Malcolm Gladwell on TED

25 Jan 2012

Be warned! I've rediscovered TED, a bountiful source of knowledgable people talking about their passions, so the videos I get excited about and want to link too,  like this one, will probably be ongoing...

We're quiet in the restaurant tonite, so I've come back over to the house to get on top off the pile of cookschool bookings that have just arrived. A really glorious evening - still, sunny and quite beautiful. It doesn't feel like we've had many like this so far this year....

I spent the afternoon in a dark movie theatre, which is possibly why it feels extra special to be sitting here  luxeriating in such a stunning evening. ( Went to see my first full opera -  Rialto is showing The New York Met HD movie productions of some of their classic opera's,  and it was truly stunning to watch something so world class, albiet rather lengthy in duration and somewhat blighted by the fact that I thought  the hero in this particular saga was distinctly wet. If I'd been the heroine I wouldn't have held out for his return quite as resolutely as she did!)

But back to the TED lectures - this one of Malcolm Gladwell discusses the research that leads to the range of choice in the food products that the food industry decide to offer us, the consumers. And I found that kind of fascinating becos many is the time that I've stood in a supermarket aisle and just kind of been intimidated at the extreme range of choice. I've often wondered why we need so much. This lecture explains why the food industry thinks we do. I do understand the concept of competition, but sometimes I feel that the huge array of options is counterproductive, becos it  simply ends up being confusing. Or at least it does to me.

This lecture explains to a degree why we have that choice now, and it also verifies a comment that Steve Jobs made to his biographer that he had never had any interest in doing any  form ofmarket research prior to  launching a new product, becos it was his firmly held belief that the public didn't know what they wanted until he gave them the gizmo. So asking people if they wanted a touch phone prior to making one available to them, was a waste of time in his opinion. Apple is now one of the most successful companies in the world, so theres a chance he was right.

All kind of fascinating I think!

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