Why 20%?

The language of this mission statement comes in part from the work of the late Dr. Everett Rogers, who pioneered our understanding of how new ideas get adopted in the marketplace in his seminal work, "The Diffusion of Innovation."

It was Dr. Rogers who introduced the now-familiar marketing categories of "Innovator," "Early Adopter," "Early Majority," "Late Majority," and "Laggard." Each category describes the manner in which a person responds to and adopts new ideas.

Innovators are typically the first to adopt a new idea, and help give it "buzz." But the idea will not become mainstream unless it is subsequently embraced by the Early Adopters and then the Early Majority. To make these leaps, the value of the idea must be demonstrated in terms the members of each category best understand and by people they respect. As this occurs, the idea inevitably takes on greater form.

Important for our purposes, Dr. Rogers found that when 5% of a population adopts an idea, the idea is embedded. When 20% adopt it, it becomes unstoppable meaning it has the momentum it needs to work its way up the curve through the rest of the population.