The Law Of The Few Chapter 1 Summary
Gladwell’s answer to this question is in the summary at the end of chapter 1 – the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor and the Power of Context. Since the Stickiness factor and the Power of Context are discussed in chapters 3 and 4, I’ll not be considering those topics to discuss about why some ideas get passed on.
Law of the Few:
What will be Gladwell answer to the below question?
If 100 people can complete a task in 10 days, how many people will it take to complete 80% of the task in 10 days?
Mathematically the answer is 80 people; but Gladwell will say 20. That is based on the 80/20 principle which states that approximately 80% of the work will be done by 20% of the participants.
The same applies to triggering an epidemic; very small percentage of people, the league of extraordinary gentlemen/women, does most of the work. What exceptional qualities make these people extraordinary? From the first two chapters I see that there are three types of people who possess these exceptional qualities to trigger an epidemic – Connectors, Specialist / …show more content…
Not many CEOs possess all these 3 talents needed to trigger an epidemic. Steve Jobs started the epidemic with iPhone and iPads. When antenna and reception issues were identified in iPhone 4’s, Jobs had the persuasive power to convince people that the real issue is with the way they were holding the phone. I can imagine a CEO having the courage to accept that their product had failed, like Jeff Bezos on Amazon’s Fire Phone. He explained how he encourages his employees to take bold steps and embrace failures in pursuit of bigger goals. But no one except Jobs has the persuasive power to convince everyone that the problem is with how the phone is held rather than accepting the design flaw in iPhone 4. These talents of being a Maven, a persuader and an influential person is what helped Jobs transform Apple from a brand to an
Law of the Few:
What will be Gladwell answer to the below question?
If 100 people can complete a task in 10 days, how many people will it take to complete 80% of the task in 10 days?
Mathematically the answer is 80 people; but Gladwell will say 20. That is based on the 80/20 principle which states that approximately 80% of the work will be done by 20% of the participants.
The same applies to triggering an epidemic; very small percentage of people, the league of extraordinary gentlemen/women, does most of the work. What exceptional qualities make these people extraordinary? From the first two chapters I see that there are three types of people who possess these exceptional qualities to trigger an epidemic – Connectors, Specialist / …show more content…
Not many CEOs possess all these 3 talents needed to trigger an epidemic. Steve Jobs started the epidemic with iPhone and iPads. When antenna and reception issues were identified in iPhone 4’s, Jobs had the persuasive power to convince people that the real issue is with the way they were holding the phone. I can imagine a CEO having the courage to accept that their product had failed, like Jeff Bezos on Amazon’s Fire Phone. He explained how he encourages his employees to take bold steps and embrace failures in pursuit of bigger goals. But no one except Jobs has the persuasive power to convince everyone that the problem is with how the phone is held rather than accepting the design flaw in iPhone 4. These talents of being a Maven, a persuader and an influential person is what helped Jobs transform Apple from a brand to an