S7, Ep2 How to Fail: Malcolm Gladwell

How To Fail With Elizabeth Day

Sony Music

Society & Culture

4.7 • 9.6K Ratings

🗓️ 8 January 2020

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

**TW: contains references to police brutality against Black people**My guest this week is Malcolm Gladwell, a man who has challenged and changed the way we think with six bestselling books including The Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers. Gladwell also hosts his own highly successful podcast, Revisionist History and is basically 98% brain. Obviously this makes him quite an intimidating prospect to interview, but luckily he was extremely nice and, as luck would have it, his new book is all about how we can best talk to strangers. It is called, appropriately enough, Talking To Strangers, and I found it a fascinating read, written in Gladwell's trademark style which combines academic research with humour, insight and journalistic expertise, all of which makes for a curiously propulsive narrative.Malcolm really engaged with the idea of this podcast and came up with three highly thoughtful failures, including a professional low-point which caused him public embarrassment and a deeply felt failure to stand by an alcoholic friend. We also chat about running, faith and whether prejudice can ever be a force for good. Talking to Malcolm for an hour felt like plunging into a freezing pool and emerging zingily refreshed from the experience. It was thought-provoking in the best, most meaningful way and I hope it stimulates you as much as it did me.*The Sunday Times Top 5 bestselling book of the podcast, How To Fail: Everything I've Ever Learned From Things Going Wrong is out now in paperback and available to buy here.*Talking To Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell is published by Penguin Books and is available to buy here. * This episode is sponsored by MEYA, a new meditation app that uses the power of music to switch you into a meditative state. Download the app here to experience the power of MEYA mind journeys and a new way to fit meditation into your daily routine this January. *How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted by Elizabeth Day, produced by Naomi Mantin and Chris Sharp. We love hearing from you! To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com* Social Media:Elizabeth Day @elizabdayMalcolm Gladwell @gladwellMEYA @meya_app Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Channel 4 is the home of your next TV obsession. As the UK's biggest free streaming service,
0:07.9	they have it all from classic comedy box sets to shocking reality, gripping drama and
0:14.0	mind bending documentaries. They make content that's different from the rest and that
0:18.9	represents a broad cross-section of society. It's the home of unfiltered entertainment.
0:24.4	It's altogether different telling, made for you and happily for me because regular listeners
0:30.7	will know about my married at first sight Australia obsession. Currently on the TV, I cannot
0:37.0	get enough of it. I watch it every single night. I really miss it when it's not on on
0:41.1	the Sunday. And for anyone who doesn't know, it follows Australian singles who tie the
0:46.1	knot with partners selected for them by relationship experts, including male shilling, former
0:51.6	How to Fail Podcast. They meet for the first time on their wedding day and we watch to
0:57.2	find out whether there will be perfect matches ahead or marriage mayhem. I love it.
1:03.5	So stream now on Channel 4. There is so much on there, including Maffsa and Scared of
1:10.0	the Dark, Danny Dyer hosting as eight celebrities are plunging to complete darkness for eight
1:15.1	days. How will Paul Gasco and Chris Ubank's scarlet
1:18.4	Moffe, Nicola Adams and others cope without light stream all of this now on Channel 4.
1:39.2	Hello and welcome to How to Fail with Elizabeth Day. The podcast that celebrates the things
1:44.7	that haven't gone right. This is a podcast about learning from our mistakes and understanding
1:50.9	that why we fail ultimately makes us stronger because learning how to fail in life actually
1:57.2	means learning how to succeed better. I'm your host author and journalist Elizabeth
2:02.8	Day and every week I'll be asking a new interviewee what they've learned from failure. According
2:09.9	to my guest this week, the key to success in any field is simply a matter of practicing
2:14.9	a specific task for 10,000 hours. At 56, he has had over 490,000 hours to become an expert
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