Chapter 2. The Law of the Few: Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen
What are connectors, mavens, and salesmen?
Connectors are people that know several people and often link groups of people together.
Mavens are people that have tremendous wealth of knowledge and have the capability to start epidemics.
Salesmen are people that are able to easily connect with others and influence their behavior to allow for an epidemic to occur.
What is a “small-world problem”?
A small world problem addresses how we are all connected. It addresses the question of whether we are living detached from one another in our separate worlds or if there are common links that draw us all together.
What is “six degrees of separation”? Can it truly be tested?
Six degrees of separation explains that in any situation there are only six steps between linking all of us together. Yes it can be tested; the text uses an example of how a group of people were to deliver a letter to the same person. Each person used five – six
What makes someone a connector?
A connector has to be a person has complies with the following
They need to know a lot of people
They need to know people that are able to connect with others (six degrees of separation)
Take Gladwell’s “quiz” on pp. 39-40. We will discuss it when we are able to post online
What makes connectors so necessary in society?
Connectors are important to society because they bring us together into a common circle that will allow us to form a connection with each other. Without connectors it is possible that many of us will not be exposed to issues or events that have an impact on our lives and society.
What does the phrase “the strength of weak ties” mean?
Weak ties address the relationships that we have others that are not our close friends. The strength of having these relationship is that often our close ties are part of our small everyday world, therefore what we know and are associated with so are our close ties. Our weak ties are able to bring new information to use that we may not be able to obtain from our close ties.
Why did Paul Revere’s ride succeed when William Dawes’ ride did not?
The major reason that Paul Revere succeeded where William Dawes did not is that Revere was able to connect with the people of the countryside. Therefore the people that Revere informed about the British headed his information and accept the message as important and worth responding to. Dawes was not able to cause a similar reaction to those along his route.
Describe any connectors or mavens from your school, family, or friends.
A connector that we have in our school is our principal. She has the ability to draw us together to a unified cause. Some of her connecting ability comes from her personality; however I believe that people can have the connecting ability influenced by their position. In this case a principal of a K -12 school gains the ear of others by simply having a position that commands the response of others.
I cannot think of a maven to the degree of Mark Alpert, however I believe that most of us have the ability to be a maven in small areas based on our interest. For example I know if I have a question on firearms I can contact my father. Although, he may not have the same degree of knowledge as Alpert does on a wide range of topics he does have a considerable amount of information on this one topic that occupies a huge amount of his time and resources.
How much do you rely on word-of-mouth information?
Often I rely on world-of-mouth to confirm what I may be considering. For example if I have done my own research and exploring on what type of item I may purchase I will confer with others that have that type of product. Often I will use their insights to confirm or reject my initial decision.
How did mavens influence the sales of Hush Puppies?
Mavens could have influenced the sale by spreading word of where the shoes could be obtained and purchased at an inexpensive price.
What are the positives and negatives of being a maven?
Mavens have a large knowledge base and can influence others lives in a positive way by helping them with making good informed decisions. Negatives could include that they can become so absorbed in little details and specific interests that they miss out on larger more important events and activities happening around them. As a maven it could be possible to not appreciate the forest because they cannot see past the first tree; so to speak.
What makes someone a salesman?
A salesman is person how has the ability to convince someone to buy or do
something when they are unconvinced on their own.
According to two studies he cites, what are the three things that Gladden says make salesmen so effective?
Salesman are able to do the following: convince that little things are as important as big things, give nonverbal cues that are as important as verbal cues, and they are able to persuade in ways that may not be appreciated.
What are “micromovements”?
Micromovements are small repeating gestures that repeat themselves and that people tend to pickup when communicating back and forth.
What makes someone good at charades?
A person good at charades has the ability to decipher what another person is trying to communicate through actions and body language.
What traits of the connector, maven, and salesman do you see in yourself?
I suppose we have some traits of each type to some degree. I personally think I have more traits of the connector than the other two. I often attempt to bring groups or people together to see how they could benefit from a shared understanding and how appreciating each other’s position is important. As far as the other two, I have the quality of a maven in specific areas of interest. I have the smallest connection with that of a salesman, I do not like to try and convince others of what they should or shouldn’t do.
Which traits do you wish you possessed?
I wished I had more traits of a maven. At times I feel like I make decisions that could be improved by having a higher level of knowledge.
Are these traits able to be developed or are we simply born with them?
I believe that they can be developed however some people have a specific personality that can make it much easier and to some degree more effective to demonstrate the trait.
What disadvantages are linked with any of the three classifications?
I feel that a disadvantage that could be linked to all three is that of selfishly pushing individual desires onto others. This is real obvious with salesman that can easily convince others of what to do, but also the other two can use their strengths to persuade and influence base on their personal likes, interests, and values.
Chapter 3. The Stickiness Factor: Sesame Street, Blue’s Clues, and the Educational Virus
What is “the stickiness factor”?
The stickiness factor is how an event or idea is able to attract and keep someone’s interest.
What makes something “sticky”?
For something to be sticky, it has to be memorable and able to cause change and action out of people.
What is direct marketing? What makes for a successful campaign?
Direct marketing is driven straight towards the consumers and the consumer responses directly back to the marketer. It is able to measure specifically how affective the marketing is by giving solid response data.
What is the “gold box” that Lester Wunderman used so effectively?
The gold box was a small image that was placed in an advertisement that people were asked to find and respond back in hopes to receive a prize.
What changes did she and her team make in order for the show to work?
It allowed for the viewers of a television show to become participants in an advertisement campaign.
Compare and contrast Sesame Street and Blue’s Clues.
Sesame Street and Blue’s Clues are both cartoon shows that include the use of both real people and animated characters. They both educated children and had an underlying message of improving literacy and understanding. The main difference was that Sesame Street used short, continually changing scenes to accommodate short attention span. Blue’s Clues used a very simple format and had long lengths of time for each scene. It felt that a child’s attention span is much longer that only a few minutes.
What is the Distracter?
A distracter is some event that could pull ones attention away from another event. It can be used to evaluate how “sticky” some event is.
What is The James Earl Jones Effect?
The James Earl Jones Effect uses continual repetition to teach a skill or desired behavior.
