Today’s video is a short excerpt from a longer talk given by Malcolm Gladwell on “Why People Succeed.” Gladwell is a journalist, author, and speaker. He has written 5 books: The Tipping Point: How Little Things Make a Big Difference (2000), Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (2005), Outliers: The Story of Success (2008), What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures (2009), and David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants (2013). The first four all made the New York Times Bestseller list. If you haven’t read his stuff, I will say that the Tipping Point was fascinating and awesome. His books often deal with the unexpected implications of research in the social sciences. Granted, I know there is some controversy as to his interpretation of research but that doesn’t make it any less interesting.
This video doesn’t quite match the title. Gladwell is talking about “learning from experts” and how explanations of how one achieves a specific success may not be accurate. He is doing it in the context of tennis and applications of his theory to market research. I would expand his explanation to the ideas of writing. We talk to successful writers and ask how they write. How they work out problems, build beautiful worlds, craft empathetic characters, etc.
Some people write brilliantly and well, but their explanations of how they do it may not be accurate; they may be doing things instinctively. We, as those seeking answers, are operating on an assumption. That writers can explain the magic. Yes, there is skill and technique attached to writing. But at the same time…perhaps there is still a bit of mystery. The thing that makes it art. How a bunch of disjointed words can come together and give us visions of a whole new world or philosophy, how stories can move us to laugh or cry, or just think more deeply.
Just some thoughts. Take a look at the video and let us know what YOU think.