common good. We need a sations with American business i dose of egalitarianism in the who have deliberately chosen to | (West and that’sa lesson we could Jocate their manufactur in China because of this very t= that they feel the workforce qualified bizsblk: In Rice Paddies and there is vastly more productive hat learn from Asia. Tam mt nical Math Tests Outlin),you highlight and has a much greater belie in a a eee putational cultures, efforts and hard and commitment to the value of Mahe psyehor work as Te Chinese are work. At the same time, though I . es oe ON Pe good at mathematics, But excel- think is important o realize that gesiens oF [pert lence in math alone isnot enough this legacy & not enough. Those mle or cinaout to build a strong nation. What are same businessmen in many case waseof mistake Tees uty the reasons behind China's — continu to locate their higher qicompeter re highly experi- success? Can China become a end, research and development Sipe HH 8 shed. These superpower rivaling the facilities in the West out of a belief FoF an eo fidence ni: In my most recent’ — mistaken or otherwise ~ that wee iBTAKCS Tce — and over- book Outliers, 1 look at one very Western cultures have the advan- Seen nen allits which isthe extraordinary success flexibility and creat, suspect serious F u an schoolchildren ~ that the challenge for China is to get Chinese, Korean, and Japanese ~ be a little more American in that have at mathematics. They vastly sense, and the challenge for the Fre problem of outperform their Western coun- West is tobe a litle more Chinese military. terparts. I think at least part of the — sometimes. explanation is cultural in Hong Kong, one of yen Twas a ng Kong Hkswas about dence in jing, because virtually ir modern battle has biz.hk: In Outliers, you emphasize ! All of those countries have long — the roles of hard work (10,000- traditions of rice agriculture, and hour rule), cultures (the ethnic con ered by one sce (Or all ve as being massively “mis rine Mir chances lor tice cultivation is historically the theory), and availability of oppor- ie Mk the same thing most cogoively demanding and tunities (Marts bargain). There fgpned in the financial word, labor intensive of all forms of _ are 1.3 billion people in China and evohixication of modern pre-modern agriculture. I think comp jon for opportunities and Tenct instruments made that the kind of work habits and resources ate fierce, What advice Petin makers greatly overconfi- attitudes formed in the rice you have for a. young Chinese aoeethoat the accuracy of their paddies translate beautifully to the graduate to be sucsessf desions and that’s a very modern world, in particular to the Aut problem to solve. math classroom. And that legacy is a big part of the Asian advantage, Does that legacy also expla Asian ~ and Chinese in pa economic Td say yes. inl: What can the West learn ‘fom this crisis and from Asia? What happened American society in the last. 13 al or so ~ which, I think, diretly contributed to the crash, 8 an oweremphasis on reward= ‘tg and entiching elites. ‘This Szutue of American society ft amounts of energy and ‘atesare spent developing andl *rading the top ten. perc , ae and the ee cr the rewards avail- teat the top were See ® lost sight of what was inMalcolm Gladwell Gladwell: The lesson of Outirsis that success is a product of culture and environment and the opportu nities that are made available to young people. So guess I'd rather direct my words of advice to policy makers. The most impor- tant ingredient of a successful and [just society is that it rewards effort: that it finds a way to provide opportunities for whomever is willing to work hard, biz.hk: Does the rise of social media like Facebook, YouTube, Gladwell: I am not convinced that new social media makes all that much of a difference. Face- Tus Story of SUCCESS MaLcoLM GLADWELL book, Twitter and You'Tube are all ways of reaching a larger and larger audience, more efficiently, ut they don’t solve the most critical and most difficult problem of marketing, which is how to forge a meaningful connection with consumers. Real connections are based on direct, personal inter- actions. They are built on authen- ticity and ust, They grow from word of mouth encounters between people who have strong, existing personal _ relationships. Facebook and its ilk don’t really solve those problems. In fact, by creating even more informational and personal clutter in people’s lives, I wonder if they might, in the end, make the task of successful ‘marketing even harder, The Ee TIPPING Poiyy How Lint nines Con Make a BUM Difference MALCOLM Grapwet Dizshke: For people who are not Connectors, Mavens or Salesmen, what litte things they can do to make a big difference and social changes? Gladwell: The lesson of the Tipping Point is that all social pheneomon are asymmetrical; that is, that we don’t all play equal roles. Mavens and Con- nectors and Salesman end up shouldering far more of the work in creating change or spreading word of mouth than the rest of us. So the task facing those of us who don’t have those unique social gifts is to try and find a way to identify those who do, win their trust, and make the best use of their extraordinary interper- sonal abilities. (4 6 The sophistication of modern financial instruments made decision makers greatly overconfidence about the accuracy of their decisions ~ and that’s a very difficult bizhk 9+ 2009 problem to solve,