
Shaky pic from my Blackberry
I completely forgot to post about the recent appearance of Malcolm Gladwell (or here) at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. I tweeted live from the event - I've copied my tweets and pasted them below for reference.
I've been a fan of Gladwell's since I first noticed his writing in the New Yorker, and of course have read each of his books since The Tipping Point was first released in 2000 (!!!).
The purpose of the discussion between him and Dean Roger Martin (Dean Martin!) was to review some of the ideas behind his latest book Outliers: The Story of Success . It ended up to be a long reminisce between Gladwell and Martin - it turns out that Gladwell was a close childhood friend of Roger Martin's brother.
For posterity, here are my tweets from the event. (You can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/graemespicer).
I'm attending the Malcolm Gladwell presentation at U of T. I'll be tweeting live 3:57 PM Dec 1st from txt
Bedlam outside Convocation Hall (in the cold rain). Not too impressed with Rotman's organizational skills 4:14 PM Dec 1st from txt
The hall is sold out. My guess is 1000 seats. Gladwell is a pop star. We're inside now. 4:23 PM Dec 1st from txt
Everyone receives a copy of Outliers. Pretty cool. It's even (sort of) signed. Wish I'd known before I bought a copy retail last week. 4:26 PM Dec 1st from txt
Martin's intro: Gladwell when asked what he wanted to be when he grew up - a pastry chef. 5:06 PM Dec 1st from txt
Gladwell: there are many disadvantages that are actually advantages. Many, many entrepreuneurs are dyslexic. 5:15 PM Dec 1st from txt
Gladwell: compensation for weaknesses may be a better learning strategy than exploitation of strengths. 5:18 PM Dec 1st from txt
Gladwell: extreme intellegence may be a disadvantage. They don't as typically develop strong work ethics. They're lazy. 5:20 PM Dec 1st from txt
Gladwell: there is no test that will accurately predict future productivity. Better to try lots and see who sinks or swims. 5:24 PM Dec 1st from txt
Gladwell: IQ is not a predictor of success. One needs to be smart 'enough', but that it. 5:27 PM Dec 1st from txt
Gladwell is very funny and charming. Very at ease with Roger Martin and the audience. 5:28 PM Dec 1st from txt
Gladwell: in order to be consciencious, one must feel that the application of effort will genuinely lead to reward. 5:31 PM Dec 1st from txt
Gladwell: we are now at the boundaries of what we can do individually to help ourselves. We need to think more collectively. 5:40 PM Dec 1st from txt
Gladwell: how many people capable of achieving something actually achieve it? 5:41 PM Dec 1st from txt
Gladwell: Canada is leaving 40% of its hockey talent on the table. 5:46 PM Dec 1st from txt
Zzzzzzzzzz ... Martin's questions frequently seem longer that Gladwell's answers. 5:50 PM Dec 1st from txt
Gladwell: 10,000 Hour Rule - the importance of this rule is as much about commitment and discipline than about actual learning. 5:55 PM Dec 1st from txt
Martin: does mastery (10,000 hours) automatically kill creativity? 5:57 PM Dec 1st from txt
Gladwell: everytime we learned a new game as kids, we would deregulate it: change the rules to stay fresh. Tear it up, reconstruct. 5:58 PM Dec 1st from txt
Gladwell: Tiger Woods is constantly working on his swing - deconstructing and reconstructing it. 6:00 PM Dec 1st from txt
Gladwell: how many solutions exist to things that aren't problems? 6:03 PM Dec 1st from txt
Gladwell: Google isn't making us stoopid; its just killing the competitive advantage of those of us willing to go to the library. 6:05 PM Dec 1st from txt