neil Gaiman
Atul Gawande
Sebastian Junger
Jacob Weisberg
Asbel Kiprop
Barack Obama
