Great example of thought leadership through thought jacking

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Thought jacking really does work - ask Malcolm Gladwell

In my previous post I talked about thought jacking your way to thought leadership.

An article on MarketingProfs by Tim Riesterer, the chief marketing officer and senior vice president of strategic consulting firm Corporate Visions, has provided two of the best examples of thought jacking I have seen.

Thought jacking at ‘the tipping point’

Apparently Malcolm Gladwell sold millions of copies of his book The Tipping Point off the back of a little known political science professor, Morton Grodzins’ ideas.  Riesterer points out that it was Grodzins who first conceived of “the tipping point” 40 years before Gladwell released his book. Yet Gladwell is the one who has made millions from the concept.

Thought jacking is a ‘deliberate practice’

Gladwell, it seems, is a master at this.  His book Outliers is based on the principle of “deliberate practice.”  But once again Gladwell didn’t invent it.  The original theory was developed by Swedish psychologist K. Anders Ericcson.

The tricks to thought jacking success

So what was Gladwell’s reason for his success?

I think it is threefold:

1. He took a concept and made it timely and relevant to his stakeholders
2. He packaged it
3. He popularized it by employing some key thought leadership strategies thus ensuring its commercial success.

So thought jacking really works – ask Malcolm Gladwell he no doubt swears by it.

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2 Responses to “Great example of thought leadership through thought jacking”

1. Robin says:

   December 6, 2011 at 08:04

   The Wisdom of Crowds is another example of this – a theory observed and researched by a Victorian clergyman, carefully packaged and presented for the 21st century reader. I suppose there are other, less kindly, terms than ‘thought jacking’ that could be used.
2. craig says:

   December 6, 2011 at 09:00

   Thanks Robin, I think your reference to James Surowiecki’s book The Wisdom of Crowds is spot on. I’d prefer not to seek less kindly terms to ‘thought jacking’ because it’s often the collective thoughts or thoughts of one individual that leads to further, new or slightly different insights producing a piece of work that one can legitimately term thought leadership.

   There is always one definition of innovation that sticks in my mind: “Innovation is any incremental change, no matter how small, that makes a difference.” I think the same could be said for thought leadership. Whether that change is merely clever packaging, if there is a market for it and it refreshes an idea or concept that gains traction then so be it. I’d be interested in your views…