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From the Editor's Desk

Malcolm Gladwell Says Post-Pandemic World Will Be 'a Much Better Place'

Expect fewer hierarchies and more hope, the Outliers author says

Malcolm Gladwell believes that the post-Covid world will be a much better and more hopeful place than it was before the pandemic. He explained his reasoning in a thought-provoking talk at last month's virtual Adobe Summit.

Gladwell is best known for his bestsellers Outliers and The Tipping Point, and recently published The Bomber Mafia about World War II. He began by noting that "only a fool makes predictions, especially about the future," and that his vision of what's coming could turn out to be wrong. But, he said, "I thought it would be interesting at least to give this one a shot."

Gladwell began by talking about the difference between hierarchies and networks. For example, he said, Martin Luther King's campaign to desegregate Birmingham, Alabama was organized as a hierarchy. King was very much in command and planned the campaign very carefully. Compare that with last summer's Black Lives Matter protests, which Gladwell said was a network. The BLM movement has a collective of leaders instead of just one, and those leaders weren't necessarily front and center, nor were they commanding the troops. Unlike King's well disciplined marchers who followed precise instructions, BLM protesters were asked to remain peaceful and given guidelines for staying safe, but could express themselves however they chose.

The hierarchy has a long history; the network is a more modern arrangement, he said.

Continued here

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