Small Change: by Malcolm Gladwell

Small Change, by Gladwell, rebukes the current trend in social activism, boasting a subtitle: Why the Revolution Will not be Tweeted. In it, Gladwell recaptures the tone and tenor of the sit-ins started by four black students in Greensboro, North Carolina.  Moving toward the alleged “Twitter Revolution in Iran”, he pulls the stopper out of a drain loaded with false thoughts of revolution.  Quoting Golnaz Esfandiari from Foreign Policy, he writes, “It is time to get Twitter’s role in the events in Iran right.  Simply put: There was no Twitter Revolution inside Iran.” 

Gladwell represents a rare breed in the fold of bestselling authors.  He comes from the creative non-fiction stock, but rarely focuses on the big over-arching world politics or events.  This combined with his style liberates him to write with something most fiction and media buffs miss in the non-fiction crowd: fresh, insightful voice.  Starting with Blink, a book about the power of thinking . . . without thinking, he showed signifies life with small slices, of taking the finer things in life and tracing their winding paths through subconscious and society.

This is, in essence, what he does with all of his work.  He finds something micro and sees how it looks on a macro scale.  Tipping Point showed us exactly how much little things can make a difference, and what phenomenons lie behind huge swings in groups of people.  Outliers followed the special people, those who go above and beyond what we call “good.”  In it he traces the story of success, snapshot by snapshot, adjusting the aperture ever so soft as he goes.  You could call him inductive, though I think that’s too broad.  As I’ve said, he takes a snippet and then creates a portrait of society based on that snippet.  It’s beautiful, wonderful, and appealing to someone who, generally, loathes non-fiction writing.

Read Small Change, if you haven’t.  Especially if you think you’re going to change anything by hitting “Like” or “Retweet”.  In truth, you might generate capital or interest or even dialog.  But change?  Real sustainable change?  In that case, read more @ http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell#ixzz111kz9e9M


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Quick note from Lance about this post: when you choose to comment (or share this post with your friends) you help other readers just like you.

How?

Well, see, your comments & sharing whisper a few things to those who come after you:

The first is that this site is a safe place to speak up & stay curious. That it's civil. That discussion is encouraged. That there's no such thing as a stupid question (being a student of Socrates, I really and truly believe this). That talking to one another and growing together is more important than anything we could possibly publish. That the point is growing in virtue and growing together and growing wise. That discovery is invention, deference is originality, that we all can rise together. The only folks I'm going to take comments down from are obvious jerks who argue in bad faith, don't stay curious, or actively make personal attacks. And, frankly, I'd rather we talk here than on some social media farm — I will never show ads and the only thing I'm selling anywhere on the site or my mailing list is just the stuff I make.

You're also helping folks realize that anything you & they build together is far more important than anything you come to me to read. I take the things I write about seriously, but I don't take myself seriously: I play the fool, I hate cults of personality, and I also don't really like being the center of attention (believe it or not). I would much rather folks connect because of an introduction I've made or because they commented with one another back and forth and then build something beautiful together. My favorite contributions have been lifelong business and love partnerships from two people who have forgotten I introduced them. Some of my closest friends NOW I literally met on another blog's comment section fifteen years ago. I would love for that to happen here — let two of you meet and let me fade into the background.

Last, you help me revise. I'm wrong. Often. I'm not embarrassed to admit it or worried about being cancelled or publicly shamed. I make a fool out of myself (that's sort of the point). So as I get feedback, I can say, "I was wrong about that" and set a model for curious, consistent learning, and growing in wisdom. I'm blind to what I don't know and as grows the island of my knowledge so grows the shoreline of my ignorance. It's the recovery of innocence on the far end of experience: a child is in a permanent state of wonder. So are the wise: they aren't afraid of saying, "I don't know. That's new: please teach me." That's my goal, comments help. And I read all reviews: my skin's tough, but that's not license to be needlessly cruel. We teach one another our habits and there's a way to civilly demolish an idea without demolishing another person: just because I personally can take the world's meanest 1-star review doesn't mean we should teach one another how to be crueler on the internet.

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