Consider this:
I got the latest Fast Company nearly a week ago. I browsed the cover and noticed the "Un-Tipping Point" headline on the cover. I then packed the magazine in my bag planning to read it on the train.
I never did.
Then Guy Kawasaki writes a post called "Forget The A-Listers After All" in which Guy advocates for Watts' approach which de-bunks Gladwell's Tipping Point (the article asks "Is the tipping point toast?)
Am I the only one marveling at the irony? It took an influencer like Guy to get my attention. i read the article after seeing his post.
Which illustrates that describing how we influence one another may not be an "either or" situation. In my influence ripples model (above), I stressed that there are different levels of influencers but both can influence. That means people like Guy (and there aren't that many Guy Kawasaki's in the world) as well as the "unknowns" he references. Forget the A-listers? I have a slightly different take.
Treat everyone like an "A-lister"
That way—you'll improve your chances of the getting both the "connected" and the "unconnected" saying great things about you. And that's how ripples grow, spread and influence. Then again, I'm no scientist and I could be wrong.
