The Book:Blink by Malcom Gladwell
This Month:Rick Davis, President Building Leaders
The Book:Blink by Malcom Gladwell
Blink is the story of instant impressions and whether or not they should be trusted. The book opens with the story of a fraud perpetrated on the Getty Museum. After exhaustive research, the museum invested $10 million in a statue that experts were able to instantly recognize as a fake. The question is why the research failed to reveal what three experts were able to see in the blink of an eye. This book walks you through an odyssey of experts who became proficient at their trade and documents the false impressions that non-experts often make.
As a sales management consultant and trainer, it is always my goal to understand what makes people tick. It is even more important for me to determine how people become expert at their profession and why many do not. This book revealed powerful answers for me. Nearly all salespeople and managers claim they are knowledgeable about what makes people tick and how to achieve sales results. In reality, most are not able to demonstrate the level of expert consciousness that is present with the various subjects in this book. Some so-called experts thought they knew better when recommending a $10 million purchase while very real experts recognized the sham in the blink of an eye.
This book is a reminder that it is necessary to be vigilant about the development of business expertise. As a sales trainer, I strive to help salespeople consciously recognize the real factors that create sales and results. Blink is one of three books by Malcolm Gladwell that I believe every businessperson should read. Besides being easy and thought-provoking documents, Gladwell’s messages remind the reader of the important link between cause and effect that every businessperson should strive to understand.
