Gladwell – A Master Intellectual Opportunist
Food for thought. Not concrete, not a statistically significant way to measure society, not a stab at telling us in any firm way how the world works, but food for thought.
Gladwell presents us with fresh perspective, either through novelty, or an unabashed free conscience. Either way, the man is truly affluent in his abilities with the English language and is a pleasure to hear speak – and either way, he lays it down in a way that will not have been widely speculated upon previous to his musings.
I wont sit down and type endless praise in the manner of a true fan; he doesn’t have my unerring agreement and never will (granted no person has that, I generally require too much convincing and am too eager to poke holes in unsubstantiated claims). I will say that Gladwell is a great communicator and intellectual leader – and herein lies a real gem of knowledge: Gladwell may be a genius, though he may not be. He may be a truly progressive thinker, although I suspect much of his popularity is due to the sensible explanations of ‘phenomena’ that we already have an irrational understanding of. Indeed, Gladwell may be one of the greatest literary minds/voices of this turn of centuries, however I still won’t attribute this to any glaring intellectual boon that would raise him above the masses.
Initiative, and creative bravery. Two personality traits that make Malcom Gladwell a giant amongst the ant colony of readers. Much of what this man says makes sense to me, in fact it makes so much sense that I ask myself why I hadn’t thought of it until now. Truth be told perhaps some of what I read isn’t even original in my mind because the possibilities presented are possibilities with previous exploration on my part. What makes Gladwell so excellent is the fact that he steps back, recognizes these critical human insights, and takes the initiative to write them down – further to this point, he then has the creative fortitude to publish these ideas to the general masses.
Gladwell is an excellent example of intellectual entrepreneurship at its best. He is a master of recognizing the opportunity inherent in his thoughts, and possesses the constitution necessary to market his ideas. Content aside, it is this ability as a master-salesmen that makes Gladwell so interesting to me. I may not find the explanations present in his literature exceptionally profound or unique, but he has recognized a desire in people to explain these human wonders in a simple and understandable manner. From this market recognition it took good old fashioned hard work, and acceptance of risk (be it monetary, or personal reputation) to put Malcom Gladwell in the spotlight as a premier thinker and successful business man.
Gladwell is a sharp guy who can summarize in a few short words, some of the more intense and interesting aspects of human thought, but his greatness transcends beyond this intuition itself – it’s the fact that he pushes these ideas forward that will solidify him as a great literary mind in in the early 21st century.
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