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The first thing I noticed is that this article misspells 'Roark', the protagonist in The Fountainhead. It's hard to take anything else in the article seriously
by mhartl 18y ago
The first thing I noticed is that this article misspells 'Roark', the protagonist in The Fountainhead. It's hard to take anything else in the article seriously. But I will answer the titular question nevertheless:
Malcolm Gladwell and Ayn Rand are both wrong.
Contra Gladwell, most great successes have great ability; they succeed where mediocrities would fail. Contra Rand, most great successes have great luck; they succeed where the unlucky would fail.
Indeed, if both ability and luck are major factors in success, the truly great are those who are both lucky and good. This leads to what I immodestly term Hartl's Law:
Since great success requires great luck, everyone great is overrated.
This includes, by the way, both Gladwell and Rand---as, I suspect, Gladwell would readily concede, but Rand (were she alive) would surely not.
- unalone 18y agoRand is very dogmatic, unfortunately. I like her ideas more than I do her execution of them. Gladwell takes it a bit too far, in my opinion. The NYmag was the first interview I read of his, and he seems too determined to avoid taking the credit. It doesn't make him evil per se, not like Rand would say, but it does annoy me when I read his interview.
- mhartl 18y agoI agree, on both points.