The cycle of adoption is fascinating and worth examining:
A grass-roots movement springs up because an individual or small number of people wants to change something.
The majority deride him/her/them as freakish, weird, anarchistic, communist — whatever is most discrediting to what these folks are trying to do and will easily brand them and their efforts as “other.”
The media reports on it — either echoing the disdain or championing the dissent.
Time passes.
Individuals in the majority grow dissatisfied with the same thing that motivated the small group to begin their shift.
These dissatisfied majority people “discover” what the small group has been talking about and doing for some time, and they migrate toward the former fringe group’s efforts, if not the group itself. Remember, they are freaks. But they may be on to something.
The media reports on it again — now citing trends and breaking news.
Business likewise sees an opportunity. What would have been too edgy before, now seems forward thinking and useful so they find ways to ride the wave.
The majority begins investigating it and adopting it.
It becomes mainstream.
Organic food is a perfect example of this phenomenon.
What was once viewed as a bunch of hippie hype and totally “fringe” in the 70s and 80s, has now become a mainstream consumer focus as more people grow concerned with the chemical dependency and food modification programs of agri-businesses.
Likewise, the concept of “green” building.
Previously considered only the purview of radical hippies, suddenly the ideas of stewarding natural resources, living lightly on the grid, and recycling — of mindful consumption and disposal — are being adopted everywhere.
Was it the math that finally got the majority’s attention?
When it was about “Mother Earth,” perhaps the message was obscured by the messengers?
Hard to say.
But at some point, there are enough accessible points of entry that many different kinds of people can find their way in.
And unlikely coalitions are born.
Where do you see this cycle appearing in your life?
Where are you in the minority pushing for change?
Or in the majority, deriding someone else’s efforts and distancing yourself from them to stay “safe?”
What would you gain by seeing their desire for change as an opportunity rather than a threat?
Photo credit: Gabi Witthaus via VisualHunt.com / CC BY-NC-SA
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