Malcolm Gladwell at MOME

Date: 2022.10.04
Malcolm Gladwell, author of New York Times global bestsellers about talent, creativity and innovation paid MOME a visit at the invitation of the Foundation for Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in response to our students’ initiative. 

Canadian-born Gladwell is the author of such widely read books also popular in Hungary as The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, and David and Goliath. Gladwell has been named one of TIME magazine's 100 most influential people, and Foreign Policy’s Top 100 Global Thinkers. 

Gladwell’s talk at MOME was specifically directed at artist teachers and students in Hungarian primary and secondary education and covered the personal requirements for unlocking talent and creating innovations, as well as the role of society, including universities, in talent management.  

Malcolm Gladwell presented the characteristics required for driving successful innovations through the example of Hungarian-born Emil J. Freireich, a researcher who developed groundbreaking therapies for childhood leukaemia and Steve Jobs.  He underlined the role of the environment in the development of innovations, which needs to be open and promoting free thinking, at the time involving a sense of urgency of solving a problem.  When it comes to the development of creativity at school, he stressed the importance of laying the foundation of all-round education and skillset and advises against the pressure of early specialisation on children. He regards talent and motivation as skills that can clearly be improved, with education that encourages creativity playing a major role”, said head of MOME’s Design and Visual Arts Teacher training programme Judit Bényei, summing up her impressions. 

 Gladwell is highly preoccupied with exploring the correct role of businesses, education institutions and society in talent management. He does not believe that talents needs to be fawned over or that gifted youth should be entitled to quick success. According to his widely publicised theory, the talent myth, in our age, it is narcissistic personality types that rise through the ranks fastest, while making the worst leaders. Organisations with long-term success continue to reward experience over talent. 

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Koós Pál, a Moholy-Nagy Művészeti Egyetem rektora, aki 24 éve szolgálja - korábban oktatóként, tanszékvezetőként, rektorhelyettesként, majd rektorként - az intézményt, elkötelezett az elmúlt napokban kialakult helyzet megoldása iránt. Célja a nyugodt, zavartalan munka és oktatás feltételeinek megteremtése, ehhez azonban elengedhetetlen a rektor legitimitásának tisztázása, így a mai napon a saját személyével kapcsolatban bizalmi szavazást kezdeményezett a Szenátusnál.

“Nem gondolhatjuk, hogy csak a mának élve kell érveinket értelmezni. A krízishelyzetekben messzebbre kell látnunk. Az egyetem megmaradása, normalitása és hírnevének erősítése túl kell mutasson a napi küzdelmek szintjén, megteremtve a közösség kohézióját, hiszen tétje közösségként csak a hétköznapi cselekedeteink összességének van” – fogalmazta meg gondolatait az egyetem korábbi rektora, egyetemi tanár.

For the fifth consecutive year, the Foundation for Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, serving as the institution’s maintainer, has been actively engaged in driving MOME’s revitalisation. Since 2020, the university’s budget has increased nearly fourfold, and the Foundation implemented the most significant faculty salary increase in the history of Hungarian higher education, while student scholarships and grants have more than doubled and grant income has increased almost twentyfold. Moreover, the university’s pioneering initiatives in sustainability and in supporting talents from disadvantaged backgrounds have become firmly established.
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