26.9.13 Malcolm Gladwell gave a presentation on innovation at the Nordic Business Forum in Jyväskylä, Finland. He talked on how risk taking is in the heart of innovation, and how risk takers need to be disagreeable. The example was physician Emil Freireich (and his boss Gordon Zubrod) who aggressively fought childhood leukemia even in the times when his colleagues accused him of being inhumane. Gladwell makes a point on knowing what really matters, and that losing your reputation doesn't kill you. While he talked a lot on the discipline itself, Antti Merilehto from Google asked him about the role of the leader, and how to encourage risk taking at workplace. This and other storien can be found in Gladwell's new book: David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants FT wrote an article on this in 2011: Innovators need thick skin more than an idea: Malcolm Gladwell, by N. Shivapriya Video courtesy of Tero Puranen, Grapevine / grapevine.fi/

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