Malcolm Timothy Gladwell (born 3 September 1963) is an English-born Canadian journalist, author, and public speaker. He has been a
staff writer
In journalism, a staff writer byline indicates that the author of the article is an employee of the periodical, as opposed to being an independent freelance writer. In Britain, staff writers may work in the office instead of traveling to cover a b ...
for ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' since 1996. He has published seven books: ''
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can 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), a collection of his journalism; ''
David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants'' (2013); ''
Talking To Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know'' (2019) and ''
The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War'' (2021). His first five books were on
''The New York Times'' Best Seller list. He is also the host of the podcast ''
Revisionist History'' and co-founder of the podcast company
Pushkin Industries
Pushkin Industries is an American publisher of podcasts and audiobooks. It was co-founded in 2018 by Malcolm Gladwell and Jacob Weisberg. As of 2021, it hosts over 25 podcasts.
History
The company was co-founded in 2018 by Malcolm Gladwell and Jac ...
.
Gladwell's writings often deal with the unexpected implications of research in the social sciences, like
sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...
and
psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
, and make frequent and extended use of academic work. Gladwell was appointed to the
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.
To coincide with the ...
in 2011.
["Governor General Announces 50 New Appointments to the Order of Canada"](_blank)
The Governor General of Canada, 30 June 2011.
Early life
Gladwell was born in
Fareham,
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
, England. His mother is Joyce (née Nation) Gladwell, a
Jamaican psychotherapist
Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome pro ...
. His father, Graham Gladwell, was a mathematics professor from
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.
When he was six his family moved from
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
to the Mennonite community of
Elmira, Ontario
Elmira is the largest community in the township of Woolwich, Ontario, Canada. It is north of the city of Waterloo near the Regional Municipality of Waterloo's northern border with Wellington County. The community was listed in the 2016 Canadi ...
, Canada.
[ He has two brothers. Throughout his childhood, Malcolm lived in rural ]Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
Mennonite
Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...
country, where he attended a Mennonite church. Research done by historian Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950) is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker, who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African A ...
revealed that one of Gladwell's maternal ancestors was a Jamaican free woman of colour (mixed black and white) who was a slaveowner. His great-great-great-grandmother was of Igbo
Igbo may refer to:
* Igbo people, an ethnic group of Nigeria
* Igbo language, their language
* anything related to Igboland, a cultural region in Nigeria
See also
* Ibo (disambiguation)
* Igbo mythology
* Igbo music
* Igbo art
*
* Igbo-Ukwu, a ...
ethnicity from Nigeria, West Africa.
In the epilogue of his book ''Outliers'' he describes many lucky circumstances that came to his family over the course of several generations, contributing to his path towards success. Gladwell has said that his mother is his role model as a writer.
Gladwell's father noted Malcolm was an unusually single-minded and ambitious boy.[Preston, John (26 October 2009)]
Malcolm Gladwell Interview
''The Telegraph''. When Malcolm was 11, his father, who was a professor of mathematics and engineering at the University of Waterloo
The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario
Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality ...
, allowed him to wander around the offices at his university, which stoked the boy's interest in reading and libraries.[Grossman, Lev (13 November 2008)]
"''Outliers'': Malcolm Gladwell's Success Story"
''Time''. The University of Waterloo granted Gladwell an honorary doctorate in 2007. In the spring of 1982, Gladwell interned with the National Journalism Center
The National Journalism Center (NJC) is an American political organization established in 1977 by conservative journalist M. Stanton Evans. It runs programs and internships for journalism students to educate them on professional journalism, and c ...
in Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
He graduated with a bachelor's degree in history from Trinity College Trinity College may refer to:
Australia
* Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales
* Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
of the University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
, in 1984.
Career
Gladwell's grades were not high enough for graduate school
Postgraduate or graduate education refers to Academic degree, academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by higher education, post-secondary students who have earned an Undergraduate education, un ...
, so he decided to pursue advertising as a career. After being rejected by every advertising agency he applied to, he accepted a journalism position at conservative magazine ''The American Spectator
''The American Spectator'' is a conservative American magazine covering news and politics, edited by R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. and published by the non-profit American Spectator Foundation. It was founded in 1967 by Tyrrell, who remains its editor- ...
'' and moved to Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
. He subsequently wrote for ''Insight on the News
''Insight on the News'' (also called ''Insight'') was an American conservative print and online news magazine. It was owned by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate founded by Unification movement founder Sun Myung Moon, ...
'', a conservative magazine owned by Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church
The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists, or "Moonies". It was officially founded on 1 May 1954 under the name Holy Spi ...
. In 1987, Gladwell began covering business and science for ''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', where he worked until 1996.[Malcolm Gladwell will be The Cooper Union's 152nd Commencement Speaker]
''The Cooper Union''. 22 March 2011. In a personal elucidation of the 10,000-hour rule he popularized in ''Outliers
In statistics, an outlier is a data point that differs significantly from other observations. An outlier may be due to a variability in the measurement, an indication of novel data, or it may be the result of experimental error; the latter are ...
'', Gladwell notes, "I was a basket case at the beginning, and I felt like an expert at the end. It took 10 years—exactly that long."[
When Gladwell started at '']The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' in 1996 he wanted to "mine current academic research for insights, theories, direction, or inspiration".[ His first assignment was to write a piece about fashion. Instead of writing about high-class fashion, Gladwell opted to write a piece about a man who manufactured T-shirts, saying: " was much more interesting to write a piece about someone who made a T-shirt for $8 than it was to write about a dress that costs $100,000. I mean, you or I could make a dress for $100,000, but to make a T-shirt for $8—that's much tougher."][
Gladwell gained popularity with two ''New Yorker'' articles, both written in 1996: "The Tipping Point" and "The Coolhunt".][ These two pieces would become the basis for Gladwell's first book, ''The Tipping Point'', for which he received a $1 million advance.] He continues to write for ''The New Yorker''. Gladwell also served as a contributing editor for ''Grantland
''Grantland'' was a sports and pop-culture blog owned and operated by ESPN. The blog was started in 2011 by veteran writer and sports journalist Bill Simmons, who remained as editor-in-chief until May 2015. ''Grantland'' was named after famed e ...
'', a sports journalism website founded by former ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
columnist Bill Simmons.
In a July 2002 article in ''The New Yorker'', Gladwell introduced the concept of the "talent myth" that companies and organizations, in his view, incorrectly follow. This work examines different managerial and administrative techniques that companies, both winners and losers, have used. He states that the misconception seems to be that management and executives are all too ready to classify employees without ample performance records and thus make hasty decisions. Many companies believe in disproportionately rewarding "stars" over other employees with bonuses and promotions. However, with the quick rise of inexperienced workers with little in-depth performance review, promotions are often incorrectly made, putting employees into positions they should not have and keeping other, more experienced employees from rising. He also points out that under this system, narcissistic personality types are more likely to climb the ladder, since they are more likely to take more credit for achievements and take less blame for failure.[ He states both that narcissists make the worst managers and that the system of rewarding "stars" eventually worsens a company's position. Gladwell states that the most successful long-term companies are those who reward experience above all else and require greater time for promotions.][
]
Works
With the release of ''The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War'' in April 2021, Gladwell has had seven books published. When asked for the process behind his writing, he said: "I have two parallel things I'm interested in. One is, I'm interested in collecting interesting stories, and the other is I'm interested in collecting interesting research. What I'm looking for is cases where they overlap".[Jaffe, Eric]
"Malcolm in the Middle"
, psychologicalscience.org, March 2006.
''The Tipping Point''
The initial inspiration for his first book, ''The Tipping Point'', which was published in 2000, came from the sudden drop of crime in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. He wanted the book to have a broader appeal than just crime, however, and sought to explain similar phenomena through the lens of epidemiology
Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population.
It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidenc ...
. While Gladwell was a reporter for ''The Washington Post'', he covered the AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...
epidemic. He began to take note of "how strange epidemics were", saying epidemiologists have a "strikingly different way of looking at the world". The term " tipping point" comes from the moment in an epidemic when the virus reaches critical mass
In nuclear engineering, a critical mass is the smallest amount of fissile material needed for a sustained nuclear chain reaction. The critical mass of a fissionable material depends upon its nuclear properties (specifically, its nuclear fi ...
and begins to spread at a much higher rate.
Gladwell's theories of crime were heavily influenced by the "broken windows theory
In criminology, the broken windows theory states that visible signs of crime, anti-social behavior and civil disorder create an urban environment that encourages further crime and disorder, including serious crimes. The theory suggests that po ...
" of policing, and Gladwell is credited for packaging and popularizing the theory in a way that was implementable in New York City. Gladwell's theoretical implementation bears a striking resemblance to the "stop-and-frisk
Frisking (also called a patdown or pat down) is a search of a person's outer clothing wherein a person runs their hands along the outer garments of another to detect any concealed weapons or objects.
U.S. Law
In the United States, a law enforce ...
" policies of the NYPD. However, in the decade and a half since its publication, ''The Tipping Point'' and Gladwell have both come under fire for the tenuous link between "broken windows" and New York City's drop in violent crime. During a 2013 interview with BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
'', Gladwell admitted that he was "too in love with the broken-windows notion". He went on to say that he was "so enamored by the metaphorical simplicity of that idea that I overstated its importance".
After ''The Tipping Point,'' Gladwell published ''Blink'' in 2005. The book explains how the human
interprets events or cues as well as how past experiences can lead people to make informed decisions very rapidly. Gladwell uses examples like the
. Gladwell's hair was the inspiration for ''Blink''. He stated that once he allowed his hair to get longer, he started to get speeding tickets all the time, an oddity considering that he had never gotten one before and that he started getting pulled out of airport security lines for special attention. In a particular incident, he was apprehended by three police officers while walking in downtown Manhattan because his curly hair matched the profile of a rapist, despite the fact the suspect looked nothing like him otherwise.
Gladwell's ''The Tipping Point'' (2000) and ''Blink'' (2005) were international bestsellers. ''The Tipping Point'' sold more than two million copies in the United States. ''Blink'' sold equally well.