My earliest memories of my father are of seeing him work at his desk and realizing that he was happy. I did not know it then, but that was one of the… - Malcolm Gladwell

innovators need to be disagreeable. By disagreeable, I don’t mean obnoxious or unpleasant. I mean that on that fifth dimension of the Big Five personality inventory, “agreeableness,” they tend to be on the far end of the continuum. They are people willing to take social risks — to do things that others might disapprove of.

Each of us has his or her own distinct personality. But overlaid on top of that are tendencies and assumptions and reflexes handed down to us by the history of the community we grew up in, and those differences are extraordinarily specific.

being able to act intelligently and instinctively in the moment is possible only after a long and rigorous of education and experience