Summer Reading Series: The Tipping Point Ch. 5-6
July 25, 2008 – 9:25 am
How’s the reading going? I hope you are getting some good stuff from this book. This week we are looking at Chapters 5-6 and next week we’ll finish it up.
In Chapter 5 Gladwell uses the success story of the book Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, to explain the role that groups play in making an idea tip. The concept is that once a part of a group our behaviors tend to change. We make decisions and come to conclusions differently in a group than we would by ourselves. I agree with this concept, and I’m sure I’ve proved it true many times. Peer pressure can be good or bad though. Obviously we don’t want to allow ourselves to be swayed into negative or destructive beliefs or actions, so we have to guard ourselves against our tendency to conform in those situations. However, on the other hand we should realize that if we are going to try to make something positive happen, we have a better chance of accomplishing it if we can get groups involved so the positive side of peer pressure will make the idea spread quicker. Do you think you act differently in the context of a group? Explain. What do you think about the Rule of 150 (idea that groups under 150 are more effective)?
Chapter 6 Gladwell identifies the importance of translating an idea, product, etc. differently to different types of people. When an idea first starts out there is a certain way it should be presented/marketed to reach Innovators and Early Adopters, but then as it moves to the Early and Late Majority the way the message is translated may need to change. Some ideas/products never become mainstream because they don’t make sense to the majority, others do, but then they lose their “cool” because they are not “innovative” anymore. Clearly then, change is necessary, but you don’t have to change the whole idea, just the way you present it.
-JH
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