Very few people think about the way they think and I think its time to change that.

Our ideas are largely inherited and culturally reinforced by repetition so often, that our ability to think independently requires tremendous effort, self-discipline and practice. Harder still, thinking differently is often perceived by others as a challenge, a competition or a threat.

Inasmuch as I sold creativity for a living, thinking differently was essential. Unfortunately, it is so difficult to hold onto a new train of thought, the temptation to abandon it can be overwhelming. Staying the course, is a feat.

Thinking differently is Gladwell’s genius and I found his work a rare and welcome aid to keeping my mind open and unattached to inherited thinking. His ideas and his theories are utterly irrelevant. What matters is the effect he has on the minds of his readers and listeners. Gladwell grants permission to open your mind by demonstrating an open mind in action.

The idea that Gladwell was remiss in failing to wrestle with the moral implications of his ideas is naïve – at best. Gladwell posits new ideas in their best and proper light and leaves the corrupters to their predictable and dastardly deeds. Be it the bible, the Constitution, a steam engine, a law, a product, or the internet – the second anything new enters the world, people are busy trying to figure out how to use it for themselves. A new tax law passes, and accountants are figuring out how to get around it. When the bible is inconvenient, preachers re-interpret it. When a new law is inconvenient, judges re-interpret the Constitution. When the internet is inconvenient, everyone has a self-serving solution.

Read or listen to enough Gladwell and the urge to conform, hold on to inherited thinking or go along to get along loses power. In its place, is a wide-open mind (at least for a while).