The three types of people, Gladwell identified as part of Tipping Point was an interesting element of the book to me. I said I would post the tests or indicators of what type of person you may be.
Firstly connectors, as Gladwell makes obvious these are people that know a lot of people. Not necessarily knowing them all well but identified as ‘masters of the weak tie’. Gladwell created the test for connectors using random surnames taken from the Manhattan phone book. Going down the list of names give yourself a point each time you see a surname shared by someone you know. Stipulations; ‘knowing’ is very broad, even the smallest interactions count, multiple names also count. The score would roughly represent how social you are.
Algazi, Alvarez, Alpsrn, Ametrano, Andrews, Aran, Arnstein, Ashford, Bailey, Bailout, Bamberger, Baptists, Barr, Barrows, Baskcrville, Bassiri, Bell, Bokgese, Brandao. Bravo, Brooke, Brightman, Billy, Blau, Bohen, Bohn, Borsuk, Brendle, Butler, Calle, Cantwcll, Carrel, Chinlund, Cirker, Cohen, Collas, Couch, Callegher, Calcaterra, Cook, Carey, Cassell, Chen, Chung, Clarke, Cohn, Carton, Crowley, Curbelo, Dellamanna, Diaz, Dirar, Duncan, Dagostino, Delakas, Dillon, Donaghey, Daly, Dawson, Edery, Ellis, Elliott, Eastman, Easton,
Famous, Fermin, Fialco, Finklestein, Farber, Falkin, Feinman, Friedman, Gardner, Gelpi, Glascock, Grandfield, Greenbaum, Greenwood, Gruber, Garil, Goff, Gladwell, Greenup, Gannon, Ganshaw, Garcia, Gennis, Gerard, Gerickc, Gilbert, Glassman, Glazer, Gomendio, Gonzalez, Greenstcin, Guglielmo, Gurman, Hoskins, Hussein, Hamm, Mardwick, Harrcll, Hauptman, Hawkins, Henderson, Flayman, Hibara, Hehmann, Herbst, Hedges, Hogan, Hoffman, Horowitz, Hsu, Huber, Ikiz, Jarosehy, Johann, Jacobs, Jara, Johnson,
Kassel, Keegan, Kuroda, Kavanau, Keller, Kevill, Kiew, Kimbrough, Kline, Kossoff, Kotzitzky, Kahn, Kiesler, Kosser, Korte, Leibowitz, Lin, Liu, Lowrance, Lundh, Laux, Leifer, Leung, Levine, Leiw, Lockwood, Logrono, Lohnes, Lowet, Laber, Leonardi, Marten, McLean, Michaels, Miranda, Moy, Marin, Muir, Murphy, Marodon, Matos, Mendoza, Muraki, Neck, Needham, Noboa, Null, O’Flynn, O’Neill, Orlowski, Perkins, Pieper, Pierre, Pons, Pruska, Paulino, Popper, Potter, Purpura, Palma, Perez, Portocarrero, Punwasi, Rader, Rankin, Ray, Reyes, Richardson, Ritier, Roos, Rose, Rosenfeld, Roth, Rutherford, Rustin, Ramos, Regan, Reisman, Renkert, Roberts, Rowan, Rene, Rosario, Rothbart, Saperstein, Schoenbrod, Schwod, Sears, Staiosky, Sutphen, Sheehy, Silverton, Silverman, Silverstein, Sklar, Sioikin, Speros, Stollman, Sadowski, Schles, Shapiro, Sigdel, Snow, Spencer, Sieinkol, Stewart, Stires, Stopnik, Stonehill, Tayss, Tilney, Temple, Torfield,
Townsend, Trimpin, Turchin, Villa, Vasillov, Voda, Waring, Weber, Weinstein, Wang, Wegimont, Weed, Weishaus.
The highest score recorded in the book was 118, in my opinion this is an interesting exercise and may indicate a propensity to be a connector. The test is relative however, older people likely have more connections, but the conclusion was that in every circle of life there are people who have much larger social circles and these are the connectors.
As a comparison when Gladwell gave this to students in a class he was teaching the average score was 21.
For the Mavens
Mavens were not identified with a specific test but are those differentiated from the people centric ‘connectors’ as ‘information specialists’. Ultimately they just like information and want to share it with others. They are not the persuasive type like Salesmen but collect a varied information database that means they are the type of person that others go to for advice. Often Mavens will go out of their way to help. A simplified post differentiating between these three types can be found here.
In this other article five questions were asked which I find to be symbolic of potential habits of a Maven.
- Do you enjoy reading junkmail?
- Do you seek out the specials in your local supermarket?
- Do you tend to watch trends and know what’s in?
- Do you study the market before buying a new gadget?
- Do you tell your friends about special deals?
These are indicators and if you find yourself saying ‘yes’ to the majority of the questions then this would indicate Maven tendencies.
Selling, Selling, Sold
Salesmen are perhaps the most easily understood of the three. Simply, these are the charismatic individuals that can quickly build a rapport and trust that allows them to sell things. Gladwell puts this down to their ability to express emotions and feelings.
In the book Gladwell discusses the Affective Communication Test created by Howard Friedman with information linked here. While not available online, the test effectively measures the aforementioned ability to express emotion and make others feel it. Gladwell presents this ability as a contagious quality that means an effective salesperson will make others fall in line with how they feel. If a salesperson is happy and excited you would likely follow suit.
The lifehack post previously linked also stated 5 questions that can indicate salesperson tendencies.
- Do you find it difficult to sit still when hearing good dance music?
- Do you have a loud laugh?
- Do you touch friends when you talk with them?
- Are you good at seduction?
- Do you like being the center of attention?
Again not a flawless list of questions but for an effective salesperson, I believe they would already be largely aware of, or have been recognized as this type of person.
This is just an interesting element of Tipping Point and shows the unique roles that different people can play within their social circles. Identifying those people within your own circle is also an interesting process as I am sure that you will find each of these types of individuals.
The Weekly Book Report 