Learning from Malcolm Gladwell
While in San Diego last week, the biggest highlight for me (other than my talk, of course) was the keynote, Malcolm Gladwell. Chris Berman of espn also gave a keynote, which I did not attend. But by all accounts, underwhelming would be a compliment.
Gladwell, on the other hand, was excellent. I furiously took notes on my Blackberry and emailed them to myself – see image below.
As you can see, I gave the email an appropriate subject line: “Gladwell Lessons.” As anyone can attest, typing on a Blackberry can be challenging, but done so like this is typos galore. This is without mentioning my Blackberry seems to have a mind of its own, or at least some of the keys do. The 1, 2 and A seem to only work when they want.
I’ve had many questions about his lecture and wanting to implement some of his ideas, I set about deciphering. So, here goes.
His talk was a combination of Blink and Tipping Point. In other words, if you want to have something spread throughout your world in a Blink, you need to identify the Tipping Point. Gladwell calls this a revolution.
To accomplish this, three things are needed. You need to:
- Leverage your skill,
- Frame your message and
- Employ social power.
He made this point through an example with David Sarnoff and RCA broadcasting the first ever, live boxing match between Jack Dempsy and Georges Carpentier in 1921.
First, Sarnoff knew radio. He was working for RCA. He knew how to get the fight broadcast (even if he had to have help). It helped him leverage his skill.
Second, he framed his message. “See what else you can do with a radio?” “It’s not just for news.” “It’s for entertainment.”
Third, he used social power from every store selling RCA radios. He contacted each one of them and had every radio tuned to the station broadcasting the fight. He wanted as many people as possible hearing the fight.
Some estimates were as many as 300,000 people heard the live broadcast. Amazing, 300,000 people in 1921. Within six months, RCA radios were flying off the shelves.
So, if you are in the health/fitness industry, how are you going to create a revolution? One of the things mentioned over and over again (at the meeting and from others), is that we do a good job with those who seek our services. What about the other 60% of the population?
How can we connect with them? How can we draw them in?
How can you leverage your skill to help those that need it most? How can you frame your message so they hear it? That was one of the main points in my presentation. It’s not that the energy balance equation is wrong. It’s the pervasive mis-application of it. For those needing our help the most, we don’t see the problem.
They (patients, clients, customers, etc…) fail because we blame them. It’s all their fault. So we shift. Our focus now is the behavioral aspects of weight loss. They’re not motivated enough. They didn’t write their goals down correctly. They’re eating too many/ not enough meals per day. The list goes on…
It’s why someone like Dr. Phil, who doesn’t know ATP from ketchup can write a best-seller weight loss book.
It’s also why nearly 100% of weight loss books say the same thing, eat less and exercise more, while differing in their approach to behavioral strategies. If it weren’t so ridiculous, it would be funny. All the while, all of this has underhandedly laid the failure of weight loss at the feet of those trying to lose weight.
Finally, how will you employ social power to spread your message? Twitter? Facebook? Email? Local meetings? Local experts? I’ll tell you this, however you do it, you need to have a better understanding of why people fail at weight loss attempts before you use your social power. Otherwise, it will be more of the same.
The last things I want to point out are mavens and connectors. According to Gladwell, mavens are information deciphering machines. They take it all in and make sense of it. Connectors help mavens put it in the right place.
Are you a maven or a connector?
How are you going to start a revolution?
