Gladwell Gets it Right Again
Predator
I’m fast becoming a great fan the bright young writer Malcomb Gladwell, author of “The Tipping Point” and “Outliners”. In the January 18th, 2010 issue of the New Yorker, his article “The Sure Thing”, pulls back the curtain on the myth of entrepreneurship.
People like Dassault and Eastman and Arnault and Turner are all successful entrepreneurs, businessmen whose insights and decisions have transformed the economy, but their entrepreneurial spirit could not have less in common with that of the daring risk-taker of popular imagination. Would we so revere risk-taking if we realized that the people who are supposedly taking bold risks in the cause of entrepreneurship are actually doing no such thing?
Gladwell dissects the myth of the bold risk-taking entrepreneur with deftness. The visionary risk-taker is nothing of the sort. He is a shrewd manipulator who astutely seeks out situations in which there is an “asymmetry of information” between the entrepreneur and his mark. When one party to a deal knows more than the other, his bet rapidly approaches the status of a “sure thing”, with much to be gained on the upside and little or no loss on the downside.
Gladwell substitutes the word “predator” for phrases like “bold entrepreneurial risk-taker”. In numerous posts throughout this blog, I refer to these predators as “con-men”. Gladwell’s and my meaning are precisely the same and the only wonder is that the myth of the bold risk-taker has proven so resilient in the face of the millions of marks who get fleeced out of their hard earned money on a daily basis.
Gladwell picks on the icons of entrepreneurship to make his points, and does very well, but the asymmetry of information is not limited to the wheelings and dealings of big players. In our daily life, complexification is the principal means used by predators to induce asymmetry. While each of us makes our way through daily life, conducting myriad transactions, big and small, the corporations we transact business with devote all of their attention to deciphering our limitations, habits, and vunlerabilities, with the aim to win every bet. There is simply not enough time in the day for each of us to study and understand each transaction we make—-at the supermarket, gas pump, bank, and while paying our monthly bills. The asymmetry of information guarantees that each of us will lose every bet we place.—a nickel here and a dime there.
Caveat emptor (buyer beware) may constitute sage advice in our coveted free market economy, but it is a hopeless quest. Even the most wary among us are doomed to be losers. Even if we manage to work out the rules to one game, those rules are constantly changed, leaving us once again treading water in a sea filled with predatory sharks who know more than us.
I strongly suggest reading “The Sure Thing” as soon as you can your hands on the article. Regrettably, you must have a subscription to The New Yorker magazine to read it online. While you’re looking for the article, take a moment to search my blog on the terms “con artist” and “con men” to read about my view of how predatory wizards hide their machinations in plain sight. For example, try my side-post, “Who’s for Dinner?“
