Blink – The Power of Thinking without Thinking
Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell, the best-selling author of The Tipping Point, has reemerged to help us understand the human decision-making process and how it can be adapted to a changing environment. Blink – The Power of Thinking without Thinking provides captivating insight into how we instinctively make snap decisions – how a policeman decides to shoot or how a fire fighter instantly recognises the need to get out of a building. Gladwell attempts to decipher the rationale behind such choices and educate our own decision making process.
Gladwell reasons that often a severe lack of information, with the exception of a few critical points, will render a correct decision. This is perhaps best expressed when describing the most expensive war game ever conducted by the Pentagon. Paul Van Riper, charged with playing the role of a “rogue military commander”, managed to hold off a far superior attacking force by not getting bogged down in bureaucracy and technology – Van Riper simply focused on the critical factors.
The Tipping Point is certainly a tough act to follow, however the New
York-based author rises to the challenge with Blink – The Power of Thinking without Thinking.
(The Free Press, 2002)
Unleashing the Idea Virus
Seth Gordon
Seth Godin has arrived as a true marketing guru with Unleashing the Idea Virus.
Here, Godin reveals how companies can increase their chances of unleashing an “idea virus” – trends that infect everyone they touch and result in consumerto- consumer marketing.
Godin sites internet companies Hotmail and Napster as part of a new breed of
organisations setting business model precedents. They do so simply by attracting viewers and including a method for individuals to engage others. Unleashing the Idea Virus also identifies the many flaws of traditional marketing tactics or “interruption marketing”
– a term given to the many forms of advertising which attempt to grab the attention of an unsuspecting public.
Unleashing the Idea Virus is a must-read for any marketer and anyone signing the cheques for marketing expenses. It’s almost guaranteed to install change.
(Penguin Group, 2005)
