Gladwell's real gift is packaging these ideas in a way that makes them palatable. "[He] acts almost like a translator between the scholarly world and the practical world," says Frank Flynn, an associate professor of organizational behavior at Columbia Business School, who uses many of Gladwell's articles in his MBA classes. Gladwell deflects the charge that he's just a savvy marketer of ideas, standing by his earnest intentions to help frame people's thinking. "When I was writing The Tipping Point, I realized that in order for people to talk about something . . . they need some way to describe and name things," he says. "So I always like to try to come up with simple, sort of catchy ways of capturing complex ideas."
While Gladwell's newfound role in the business spotlight might be entirely accidental, he sees himself as part of a greater movement. "I feel like there's been a kind of intellectual awakening in the business world in the past 20 years or so, where people began to realize that there was an enormous amount to be learned from the world outside of business," he says. "I think of myself as one of the many people who are trying to feed that curiosity."
As CEOs and marketers and R&D teams immerse themselves in Gladwell's new notions of decision making, and as he gears up for a new flurry of speaking gigs, Gladwell admits he hasn't given much thought to what's next. "I don't think that far ahead," he says, his eyebrows perking up like bookends. "Yeah, I don't really have high expectations about much. It's a good psychological position to be in, because that means I'm usually delighted by what happens in my life." Whether that means dreaming up more best-sellers or seeing the impact of his ideas playing out in the real world, we can be sure of one thing. He'll soon be in his favorite un-gurulike pose, lying on his couch with his laptop on his belly, typing away.
Danielle Sacks is a Fast Company reporter/ researcher in New York.
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