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Despite its catchy subtitle, Group Think, like most good essays, attempts to answer a serious question – “What spurs innovation in a group?”

By definition, innovation means the introduction of new things, ideas or ways of doing something, and group means a number of people or things that are together in the same place or that are connected in some way.

Gladwell’s essay can be divided into three sections. Each of the sections suggests different things.

In his first section, Gladwell briefly introduces his topic. He introduces names and the relations of the “Saturday Night Live” with many quotations. The important part of his essay starts with the second section. The second section argues that most of the people rely on their group members, or they are being influenced by their group members. He exemplifies his theory by using examples of different people. In addition, Gladwell also believes that many people lose their initial target while being in a group, which is known as “group distortion”. In his last section, Gladwell suggests the idea of “circles” – being an insider or an outsider. He believes that inside jokes can only be understood by the insiders, which can never last as the group grows bigger, it falls apart.