The word epidemic immediately conjures up unpleasant connotations. But the literal definition of an epidemic simply is an event that is contagious and spreads rapidly, and those two traits are not inherently negative–consider, for example, contagious laughter. Malcolm Gladwell believes people can learn from this physical and social phenomenon in order to create favorable outcomes in their work and lives.
"Positive social epidemics occur when the outcome or behavior is desired," he says. "Once you start to recognize the pattern [of epidemics] everywhere in life, you can find ways to encourage the creation of positive epidemics. In a business context, that could mean creating effective cultures within an organization so that behaviors spread and affect the group."
Gladwell explores the concept of positive epidemics in his best-selling book, The Tipping Point, which looks at why change happens as quickly and, often, as unexpectedly as it does. Originally published in February 2000, the book has embedded the term tipping point in our everyday vocabulary. Gladwell's research and observations in The Tipping Point as well as in his other social sciences books, Blink and Outliers: The Story of Success, provide the backdrop for his keynote address at the IASA 2010 Educational Conference and Business Show this morning at 8 a.m.
In addition to being a best-selling author, Gladwell has written for The New Yorker since 1996. He began his writing career at The American Spectator before becoming a reporter for the Washington Post in 1987. As a motivational speaker, Gladwell has developed a reputation for getting people to think counterintuitively about the way humans behave and to use that to achieve positive results in their work and lives. He has a gift for interpreting new ideas in the social sciences and making them understandable, practical, and valuable to business and general audiences alike.
"There are things individuals and organizations can do to increase the possibility of positive epidemics," Gladwell indicates. "What is the form an effective message ought to take? What are the environments where effective messages take off? Answering those questions can increase the probability of success."
The Tipping Point also highlighted Gladwell's observations of three personality types that help generate successful social epidemics: "Connectors," "Mavens," and "Salesmen." Connectors have an extraordinary knack for making friends and acquaintances; Mavens are experts at accumulating marketplace knowledge and sharing it with others; and Salesmen are powerful negotiators who make people want to agree with them.
"Those are relatively rare types," Gladwell says. "People who are interested in creating a social epidemic should look for those people and find ways to empower them in the organization."
That can include everything from analysis of conversation flows within an organization to the systems that are used to communicate and collaborate to the actual physical arrangement of offices. "Some companies put the desks of those 'hub' people in the middle of the room," Gladwell notes.
Thin-Slicing
Whereas The Tipping Point focuses on how ideas and behaviors reach critical mass and provides tools for understanding trends, Blink explores the subject of "thin-slicing," Gladwell's term for our innate ability to determine what is most important in a very short period of time. In fact, through numerous examples, Gladwell shows experts often make better decisions quickly than they do through carefully planned and considered action.
In today's world of information overload and in a corporate environment that values extensive planning and due diligence, quick decision-making may seem to have no place in business. However, Gladwell stresses that's not the case.
"Organizations have to determine when formal, rational analysis is appropriate and when intuitive decision-making should be encouraged," he explains. "Sometimes, the last thing you want is intuitive decision-making. But other times, there's simply too much uncertainty, and you want the wisdom of experience [rather than rational analysis]."
Companies need to recognize thin-slicing is a natural part of people's psyche. "We all thin-slice inevitably. It's part of what it means to be a human," Gladwell says. "And given we rely on it so much, let's make the effort to understand it and deal with its strengths and weaknesses and ensure the organization is not doing things that cause rapid cognition to be biased or hijacked."
Gladwell asserts thin-slicing works because it is grounded in experience. Gaining that experience is a key theme of his third book, Outliers: The Story of Success, which debuted as a number-one bestseller for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Barnes & Noble, and Publisher's Weekly.
In the book, Gladwell explores the concept of the "10,000-hour rule," which states greatness requires enormous time. For instance, the Beatles totaled 10,000 hours of live performance in Hamburg, Germany, from 1960 to 1964, which helped create and refine their revolutionary sound before they burst onto the international music scene. Bill Gates spent 10,000 hours programming on a computer while in high school at a time when access to the technology was rare.
"We all know it takes time to master a skill, but it's profoundly interesting to know there is such a general rule that applies to so many cognitively complex tasks," Gladwell says. "The fact it takes 10,000 hours to perform the number of repetitions needed to become an expert suggests we are impatient, because that time is a lot longer than we normally allow for someone to master something."
Gladwell considers his books "intellectual adventure stories" that draw from psychology, sociology, history, and even epidemiology. By using real-world examples, he strives to connect with readers while helping them view their actions as well as those of friends and colleagues from a new perspective. Likewise, in his keynote address, Gladwell hopes audience members can take his research and observations on human behavior and apply them to their own work and lives to achieve greater success.
"I try to bring in ideas and thoughts from a number of different areas," he says. "My goal is to give people insights from a world outside their own and to let them take in a view in a slightly different light."
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