Tonight, I heard Malcolm Gladwell -- who was in town to give a keynote at SXSW -- speak at a local Barnes and Noble. He is as engaging of a speaker as he is a writer. For those who don't know him, he is the writer of The Tipping Point and the recently released Blink. This was part of his speaking tour to promote Blink.
Blink
I don't feel particularly capable in doing an apt summary of his books or the talk. His ideas are particularly engaging to me, and it was quite significant to me that the first two examples from his book that he shared tonight were the two that hit most closely at home to me. He first shared the story of a woman (I don't have my copy of the book with me and I can't remember her name) who successfully became the First Chair Trombonist for the Munich Philharmonic. In general, maestros during this time period held the belief that men were more capable classical musicians, so the symphony orchestra was typically a man's world. For this particular audition, however, the candidate was performing behind a screen because a relative (a nephew or cousin, I believe) of one of the selection committee was also trying out. Once the information of the gender of the candidate was removed, the most talented and capable person was able to be selected -- in this case, a woman.
I would like to quote a small selection from the end of the book the captures this event for me:
"When the screen created a pure Blink moment, a small miracle happened, the kind of small miracle that is always possible when we take charge of the first two seconds: they saw her for who she truly was." (Blink, page 254).
Next, he shared statistics he gathered regarding the height of CEOs in America. This excerpt contains the information in full. Consider, that only 3.9 percent of adult American men are 6'2" or taller. Looking at the samples of Fortune 500 CEOs, a full 30 percent were of that height or taller. Additionally, it was found that in the general population, an inch of greater height is worth $789 more a year in salary. Given that, my brother (who is 6'4") should be making an average of $17,358 more a year than me (only 4'6"). This second example he shared tonight together with the female musician's story form an apt description of something I struggle with internally. Though I have never (that I am aware of) had any major discrimination based upon my height, it is still a factor in the relationships I pursue in my life.
In his book and presentation, he goes on to mention other examples of how we are able to make decisions in split seconds.
Quotable Quotes
I never mastered the art of note taking in college, so these quotes should only be counted as paraphrases and not exact quotes.
In speaking of the symphony audition:
"we made the maestro a better decision maker by removing information from him."
"the evidence of their eyes started to contradict the evidence of their ears".
Speaking of how to overcome bias:
"we change the problem by changing the context of the decision making. Shifting the focus away from the individual to the environment can fix things overnight".
His book and speaking is "an attempt to take snap judgements seriously and acknowledge their centrality to the way we interact with the world"
His suggestions for when to best use these instantaneous decisions:
- When it is in an area we have real profound experience.
- When we have made honest effort to interrogate our instantaneous decisions for obvious bias.
Blink!
I plan on spending more time reading his work and trying to integrate these ideas in how I do my work. I hope to have the opportunity to hear Gladwell speak again.
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