How to Be an Innovator, Part 1: The Social Factors

Innovation is the organizational goal of creativity. We don’t just want great ideas; we want great ideas that do something new and amazing, or that are so great they make other people want them.

So you have great ideas, and you’re learning how to develop brilliant ideas consistently. You’ve even become the idea person in your organization. So how do you turn those ideas into something concrete? How do you become an innovator?

This week we’ll begin to tackle that topic by looking at the social factors that influence innovation. This will be the first in an on-going series on Perch. Look for updates every Thursday.

Part 1: The Social Factors

No one that I’m aware of has analyzed the social aspects of innovation as well as Malcolm Gladwell. In his book The Tipping Point, Gladwell labels this social factor The Law of the Few, which states that, “There are exceptional people out there capable of starting epidemics.”¹ These individuals are skilled in the power and method of persuasion and fall into three categories: Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen.

To be an innovator, you need to either be closely connected with these people or actually be one (or all) of them. Here are a few keys to recognizing these people in your life and for sharpening your own soft skills in these areas.

Connectors know a great many people, and they are involved in many different “worlds” or networks of people.² They have an interest in everyone they meet, and they are naturally and irrepressibly social. A Connector may not know everything there is to know, but they know everyone and how to connect people who should know each other. If you are friends with a Connector, you will naturally benefit from his or her social gifting. Connectors are most often naturally gifted, but there are also ways to polish your own social connecting skills. Dale Carnegie’s book How to Win Friends and Influence People is an excellent resource. Gladwell also has a post on his website about being a Connector that is excellent. Check it out here.

If Connectors are people specialists, then Mavens are information specialists. “A Maven is a person who has information on a lot of different products or prices or places. This person likes to initiate discussion with consumers and respond to requests.”³ If a Maven tells you to buy a certain pair of shoes, or to shop at a certain store, you follow their advice without question because you trust them and the information they provide implicitly. In my opinion, it’s easier to learn to be a Maven than to be a Connector. Mavens know everything there is to know about something. Whatever you’re passionate about, get online or to the library or the bookstore or out in the marketplace, and learn everything you can about it. Subscribe to Twitter search feeds and RSS feeds to stay sharp. Subscribe to magazines and stay up on the latest advances in your interest area.

In addition to Connectors and Mavens, an epidemic also needs a Salesman to tip. According to Gladwell, “there is a select group of people – Salesmen – with the skills to persuade us when we are unconvinced of what we are hearing, and they are as critical to the tipping of word-of-mouth epidemics as the other two groups.”⁴ Persuasiveness is a natural gifting as well, but it is also a soft skill that can be cultivated.

Learn more about The Tipping Point here.

Endnotes:
1. Gladwell, 2002, The Tipping Point, p. 132
2. Gladwell, 2002, The Tipping Point, p. 46-47
3. Gladwell, 2002, The Tipping Point, p. 62
4. Gladwell, 2002, The Tipping Point, p. 70

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