“Even the best gadflies are probably only productive half the time. You don’t know when you stir the pot. The only thing you can do is be clear about your purpose. If you’re stirring the pot for your own personal aggrandizement then you’re going to screw it up and you’re going to make lots of mistakes. But if your purpose is clear then you never know and you’ve got to keep stirring. I think the best gadflies are unproductive most of the time, but they’re indispensable the rest of the time. If you went back and looked at all the trouble Gaudino stirred up during his time at Williams, you could probably make some judgment about what was productive and what wasn’t, but I think that’s really irrelevant because every time he stirred the pot my assumption is that both, that he put himself at risk and he did it because he believed what he was doing was helping the community.

–Marty Linsky '61