Mahmood Rattansi

Author Malcolm Gladwell live online

A great “open” chat with Malcolm Gladwell, author of two of my favourite books - Blink and Tipping Point.

An excerpt:

BRIX:

Hi Malcolm
George Bush has tried to make a virtue of making decisions based on gut instinct. Shouldn’t we be trusting people - especially those holding great power - who value reason above gut instinct?

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MalcolmGladwell:

In Blink, I make it very clear that instinctive decisions are only useful and trustworthy when they are backed up by experience. The instinct of an art expert about art is incredibly valuable. My instinct about art (and I know nothing about art) is useless. George Bush’s problem is that he doesn’t understand this distinction, and follows his instincts in areas where he has absolutely no reason to. His instinct told him that Saddam Hussein was harbored weapons of mass destruction. But on what basis did he make that judgment? Bush’s principal pre-political experience was running a baseball team.