Hello class,
My name is Jeran Smith and for my blog entry I will be talking about Malcolm Gladwell. As many of you know, Gladwell is the author of a number of best-selling books including "Outliers" and most recently "David & Goliath".
Last week, Gladwell gave a speech at the World Business Forum in New York. His topic was on innovation,what really makes people disruptive, and battling giants.
He believes it comes down to three personality traits, which many successful entrepreneurs possess.
According to Gladwell, they are open to experience, conscientiousness, and disagreeable. These three traits are also part of the Big 5 personality traits.
Open to experience means how you relate to new information. This can be a huge indicator of creativity. I agree that very creative and imaginable people tend to get excited about new experiences.
Conscientiousness describes how closely you pay attention to details. Conscientious people are very organized. They set goals, plan ahead, and are extremely responsible. I agree with Gladwell that this can be a huge indicator of success.
Being disagreeable means that you do not care what others think. Gladwell also argues this point in his book "David and Goliath" saying it is a major predictor of making innovation happen.
According to Gladwell, the combination of these traits is as scarce as it is powerful. Anyone can be creative or just organized. However, it is rare to find someone with the imagination to dream up something big and also have the focus to see it through.
However, the crucial trait, is being disagreeable. Innovators must be people willing to take social risks and do stuff that others may not approve of. As humans, we are hardwired to seek the approval of others, but a radical and innovative thought goes nowhere without the desire to challenge norms.
Gladwell says that, when you have these three traits, you get Steve Jobs and Ingvar Kamprad. Steve Jobs had no problem stealing the graphic user interface from Xerox PARC. We don't use Apple computers today because Steve Jobs was smarter than the people working at Xerox PARC. Jobs had a sense of urgency. He was interested in doing things "at that very moment".
Ingvar Kamprad founded IKEA in 1943 when he was just 17 years old. It is now worth $11 Billion and one of the most recognized brands in the world. Gladwell attributes his success to disagreeableness. When Kamprad first came up with the innovative process of "flatpacking"the furniture so the customer can assemble it themselves, people boycotted because of how much it cut costs. He wasn't allowed to make furniture in Sweden so he decided to move his operation to Poland. This was in 1961 during the Cold War. Hostilities and tension were high. This was a very disagreeable decision. Many people back home were very upset and called him a traitor. However, he did not care. He is not the type of person to care about what others think. Being disagreeable made all the difference as he is now worth $3.8 billion dollars.
Gladwell also uses shipping magnate Malcolm McLean as an example.
Link: What Makes People Disruptive: Malcolm McLean
Additionally, here are some links to other videos/interviews Gladwell has given:
TED talk on David & Goliath
David & Goliath talk at Google
Discussion Questions:
1. Do you agree with Gladwell's three traits that makes people disruptive?
2. Do you believe with Gladwell that being disagreeable or "not being concerned if everyone around you thinks you're crazy" is necessary to do innovative work?
3. Considering his examples of Steve Jobs, Ingvar Kamprad, and Malcolm McLean, can you think of any other successful entrepreneurs that also possess these 3 traits: open to experience, conscientiousness, and disagreeableness?
Links:
http://superheroyou.com/3-traits-to-change-world-malcolm-gladwell/
http://www.wobi.com/event/world-business-forum-new-york-2014/?email=WBF14LevDub
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_k7XRr-se4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8JAi_zaboU
I was not familiar with Malcolm Gladwell so I decided to watch the TED Talk you suggested above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziGD7vQOwl8. This particular TED Talk was about Gladwell's take on the story of David and Goliath. I am familiar with the story but before listening to Gladwell I, like many others, saw David as this underdog going up against Goliath, a giant and experienced warrior. Until I listened to the point of view of Gladwell, I had never looked at Goliath's size as the "source of his apparent weakness," as stated by Gladwell. I feel this, bigger picture, outlook is exactly what we have been covering in Practicum. To be able to look at the world in a way we never have before is the way we will see problems we never knew existed. By looking at the world in this new light we can start to understand how and why it is important to fix the issues at hand. I feel this is a key character trait of an innovative thinker. Thank you for introducing Malcolm Gladwell.
ReplyDeleteTo answer question 1: Do you agree with Gladwell's three traits that makes people disruptive?
I agree with the three traits Gladwell contributes to people being disruptive. These traits included:
1. Being open to experiences will allow individuals to see life, ideas and situations in a way that they may not have seen otherwise. By keeping an open mind and by being open to new experiences individuals can obtain knowledge that their closed minded counterparts will be oblivious to.
2. Being conscientious will allow individuals to stay organized. By being organized conscientious people have a plan or a vision for the future to keep them on track with the goals at hand. I feel it is crucial, for the success of a business, to have at least one person on your team who is always keeping the future in mind with a clear strategy to stay on track.
3. Being disagreeable allows for entrepreneurs to deviate from the norm. The whole point of an innovative idea is to provide differentiation from the products and services currently in the market. I feel, like Gladwell, that this is probably the most vital characteristic of a successful entrepreneur. They are not looking for immediate approval, rather understanding of the needs being met through differentiation of their product or service.
While I have heard of Malcolm Gladwell, I am not too familiar with his work. After reading this blog post and the sources provided, Gladwell seems pretty interesting and definitely has a unique perspective on innovation. I think Gladwell’s three personality traits that make people disruptive make sense and a combination of these traits can be very powerful.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I don’t necessarily agree that being disagreeable is necessary to do innovative work. While this notion holds merit and one could benefit from this attitude, I don’t think it’s necessary. I think people that aren’t disagreeable can still be innovative. I also think it’s important to be conscious of others opinion’s in order to better your product/service and yourself.
Kim Zapata
Great post! I love Malcolm Gladwell and especially his book "Outliers" which I recommend everyone should read at least once. Malcolm has some great points when discussing innovation and traits innovative people have. In order for us as people to keep pushing the boundaries of innovation it is very necessary for an entrepreneur to embody the traits of contentiousness, disagreeable, and open to new experiences. If major entrepreneurs did not posses these traits we might have never been brought major innovation such as the internet, google, and paypal. I also think that being disagreeable is extremely necessary in order to establish major innovation. When you are trying to change an aspect of life that hasn't been changed in an extremely long time there is going to be a portion of people that resist that change. If it weren't for the entrepreneurs who don't care about people that thought they were crazy then innovation would be way more stagnant than it has been.
ReplyDelete- Louis Mendoza
1. Do you agree with Gladwell's three traits that makes people disruptive?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what you meant by 'disruptive', so I just would like to clarify. Did you mean that they make an impact by disrupting the current situation or did you mean successful instead?
However, I do not think you necessarily have to possess these traits in order to be considered successful. I think that it is different for every person and situation. For instance it is good to state your opinion but to not always be disagreeable. You do not want to be so disagreeable that you are hard to work with and get things done but you do need to be confident in your ideas and opinions by not being afraid to share them with everyone.
2. Do you believe with Gladwell that being disagreeable or "not being concerned if everyone around you thinks you're crazy" is necessary to do innovative work?
No it is not necessary, you have to be receptive to feedback. Like I stated in the first question, it depends on the situation itself. Of course you can relate this example to everyday life. Your interests may be different then that of some of your friends. They could claim that you are crazy or weird but if you really enjoy something you are going to stick with it no matter the opinion of others.
3. Considering his examples of Steve Jobs, Ingvar Kamprad, and Malcolm McLean, can you think of any other successful entrepreneurs that also possess these 3 traits: open to experience, conscientiousness, and disagreeableness?
Gladwell has given examples of people who carry these rare traits. It is difficult to find these three traits in other entrepreneurs in my opinion. Of course many entrepreneurs will be open to experience, not all are conscientious and disagreeable at the same time. I think disagreeable is a poor choice of vocabulary because attached to the word is a negative connotation. Instead, a better term would be confident or "self-actualized"
This term describes a person who is totally in harmony with self, and their belief system. Even apathetic would be a good word if you said that they were apathetic to the criticism received from others.
I think Richard Branson could be a good example though because he has come up with some crazy ideas and started off selling Christmas Trees. He is open to experience, conscientious, and also 'self-actualized'
- Derek D
I was not familiar with Gladwell and i think this post was really interesting and informative for me. I also watched some of the videos you posted the link and learned how Gladwell thinks and analyze things to do his job. I think a combination of these three traits could be really useful for the entrepreneurial mindset and also will be of great help with the Lean Startup Method. I think that when a group gets together for brainstorming new ideas it is ideal to always look to both sides of a situation. For example, people discussing a new product obviously need to consider pros and cons of the product but it will always help to have that guy in your team that thinks way different than the others and will show a different perspective of an idea discussed. It is always important to ask questions, experiment with hypothesis, look for diverse results, and listen to as many people as possible if they have something good and concise to say about the product, service, process, or company that is being discussed or being analyzed about.
ReplyDelete-David Arismendy
Before this blog post I was not familiar with Gladwell. I don’t believe that being disagreeable is a necessary to be successful or do innovating work. But I do believe that a mixture of these 3 traits could lead to success, but I think that for one person to be successful they will need more than just these 3 traits. I consider that examples like Steve Jobs, Ingvar Kamprad, and Malcolm McLean are good ones but I agree with Derek that these people carried rare traits that are difficult to find in every entrepreneur.
ReplyDeleteDavid Grijalva
I think that the 3 traits provided are very helpful in creating innovative and successful businessmen but I think innovative thinkers are not limited to these traits. While being open to experience, conscientious and disagreeable will force you to think of your prospective in unconventional ways and might spur innovation, innovation is also widely dependent on having a great idea to start with. You can be conscientious and disagreeable but if you don't have a special product or idea you have nothing.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe being disagreeable is necessary to create innovative work. While it may help by forcing business people to think of unconventional methods or new ways of thinking, I think being disagreeable can also be negative. You should take input into consideration but still do what you truly believe is correct based on studying different alternatives.
-Alejandro Joya
I find that being disagreeable is a trait that most people who want to become entrepreneurs have. For me its always wanting something different, and I think i share that with a lot of entrepreneurs. No matter how good a product or service may seem to be, it can always be done better.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to be open to new experiences, I think it goes hand in hand with what I just said about being disagreeable. New things always excite entrepreneurs, and its very important be have an open mind when it comes to new experiences. If you want something new, you have to be willing to change how you see things.
And what I think the deal breaker is for most successful entrepreneurs is like the blog says, "being consciousness" or just paying attention to detail, having things prepared in an organized way will cut time and effort.
I agree that these 3 traits are very important for aspiring entrepreneurs, but I would also like to add a trait of perseverance. Its crucial for entrepreneurs to know that it is very likely that in order to be successful you must fail and learn from your mistakes. So having these 3 traits is crucial, but without perseverance people give up too early on their ambitions.
-Pablo Rangel
Jeran, this post reminds me of a quote I've heard many times. "Well behaved women seldom make history". I feel that a lot of people missed the point of what it means to be disagreeable. It does not mean to be unlikeable or argumentative. Rather, it means to go against the status quo and disagree with others who wish to keep things the same. Let us consider the Founding Fathers of our nation. They perfectly embody all of the traits listed above: disruptive, disagreeable, organized. They disrupted their entire way of life, an empire to start an entirely new country as a democracy. Nothing like this had ever been done before. They disagreed with England. They were disagreeable! In spite of this they were organized. They were able to create a militia and a congress. They also were able to clearly communicate their vision thru the Declaration of Independence, which laid out their plan and their reasons. We can learn a lesson here. You can accomplish anything with the support of others if you are able to clearly communicate and instill a passion in another for your vision.
ReplyDeleteThink about how crazy it seems, to rebel against the most powerful nation and empire of the time, and start an entirely new country from scratch. The founding fathers were disagreeable, but that does not make them unlikeable, unbearable, or unreasonable bosses.