Author Review - Malcolm Gladwell

How much of advertisement of a product is sufficient to generate enough sales (to meet the revenue expectations)? Can there be a single answer to this question? (which product, what is the target market?). Anyway, let’s look at this story. A group of youngsters wanted to be different than the crowd. For the weekly partying at the local pub, they wanted to make a style statement. They chanced upon an old generation brand trying to keep up with its new generation competitors but unable to match. The choice of their shoes gave a much needed lease to the brand to re-establish itself in the new market. The trend of youngsters using that brand spread up from the local pub to the city and eventually caught up across the country. Hush Puppies was back. Apparently Hush Puppies achieved its tipping point with the new mode of publicity created due the youngsters choice of their products. The phenomenon of tipping point happens in many spheres from product marketing and sales to epidemics. Tipping point represents the point where the activity catches up the momentum and drives itself bigger and bigger. In the case of a disease this represents the spread where it becomes an epidemic. In the case of a product marketing it represents a state of branding where people seek the products without any additional need to advertise.

Some people seem to have a very advanced understanding of certain activities, events, trends or specific situations. They seem to be able to make snap-judgment. They are connoisseurs in specific areas (especially in Arts) who get so good at identifying, analyzing specific situations or trends. A reputed museum housed a piece of a famous statue made in marble. They had in-house experts who helped immensely in the selection and procurement process to guarantee the genuinenity of the piece. The statue was scientifically analyzed for its age, material, origin and other critical parameters qualifying it be showcased to offer the visitors a truly rewarding experience of Italian art in the US. One of the visitors happened to have seen a similar statue elsewhere and was surprised at the possibility of this museum being able to obtain another original copy. This led to some background investigation by the museum curator. The special team from the museum paid a visit to the city of its origin in Italy. There they met one of the artists who expertise’s in the carving of this form of statues. His examination of the copy in the museum revealed some differences compared to the original form. One striking feature that stood out was the nose of the museum piece as compared to the original form of carving. Was the museum piece a well-made fake? This thought spend a chill down the spines of the curator and the museum staff. The statue was procured for a hefty cost and a detailed check to make it worth a certain US$ per visit. What explains the age of the statue? What explains the color degradation of the marble? The Italian carver offered the details on how fake’s market achieve this. The Italian carver was able to think without thinking in a Blink. This ability of rapid cognition happens in many spheres of life by people who have gained such experience to be able to deliver snap-judgments.

In a selected group of youngsters for a sport, some seem to have an advantage due to their date of birth helping them qualify for the group but gives them an advantage of almost 11 months compared to the others in the group. This advantage of almost 11 months (close to an year) in age and probably physical growth can affect their performance considerably. Like in this case with certain persons lie outside of the regular group, this situation occurs in other spheres as well. The term Outliers represents certain things, events  or phenomena that lie outside the normal experience. The situations and/or events leading to the Outliers phenomenon analyze the individuals circumstances combined with the personal drive of in the involved individuals that have either lead to success or trouble.

The above stories have a certain mystery being unveiled. Malcolm Gladwell likes and specializes in unearthing the possible reasons behind these happenings. He has written a series of book focused on topics which seem to re-occur in the daily life around most of us but don’t seem to have a clear explanation.  His books Tipping Point – How little Things can make a Big Difference, Blink – The  Power of Thinking without Thinking, Outliers – The Story of Success bring these stories with their hidden facets either of the individuals involved or the circumstances.

 You can follow more of his work, books and his blog on www.gladwell.com. Happy Reading!!!