How to Become Famous with Cass Sunstein

In How to Become Famous: Lost Einsteins, Forgotten Superstars, and How the Beatles Came to Be, Cass Sunstein reveals why some individuals become celebrities—and others don’t. Sunstein has long been at the forefront of behavioral economics. He is the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard Law School and served as the administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Obama administration. He has authored numerous best sellers, such as Nudge and The World According to Star Wars. In his new book, he explores the roles played by skill, luck, and social processes in the achievement of fame and success—based on recent research on informational cascades, reputation cascades, network effects, and group polarization. Together with Martin Reeves, Chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, Sunstein discusses how a better understanding of these mechanisms can help businesses make better decisions in marketing, talent management, and innovation - and why the greatest composer of all time may not be J S Bach, but rather Taylor Swift. Key topics discussed:  03:18 | How to prove whether or not fame is driven by merit 06:08 | The importance of quality and skill to fame 09:33 | Enduring vs. transient fame 11:36 | The greatest composers of all time: Bach vs. Taylor Swift 14:44 | Social factors driving fame 19:54 | The role of group polarization and network effects 28:48 | Implications for businesses: Marketing, talent, innovation 33:19 | The art of manipulating information cascades Additional inspirations from Cass Sunstein:Thinkers & Ideas: Look Again with Cass SunsteinLook Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There; with Tali Sharot (Atria/One Signal Publishers, 2024)Nudge; with Richard Thaler (Penguin Books,...