The “Tipping” Point…Chicago Style.
Posted by Sara Beth Duyck on Tue, Aug 03, 2010
By Steven Manos
With less than a week away from our next Lee Tech on Tap event in Chicago, I had a spirited lunch meeting with a couple of friends (and one of the first participants) of what has become Chicago’s largest industry social event. While we tried to pick apart and identify the primary gears that have propelled this event into what it has become since its inception several months ago, one attendee inquired if I had read The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell. She felt it related to the event’s success. Not one to cause any uncomfortable silence at the lunch table, I neglected to let her know that the current piece of fine literature I’ve been reading is “Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Volume 16,” and the last thing I read before our meeting was half of an article on what Lindsey Lohan was going to be eating in the pokey as I waited to be checked out of the local grocery store on Monday.
Credit: theseriouscomedysite.com
The point my friend made (we will call her “Sherry” to protect her identity from accusations of being one of my friends) was that Gladwell identified what he believed were the key ingredients necessary to spark a trend, create that successful “widget,” have it take hold and flourish. While I won’t go into great depth and bore you with all of the details (partly due to keeping your attention, mostly due to not yet having read it as I’m still working through what Uncle John has to say) it essentially identifies the Law of a Few (people), with individual skill sets who in concert, create success. The first person or set of important folks are called “Mavens” who, translated into our industry would be the immensely technical engineering and design types.
The second group necessary falls under the label “Connectors,” of which Sherry labeled me. (As many of you know, I’ve been called worse) A Connector, just as the name implies is the person who works and lurks in many circles, acts as a conduit between these circles and identifies and enables key connections that might not otherwise be made. After giving that some thought, I think she has me dead to rights. I suppose if I ever had a skill in life, it was the ability to connect people and find genuine gratification when that connection produced the result I thought it would. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no Gandhi. I never was able to get the Jocks, Nerds, Metal Heads, Goth’s and preppies to come together and sing “We are the World” in high school…
The third and final set of people are classified as “Salesmen.” I know, my boss right now is reading this saying “Err…I thought we hired Steve to be a sales guy?” I don’t believe Sherry put me in this category as it’s defined as people with unusual charisma. This attribute is said to allow Salesmen to be particularly persuasive and influence behaviors and get people to buy their product or service.
Many of us would agree that this would be (and is) a winning combination and if held up against the portrait of our monthly gathering as all of these components are represented. However, in applying Gladwell’s theory to our “Tipping (Pints) Point,” it fails to identify what I believe is the foundation not only of our event, but how those of us work together and how collaboration and friendships are paramount to the success of everything we do. I’m reluctant to use the term “The Chicago Way” as most will assume (thanks to Sean Connery in the Untouchables) that we all bring guns to a knife fight but I’ve found that there is a certain camaraderie among our ever growing attendee list. An underlying network of friendships and trust bonds that make many of the local data center projects more successful.
Photo Credit: freerepublic.com
As a Connector, I find that the ties that bind clients, mechanical firms, electrical contractors, general contractors, and the myriad of us who provide critical services in this space are incredibly strong, and that only those who take a familial approach flourish in this microcosm that is Chicago. I have been blessed to be a part of this enigma. I, like so many of our attendees come together not just to tip a few back, but to share our challenges and accomplishments, learn from one another and most importantly, to strengthen the bonds we all share and create new, lasting ones.
This philosophy is demonstrated no better than in the main purpose I met with my client/friends for lunch that day. With a pending project fraught with a number of complicated logistics and timelines, the combination of Gladwell’s theory and the fraternal aspect of our Chicago relationships allowed for a seamless game plan. Quickly identified were the Maven’s among the contractors that would become necessary components, all were linked by a couple of key connectors and the trusted salesmen were engaged not so much for their charisma, but because they have proven time and again that they care about the client and success of the project. All of this however, would be much harder, much more cumbersome had it not been for the bonds created at events and long histories with one another that most attendees at our monthly event share.
I look forward to seeing all of the Maven’s, the (very few) Salesmen and my fellow Connectors this month. Being the big happy family that we have become, I also look forward to seeing those of you that can only be classified as our crazy uncles as well. (You know who you are).
Oh…and leave the guns at home.
-SM