I’m sure you’ve read books, columns, or at least heard of Malcolm Gladwell. If you haven’t read any of his work I recommend you start out with The Tipping Point. Malcolm is a master at making the complex simple, and the simple complex – but most of all you are always learning something new.

Here in this video, Malcolm is going to share with you what Steve Jobs and the inventor of modern spaghetti sauce have in common… Give up? They both realized that asking people what they want, doing focus groups, and surveys just doesn’t work. In the year 2000, no consumers knew to ask for a small portable device that could hold thousands of songs – and yet that is what Apple was hard at work on. The trouble is, that people lie (if only subconsciously) about what they really want and how they really feel.

So what about the inventor of modern day spaghetti sauce (and, it turns out, a lot of other modern consumer packaged goods)? You’ll have to watch to find out. If you feel inclined – comment back how you think this may (or may not) apply to real estate and new home marketing/sales. I’ll add my own comments later. Enjoy!