195: Derek Thompson - What Makes Something A Hit? (Hit Makers)
The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk
Ryan Hawk
4.9 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 12 March 2017
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Episode 195: Derek Thompson - What Makes Something A Hit? (Hit Makers)
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The Learning Leader Show
"Think of speechwriting like a music composer. Use repetition and choruses."
In This Episode, You Will Learn:
- What makes something a hit?
- Is there a formula? No, there is not a formula... People think there is and that's a mistake
- Bottom line: "Distribution beats content" -- "This is an unsentimental book"
- There is power in distribution
- How did Simon Sinek's TED Talk go viral?
- It was shared by people with millions of followers on multiple platforms like Reddit
- Think: Who is my audience? Broadcast your content to the right audience
- Why do we always watch Dumber and Dumber and Shawshank Redemption?
- There is nostalgia in art
- We are always trying to recover existential love
- How did Bumble spread?
- Injected into mainstream consciousness through celebrity -- Start with one very attractive sorority and continue to repeat
- How did Facebook spread?
- Piggy backed off of other networks (Harvard)
- How Jon Favreau and President Barack Obama write speeches:
- They think like musicians
- Using choruses and repetition
- They think like musicians
- The best speeches connect with people where they are -- "The power of repetition in song is remarkable"
- How has Derek made his book a best-seller?
- Familiarity and repartition followed by surprise
- Familiar surprises throughout
- Great distribution
- Familiarity and repartition followed by surprise
"We don't like pure originality that much. We like familiarity."
Continue Learning:
- Follow Derek on Twitter: @DKThomp
- Read: Hit Makers: The Science of Popularity in an Age of Distraction
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community
- To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12
You may also like these episodes:
Episode 078: Kat Cole – From Hooters Waitress To President of Cinnabon
Episode 071: Nate Boyer - Green Beret, Texas Football, The NFL
Episode 179: How To Sustain Excellence - The Best Answers From 178 Questions
Episode 107: Simon Sinek – Leadership: It Starts With Why
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Episode edited by the great J Scott Donnell
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We don't like pure originality that much we like things that are sneakily familiar |
| 0:06.2 | We like new songs that sound a lot like older songs. We've already decided that we like we enjoy enjoy new movies that are sequels, adaptations, or |
| 0:14.3 | reboots, or even original movies that are, again, are sneakily familiar. We even like political essays |
| 0:21.2 | or podcasts that take a subject area that we already know a lot about |
| 0:25.8 | and advance it by only a little bit, by testing our capacity for thinking, but not entirely |
| 0:31.7 | breaking it. Hey and welcome to the Learning Leader Show. |
| 0:37.6 | I am Ryan Hawk. |
| 0:38.8 | Thanks so much for being here. |
| 0:40.6 | What an intelligent featured leader tonight. My guest is Derek Thompson, |
| 0:44.9 | a senior editor at the Atlantic magazine and a weekly news analyst for NPR's here and now also |
| 0:51.2 | recent best-selling author of his book titled Hitmakers, |
| 0:54.8 | The Science of Popularity in an Age of Distraction, |
| 0:58.5 | named to Forbes 30 under 30 list and times 140 best Twitter feeds Derek's really thought-provoking |
| 1:05.9 | speaker. A few of the topics we got into, what makes something a hits? Followed by |
| 1:11.8 | what was the key to Facebook's massive growth then how |
| 1:16.0 | President Barack Obama and John Favreau think of the speech writing process and |
| 1:21.6 | how it relates to music. |
| 1:24.1 | Ladies and gentlemen, I guarantee you will find this one interesting |
| 1:27.6 | with Derek Thompson. All right, Derek, thanks so much for being here on the Learning Leader Show. |
| 1:38.8 | Welcome. |
| 1:39.8 | Thanks, it's great to be here. |
| 1:41.4 | I saw a tweet from a former guest |
... |
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