Alphachimp Studio > Pop!Tech > Human Nature > Malcolm Gladwell

From FastCompany's Blog:

"Gladwell (who was accompanied by his charming father, an eminent Canadian math professor and author): Discussing the creation of Herman Miller's Aeron chair, Gladwell noted that when it was first introduced, it was uniformly thought to be comfortable --- but ugly -- by facility planners and office equipment buyers. It subsequently went on to become the best-selling chair in history. What happened? At the time, the design was so radical, focus group members didn't have the language to describe it, so they fell back on what they knew, as a basis of comparison. This, Gladwell says, points out the hazard not just of focus groups, but of asking any group of people to say what they like. "Asking them to explain when they don't have the language, forces them toward less sophisticated, daring and radical ideas." Innovators, beware: that thumbs down you got might just mean your product is so revolutionary it leaves people literally speechless."

Listen to a podcast of the presentation.