Saturday, December 16, 2006

Praise Others Project (December 16th) - Malcolm Gladwell

After reading The Tipping Point, I never again looked at marketing and trends the same way. Author Malcolm Gladwell is the poster boy for the term "thought leadership", and his books cause all readers to have to examine long standing assumptions. He has two best-selling books, The Tipping Point and Blink. Most seem to like Blink best, but I am old-school and see The Tipping Point as his true masterpiece.

The premise of the book is that there is a magic moment when an idea, trend, product or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just like one person can start an epidemic (think bird flu), so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product or a drop in the crime rate. Gladwell illuminates the tipping point phenomenon and is one of the fathers of the huge "word-of-mouth marketing" trend that is sweeping the globe.

His writing style engages the reader like few authors can. It would have been hard to live in the business world the last five years and have not heard people talk about The Tipping Point. If you have not read the book, I suggest you put it on the top of your stack. This is one of those "must reads" for everyone who has an interest in business trends.

Gladwell also writes a blog that will make you think about many issues in the world. His insightful posts are a bit on the long side, but he does post regularly.

Today we praise Malcolm Gladwell, a great writer who makes me think.

Have A Great Day.

thom

If you are Malcolm Gladwell, CLICK HERE!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a great project! This one especially caught my eye because I have also learned a lot from reading The Tipping Point. Still learning how to apply it!

Now you offer even more info on Gladwell,and so many others. Thank you! I'll be referring back here on a regular basis - after the holidays!

Anonymous said...

I think "blink" was better.