Malcolm Gladwell
British-Canadian journalist and author; staff writer for The New Yorker; author of The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers and David and Goliath; host of the podcast Revisionist History and co-founder of Pushkin Industries.
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What they believe
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A truly elite college should select students most motivated to use its intellectual assets, not its brand
If you’re running a truly elite college, what you want to select for is the kids who are most powerfully motivated to leverage the intellectual assets of the institution, not the brand assets of the institution.
conversationswithtyler.comSaid 27 Feb 2017This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These one: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 7 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
Recent
A truly elite college should select students most motivated to use its intellectual assets, not its brand
If you’re running a truly elite college, what you want to select for is the kids who are most powerfully motivated to leverage the intellectual assets of the institution, not the brand assets of the institution.
Malcolm Gladwell Wants to Make the World Safe for Mediocrity (Conversations with Tyler, Ep. 20) Said 27 Feb 2017
Elite colleges behave like luxury-handbag businesses protecting exclusivity rather than like educators
Look, these guys are in the luxury handbag business. They’re not in the education business.
Malcolm Gladwell Wants to Make the World Safe for Mediocrity (Conversations with Tyler, Ep. 20) Said 27 Feb 2017
Encouraging experimentation and opening opportunities requires much more tolerance of mediocrity
Well, I suppose I could expand on this notion that, to encourage experimentation and open opportunities, one must also be much more tolerant of mediocrity.
Malcolm Gladwell Wants to Make the World Safe for Mediocrity (Conversations with Tyler, Ep. 20) Said 27 Feb 2017
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A writer must stay current, and the greatest danger is fossilized positions and views
What I mean is that it’s very important, if you are a writer, to remain current. And the greatest danger you face is this fossilization of your positions and views.
Malcolm Gladwell Wants to Make the World Safe for Mediocrity (Conversations with Tyler, Ep. 20) Said 27 Feb 2017
Extracting running talent from a population needs a very broad base, and that base is gone
In order to extract running talent from the general population, you need to have a really, really broad base and the broad base is gone.
Malcolm Gladwell Wants to Make the World Safe for Mediocrity (Conversations with Tyler, Ep. 20) Said 27 Feb 2017
Effective satirical impersonation finds something essential and buried in a character and magnifies it
It’s not as good, and it’s not as good because the truly effective satirical impersonation is one that finds something essential about the character and magnifies it, something buried that you wouldn’t ordinarily have seen or have glimpsed in that person.
Malcolm Gladwell Wants to Make the World Safe for Mediocrity (Conversations with Tyler, Ep. 20) Said 27 Feb 2017
Long-distance runners probably have many effective ways to train, and the sport is slow to see how variable runners are
I suppose the best way to sum them up is that, like all highly competitive subspecialties, everyone wants to believe they have an answer that works for everyone when, in fact, the truth is that there’s probably 10 different ways to run, train effectively for long distance, and we’re just slow to understand how variable runners are.
Malcolm Gladwell Wants to Make the World Safe for Mediocrity (Conversations with Tyler, Ep. 20) Said 27 Feb 2017
What is a korrent?
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Where they publish
Site gladwell.com Author site for his books and tour dates
Pages for his current book, The American Way of Killing, with tour dates and where to buy it.
Link verified 3 Oct 2026.
x.com @gladwell His X account
Podcast Revisionist History His podcast, from Pushkin Industries
Episodes revisiting overlooked or misunderstood events, people and ideas, plus bonus conversations.
Link verified 3 Oct 2026.
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