A Conversation with Joseph Finder and Malcolm Gladwell

By: Joseph Finder, Malcolm Gladwell

Length: 1 hr and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

Joseph Finder and Malcolm Gladwell are both best-selling authors who write about issues from the business world – one in fiction and the other in nonfiction. Listen to this insightful conversation between these authors as they discuss topics that range from the best qualities of CEOs and sales people, to the nature of genius, to how they do their research and the mechanics of writing, to the intricacies of interpreting facial micro-expressions.

Joseph Finder is the author of Paranoia, Company Man, and the upcoming Killer Instinct. His thrillers focus on characters who inhabit the cut-throat corporate world.

Malcolm Gladwell is the author of Blink and The Tipping Point. He writes on corporate culture as well as social habits. Killer Instinct will be available for download on May 16, 2006.

Listen to books by Joseph Finder and Malcolm Gladwell.

(P)2006 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC.

Neat Little Listen

The title "What is Killer Instinct?" is a misnomer for this fascinating discussion between novelist Joseph Finder and non-fiction writer Malcolm Gladwell. The talk coincided with the publication of Finder's "Killer Instinct" in 2006, though, so it must have been a tie in to that book's release.

Finder and Gladwell talk about their techniques for researching corporations, and their fascination with the business world. In 2003 and 2004, when Finder would have been writing "Killer Instinct", he couldn't find a woman executive in the tech manufacturing industry to base one of his characters on. Ten years later, Virginia Rometty is President and CEO of IBM; Ursula Burns is CEO of Xerox; Gayla Delly is CEO of Benchmark Electronics . . . and so on.

The niftiest part of the conversation for me was when Finder and Gladwell talked about reading and writing. Gladwell says that he often doesn't finish books because he gets close to the end - less than a dozen pages - and is worried that the writer will let him down. That's not something I've ever done and I don't know that I could start now, but I sure wish I could. I've been let down so many times.

Enjoy the listen, and enjoy a very recent moment in time, right before things changed.

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Borders on Meaningless

While good at what they otherwise accomplish as writers, this dialogue serves to degrade each of their accomplishments. Gladwell is an undocumented social observer and Finder writes improbable stories about a contemporary white knight. Why in the name of all meaningful things would anyone care whatever it was this conversation was about?
Utter waste of time.

Fasinating Discussion

This is a free flowing discussion of a number of different topics that I found very interesting about different perspectives on topics such as writing styles, authors, human behavior, the corporate world, what makes people successful, etc.

Finder solicits validation from Gladwell

(This review written by a 36 year old female) Gladwell carries so much more credibility than Finder. Finder continues to seek Gladwell's agreement with any theory or conclusion that Finder has. I assume that Finder looks up to Gladwell, that's pretty apparent from the conversation. I was OK with the conversation until Finder got to the part where he elaborated on why women are not in sales. He went too far when justify reasons or excuses as to why men are keeping women out of the work force. It started to sound subjective instead of objective which is what prompted me to write this review. I adore ALL of Gladwell's books and have not yet read anything by Finder... not sure if I will.

Wonderful Exchange

I felt this interview could not have gone better. I learned more about Malcolm Gladwell and felt I knew him better as a writer after I listened to their exchange. I want to read the Tipping Point again and will be certain to pick up or listen to Blink. Great interview on both sides, such a great conversation.

How Malcolm Gladwell Thinks

I'd read anything about how Malcolm Gladwell processes stuff. In this interview, he tells us how he himself chooses books---I took it to be great advice.

Stimulating Conversation Between Two Great Authors

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Very stimulating conversation that, in usual Malcolm Gladwell fashion, reveals insights to everyday occurances that the average person would never uncover him/herself.

Interesting

It's always interesting to listen to niche people converse or be interviewed. Malcolm Gladwell has written some interesting books. That's why I downloaded this free conversation. I found both these guys deeply enmeshed in what they do by the nature of their conversation. There are a few tips if you are an inspiring writer too.

A complete waste of time

Would you ever listen to anything by Joseph Finder and Malcolm Gladwell again?

No way

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of the narrator?

There is no material to be narrated

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

None

Any additional comments?

This is an audio for 2 people that adore themselves and complement each other, giving their naive shallow opinions for more than an hour . Zero outcome . Zero intellectuality

Probably best for writer researchers

Some good information about what it takes to succeed in salesmanship. More about writing than anything else