A committed and passionate few have disproportionate power and influence than a large, disengaged majority.
In Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow's Big Changes
You see this power of the few in many places.
It’s inherent in the 1% rule of social communities. Heck, it’s a core component of Community Driven Marketing and the Raving Fans around which it is based.
And, as Tim Brown pointed out in Change By Design, it is from the periphery, the edges that we get our inspiration for the innovations of the future which propel our organizations forward.
Now, this book is actually about 4 years old already and what’s great about it is how you see some of his predictions playing out, such as:
- Social Geeks-that tech is driven by people who want to be social and aren’t really geeks
- New Luddites= that there is a growing group of people who are proud to opt-out of tech
- Video Game Grown-ups-that games will go mainstream
These are just a few of the trends across family, politics, food, lifestyle, money, education, and fashion that he addresses.
I think there are a few take-aways for us.
One, data trumps gut.
He points out that, for example, there’s evidence of a group of people he calls “Long Attention Spanners.” Clearly, this goes in the face of the Attention Economy and it’s worth taking note of.
Second, that you need to pull back the rhetoric and really look at what the numbers mean. Data is cheap, context and insight is valuable.
Perhaps that’s why he advised Clinton (some folks give him credit for the ‘soccer mom’ revelation) and other politicians. In other words, use the 5 Why’s of Mr. Toyoda.
Lastly, these trends are happening and not in a vacuum. There are things that you can do as a marketer to seize upon these trends to propel your business forward.
I’ll give you a quick example…he talks about “Tech Fatales,” the number of women who are involved in technology purchases.
At the moment, I am designing an event for a client and his insights helped raise my awareness to think specifically “how will the women who attend this event feel?”
Basic, I know, but good to be reminded of them.
I love books that challenge how I think and that help me understand the world a bit better.
This was one of them.
Bottom line…Penn helps us understand that dismissing a small group of passionate folks is potentially a long-term mistake. Instead, see these “outliers” for the possibilities they represent.
