“For every hour I spend writing, I spend three hours thinking about writing.” – Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell (@gladwell) is the author of five New York Times bestsellers — The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, What the Dog Saw, and David and Goliath. He has been named one of the 100 most influential people by TIME magazine and one of the Foreign Policy’s Top Global Thinkers.
He has explored how ideas spread in the Tipping Point, decision making in Blink, the roots of success in Outliers, and the advantages of disadvantages in his latest book David and Goliath. In his latest podcast project, Revisionist History, Gladwell examines the way the passage of time changes and enlightens our understanding of the world around us.
In this in-depth, in-person conversation, we cover a ton, including:
- His research and writing process
- How he learned to ask good (and “dumb”) questions
- Favorite books
- Routines, habits, and tools
- How he pulls together seemingly unrelated stories into a cohesive theme (and eventually a book)
- Philosophies related to public speaking
- His obsession with running
- Why he eats as little as possible in the mornings
- And much more…
If you only have 5 minutes, listen to Gladwell’s creative “recipes” for storytelling.
Enjoy!
- Listen to it on iTunes.
- Stream by clicking here.
- Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as.”
Want to hear another podcast with a great storyteller? — Listen to my conversation with Cal Fussman. In this episode, we discuss Cal’s interviews with the most influential people in history, how he made himself a guinea pig (Cal boxed against world champion Julio Cesar Chavez), and his best life lessons (stream below or right-click here to download):
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QUESTION OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
Scroll below for links and show notes…
Selected Links from the Episode
- Connect with Malcolm Gladwell:
Twitter | Facebook | Website | Podcast
- David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell
- What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell
- Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
- Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
- The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell
- Freakonomics
- The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis
- Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis
- The New Yorker
- The Washington Post
- Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society
- Google Docs
- Lapsang Souchong black tea
- LetsRun.com
- Marginal Revolution
- ESPN.com
- 2012 Summer Olympics
- Strangers to Ourselves: Discovering the Adaptive Unconscious by Timothy D. Wilson
- Merchant Princes: An Intimate History of Jewish Families Who Built Great Department Stores by Leon A. Harris
- Spy novels by John le Carré
- Thrillers by Lee Child
- Another Green World by Brian Eno
- Oblique Strategies: Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas by Brian Eno
- Creative Whack Pack by Roger Von Oech
- The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande
- The Mennonite
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
- Japan National Tourism Organization
- Panoply Media: A Podcast Network from Slate Magazine
Show Notes
- What have been the easiest — and hardest — books for Malcolm to write? [08:05]
- Who does Malcolm consider to be the “gold standard” of storytellers? [09:30]
- What working at The Washington Post for 10 years taught Malcolm about dealing with writer’s block. [12:30]
- Malcolm on story structure. [15:07]
- As early as the research stage, sometimes good stories write themselves. [18:27]
- Malcolm on taking and organizing notes. [22:18]
- How does Malcolm determine what starts a chapter (or a book)? [24:49]
- Trying different creative “recipes” for storytelling. [26:04]
- How Malcolm plans his speaking keynotes (and how he got better at it). [28:24]
- Malcolm’s speaking hero. [30:36]
- The elements of a good speaking performance. [33:17]
- Tying stories together to support a theme. [35:32]
- Getting better at asking questions. [40:55]
- The most worthwhile investment (of time) Malcolm has made. [45:57]
- Malcolm’s favorite failures. [48:18]
- Malcolm’s morning routines. [50:55]
- Why is Lapsang Souchong a controversial tea? [51:30]
- Why Malcolm prefers writing in noisy public places. [53:46]
- How Malcolm winds down from a day of work. [54:42]
- Malcolm’s bedtime routine. [55:45]
- The worst advice shared with young people today. [57:27]
- Malcolm’s flaws that turned into strengths. [1:02:07]
- Malcolm on giving and receiving advice. [1:04:38]
- The first person who comes to mind when Malcolm thinks of the word “successful.” [1:05:43]
- Systems Malcolm relies upon. [1:10:28]
- Two necessary contradictions elite runners face. [1:12:21]
- Books Malcolm has gifted the most. [1:13:18]
- The purchase of $100 or less that has had a positive impact on Malcolm’s life. [1:17:24]
- The most articulate person Malcolm has ever met. [1:18:29]
- Something Malcolm believes that other people think is crazy. [1:19:09]
- Malcolm’s reaction to Peter Thiel’s disagreement with one of his positions. [1:22:14]
- An innovator Malcolm finds particularly inspiring. [1:24:22]
- Advice Malcolm would give to his 30-year-old self. [1:26:39]
- How Malcolm started podcasting. [1:30:53]
- What Malcolm finds most novel about creating podcasts versus writing books. [1:31:46]
- How Malcolm feels about doing another season or two of podcasting. [1:33:14]
- What would be on Malcolm’s billboard? [1:35:18]
- Why does Malcolm believe in the legal maxim of “Difficult cases make bad law?” [1:36:07]
People Mentioned
- Peter Thiel
- Auren Hoffman
- Stephen J. Dubner
- Michael Lewis
- Stephen Curry
- John McPhee
- Anne Applebaum
- Niall Ferguson
- Graham Gladwell
- Bernie Madoff
- Joyce Gladwell
- Tyler Cowen
- Laird Hamilton
- Galen Rupp
- Charlie Francis
- Jeff Bezos
- Jackie Joyner-Kersee
- Timothy Wilson
- John le Carré
- Lee Child
- Brian Eno
- Neil Gaiman
- Atul Gawande
- Sebastian Junger
- Jacob Weisberg
- Asbel Kiprop
- Barack Obama