knowledge, but then out of an unselfish sense of
passionate concern for the welfare of others, is compelled to share it with
anyone who will listen.
Gladwell is quick to
point out that a maven is definitely not an obnoxious know it all. (However,
just about everyone in America knows someone who resembles that description
also.) A maven then is a truly effective influencer distinguished by not so
much what they share and how they share it, but by why they share it.
Barbara did not tout
this book for any reason other than she found it interesting, accurate and applicable.
She, nor her employer, stood nothing to gain by
this endorsement.
I tried my hand at being
a maven once and it seriously backfired on me. I was in line at a Northwest
check-in counter somewhere hoping to add yet another free travel award
voucher to my stash.
While sharing my desire with the fellow in front of me, he indicated that this
was indeed his hope but
that he had never attempted before to pull it off.
With only the most
genuine of intentions in my heart, I suggested that he allow me to step ahead
of him so that he could observe my interaction with the airline representative.
I am ashamed to admit that although he did learn how it was done, he also learned
never to allow someone from behind you to step in front of you to show you how
to do it. I was bumped and
he wasn’t!
Anyone who has ever
accomplished this fete would tell you that the pace is hectic during a bumping
procedure. There was no time to change places with this gallant observer who
had just been informed that his seat was not needed and that he should board
the plane. I did my best to make amends, despite the fact that he would probably
never know that it had anything to do with me.
After explaining the
situation to the attendant behind the desk, she sent word to the head flight
attendant on the plane, that this
I
recently reacted to the advice of Barbara Moss, Editor-in-Chief of Modern Jeweler
Magazine. Well, I guess she did not actually offer advice. She presented
her opinion in an editorial regarding a book that she had read. The result—I
went out and bought it.
Malcolm Gladwell, an
editor himself for New Yorker, penned this missive entitled, The Tipping
Point: How Little Things Make a Big Difference. If you should
read it for yourself, you will quickly surmise, as did I, that Barbara could
possibly be what Malcolm refers to as a “maven."
According to Linda
Price, a marketing professor at the University of Nebraska also sited in the
book, just about everyone in America knows someone who adeptly fits the description
of a maven—an individual who not only possesses the propensity to gather
up and store all sorts of
specific traveler was to be invited to sit up in
first class!
What does any of this have to do with Talisman and
corporate jewelry? Absolutely nothing! I just thought that this book was interesting,
accurate, applicable and I just wanted to pass it on.
