ExactTarget invited Malcolm Gladwell to speak at their industry leading annual one-to-one marketing conference, Connections, which took place in Indianapolis on October 13th-15th. The theme for this year’s conference was “Success by Design.”

Never speaking on a topic that his audience knows more about than he does (in this case one-to-one / email marketing), Malcolm chose to illuminate how Fleetwood Mac achieved “Success by Design,” and proffer up the universal principles that are part of success’ design, regardless of industry. Below is a summary of Malcolm’s presentation.

Effort & Time
By now, everyone has read or heard about Malcolm’s 10,000 hour rule, that throughout history, no one has been successful until they’ve spent at least 10,000 hours working on their talent, career, metier, etc. Malcolm expanded on this theory to debunk the myth of Rock n’ Roll’s “overnight success.”

“Rumours” one of Fleetwood Mac’s most successful albums, did not come early on in their career. Formed in 1967, they didn’t earn mainstream attention until 1975. They had churned out 15 albums before they were able to capture unqualified success with their 16th, “Rumours.” The time and effort they had to invest in these 8 years, is all a part of the design of success.

Adversity -> Success
So what are you doing during those 10,000 hours? You’re learning and gaining knowledge – refining your trade. There are two different ways you can learn:

• Capitalization- learning by building on strengths and previous successes
• Compensation- learning by compensating for weaknesses.

Compensation is much harder to do than Capitalization, but if done well, it is much more valuable.

Fleetwood Mac had some challenging moments together, especially when their lead guitarist, Peter Green, ran off with a German cult. Even through the rest of their history, members floated in and out, the only consistent ones being Fleetwood and “Mac” (John McVie). Faced with the adversity of fluctuating leadership and member continuity, they had to learn how to compensate. Fleetwood Mac adapted by bringing in new members, and using this as an opportunity to experiment with new styles. What followed was years of experimenting with style and sound, and after much trial and error they figured out what worked: the California sound we hear in “Rumours.” Their ability to recognize opportunity in adversity, and compensate is part of the design for success.

Nurture & Support
Malcolm is keen on nurture as a driving force in success. Malcolm looked at nurture from a different angle with Fleetwood Mac, as he examined the growth and maturation of the band itself, rather than individual members. Like a child, a band needs “parenting” – nurture, support, and advice. Fleetwood Mac received this support and nurture through their record label Reprise/Warner Bros. When they faced adversity, went down wayward paths, and experimented with their sound – their record label stuck with them. This fidelity, consistency, and nurture is rare in today’s world. So often record labels and brands break up just about as often as the members themselves, which may be part of the explanation for the industry’s decline. Nurture is part of the design for success; it is the motivator behind investing those 10,000 hours, and it is the enabler that empowers you to learn and face adversity.