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This Week: Connect with a Salesman
For the last two weeks, we’ve explored the social side of creativity and the types of people who can help increase our creativity and help spread our ideas. Last week we talked about Connectors, and the week before, we learned about Mavens. This week we’ll look at one last group of individuals with the power to increase and spread creativity and innovation. Those individuals are Salesmen.
Not Your Average Car Salesman
If you’re like me, the term “salesman” has a negative connotation. I imagine the many slimy car salesmen by whom I’ve been hassled in the past. But in this case, a Salesman is someone quite different, someone who is naturally persuasive but in a likable, charming, contagious enthusiasm kind of way. According to Malcolm Gladwell in his book The Tipping Point
Creativity and Persuasion
Salesmen help increase our creativity and encourage innovation in two ways. First, they influence us. When a Salesman becomes convinced of an idea, impressed by a new technology, or otherwise sold on a new idea, they will be the ones to persuade those less certain of the value of the idea, product, or technique. These are the individuals who convince us to try the new restaurant, visit the new gallery, or get the latest techy device. In a workplace environment, Salesmen are the individuals who can convince the boss to try out a new idea that the team developed. When a Salesman is confident in your particular skill or talent, or the value of the work in which you are engaged, they can convince you when you doubt yourself. Through their experiences and enthusiasm, Salesmen bring new ideas to us and convince us to try them when we might otherwise not be persuaded.
Second, Salesmen influence others. This point is obvious, but it is important to consider whenever you need to convince others. Whenever you have crafted an ideavirus, be it a product, concept, or technology, you need a Salesman to help you spread it. If you can catch the enthusiasm of a Salesman, you know he or she will spread it to others.
Creative Contagion
In The Tipping Point, Gladwell reviews a study by the authors of Emotional Contagion. Emotions are outside-in, meaning that our internal emotions are most influenced and determined by the external environment. Thus, emotions are contagious, and individuals with persuasive personalities are able to influence the emotions of others through mere body language.
Creativity is contagious, too. By persuading others to try new ideas, Salesmen function to spread creativity in a social network. Who is influencing your creativity? How can you leverage that relationship to spread your next idea? Please post your observations in the comments!
Related posts:
- Every Monday is Tip Day! This Week: Connect with a Maven
- Every Monday is Tip Day! This Week: Get Connected
- Every Monday is Tip Day! This Week: Maximize Resources
- Every Monday is Tip Day! This Week: Implement an Idea Quota
- Every Monday is Tip Day! This Week: Sketch the Vision
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