Malcolm Gladwell on entrepreneurship

The entire video offers a fascinating discussion of entrepreneurs and their role in society, starting with Gladwell talking about the differences between Oskar Schindler and IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad.

In minute 17, Gladwell talks about why entrepreneurs don’t really want to be first in a market, citing examples of Friendster in social networking and Alta Vista in search. He also adds that: “Jobs was never first. He was later to every single party…. and was quite happy ripping people off.”

In minute 20, Gladwell also says that Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are not big risk-taking entrepreneurs, adding that entrepreneurs typically take “social risks” of enduring years and years of being a pariah. Fascinating stuff.

It's for his latter work, not for how much money Gates made with Microsoft, that Gladwell expects him to be remembered some 50 years from now. As to Jobs, he suspects people would be asking, "who's Steve Jobs again?" Though his language feels tongue-in-cheek, Gladwell's broader point is about the fact that we're idolizing businessmen for their money-making aptitude, whereas their long-term legacy will actually depend on the broader impact they had on the world.