Author Malcolm Gladwell would rather have a dad who makes $100,000 than $1 billion—he says extreme wealth is 'crippling to your motivation'

Photo of Malcolm Gladwell (Credit: Adam Berry/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)

Being part of a millionaire—or even billionaire—family might sound like a dream. But according to Malcolm Gladwell, extreme wealth can actually rob children of something important: the motivation to succeed on their own.

“I would rather have a dad who made $100,000 than a billion,” Gladwell said in a 2009 lecture at Microsoft that has recently resurfaced on social media. “I think that having a father with a billion dollars would actually be quite crippling to your motivation, and so that’s an advantage that’s actually a disadvantage.”