Blink
and you'll see it...
It
can be hard to apply the lessons learnt from business books in
real life,
especially the tourism industry. Malcolm Gladwells’ are
different. His writing just seems to flow from one story to another,
gradually making a point so his books are very easy and quick to
read.
His
first book, The Tipping Point, is particularly relevant to the
tourism industry
because it’s essentially all about the
power of word of mouth and that’s one thing we all rely on.
He
talks about different types of people and how they all have a
role to play
in passing on information until a product, service
or trend reaches its tipping point. It’s what made
me think about the power of what I call “influencers” and
led to a recent Tourism Network Meeting on that subject.
His
most recent book is called Blink and is about the “power
of thinking without thinking”. I used to think that I’m
just an impulsive, headstrong Yorkshire lass who sometimes relies
a little too much on gut instinct and who’s too stubborn
to revise first impressions. Thanks to Malcolm Gladwell I can now
argue that these traits are no longer negatives.
He makes the points that we all have a powerful ability to make
instant decisions and judgements which are often right. A first
impression can be more powerful than a rational, researched and
argued case.
He suggests that if we are asked to justify our decision, we question
it and revise our opinions so our original wisdom gradually ebbs
away. Trusting intuition and first reactions might be best.
This
book is essentially a licence to be lazy. Scan reading a few
paragraphs
and dipping in and out of information might actually
be more effective than spending days laboriously researching something
and listening to everything your boss tells you…
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