Summary: <br> What does it take for small actions to produce big results?<br> <br> <br> <br> Photo by Blake Lisk – Creative Commons No known copyright restrictions https://unsplash.com/@blakeliskphoto?utm_source=haikudeck&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=api-credit<br> <br> <br> <br> Over Christmas break, I listened to the audio-version of Malcolm Gladwell’s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tipping-Point-Little-Things-Difference/dp/0316346624/ref=asc_df_0316346624/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312106851030&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6914478316602865141&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9026521&hvtargid=pla-416652633485&psc=1">Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference</a> and learned some value lessons we can apply to our schools. <br> <br> <br> <br> Let me quickly summarize by saying that Gladwell painstakingly details the phenomenon and players involved in what happens when products or ideas become social “epidemics” – in the best sense of the word. Why do certain shoe brands, books, or companies find success in such extraordinary ways? And what, you may be asking, does this have to do with school leadership? I’d like to connect those dots in this post.<br> <br> <br> <br> First of all, products, ideas or companies become social phenomena by starting with something worth promoting – something Gladwell calls a “sticky” idea. Whether it is a great book, a fashionable shoe, or a line of plastic accessories for unique car brands — people (or customers) have needs that someone (creators or innovators) provide. <br> <br> <br> <br> Those ideas must be “sticky” enough for others to want to adapt and participate. This is where Gladwell’s descriptions of certain types of people may be helpful to discuss because turning sticky ideas into social phenomena frequently involves the following players: <br> <br> <br> <br> Mavens– These people identify or adopt a new trend and have the influence to model and teach others how to adapt and apply those same ideas. They are early-adapters and innovators who recognize new trends emerging; they buy-in first or are willing to take risks in testing out new ideas.<br> <br> <br> <br> Connectors– These types understand sub-cultures and new trends and have relationships within various social spheres in order to bring new ideas and larger audiences together. They love to be the glue between new ideas and groups of people who can benefit from them. A connector may not be the creator of a new idea or product, but he or she becomes a champion for it.<br> <br> <br> <br> Sales Persons– People who watch mavens and connectors and decide not only to adopt their ideas but become the story tellers for that idea. Sales persons can tell the stories of what’s trending in such convincing ways that others want it for themselves; they help growing numbers of people become consumers of the new product, trend or action.<br> <br> <br> <br> When you combine a sticky idea with a community of mavens, connectors and sales persons, it will often begin a movement, a tipping point, when a small idea grows into something contagious and transformational. <br> <br> <br> <br> Can School Leaders Have Tipping Points?<br> <br> <br> <br> Let’s apply that to school and assume you understand the mission and purpose of your own. Your mission may be to educate and equip a future generation with the ideas, tools, values and social capital necessary to live full lives. <br> <br> <br> <br> Having a vision for a great school and actually nurturing that kind of community, however, is where good ideas must become “sticky” actions. And for ideas to become actions, you must convince others to share those values and act on them too. <br> <br> <br> <br>
