David Epstein, the author of the best book on athletics in recent memory - "The Sports Gene" - wrote to me to say that he thinks I'm being overly generous. He points out that, for years, there used to be an "all-star challenge" on television, in which the best professional athletes from a variety of sports competed in a kind of makeshift decathlon.
Malcolm GladwellI think that persistence and stubbornness and hard work are probably, at the end of the day, more important than the willingness to take a risk.
Malcolm GladwellI'm someone who can provide an intellectual framework, but I can't tell people who are trying to sell Product X how to do that because I don't know, and I would be faking it if I attempted to step into that role.
Malcolm GladwellPeople are in one of two states in a relationship,โ Gottman went on. โThe first is what I call positive sentiment override, where positive emotion overrides irritability. Itโs like a buffer. Their spouse will do something bad, and theyโll say, โOh, heโs just in a crummy mood.โ Or they can be in negative sentiment override, so that even a relatively neutral thing that a partner says gets perceived as negative.
Malcolm GladwellI interviewed one of the most powerful lawyers in the world and he told me, "At the time, it was the worst thing in the world not to be able to get a job at a fancy law firm, but it's the greatest thing that ever happened in my life." It was a humble acknowledgment of how forces much larger than himself shaped his career. I really wanted to bring that point home.
Malcolm Gladwell