How Ideas Spread: From Cornfields to Coffee Shops

Why the right story—shared in the right words—matters more than any sales pitch when it comes to driving real adoption.

"An innovation is not adopted because it is better. It is adopted because the people around you have adopted it."

- Everett Rogers, Diffusion of Innovations

In the 1930s, Bruce Ryan and Neal Gross conducted one of the most famous studies in the history of innovation. They were studying corn. Specifically, they tracked how a group of 259 farmers in Greene County, Iowa adopted a revolutionary new hybrid seed that promised higher yields and greater resilience.

On paper, the innovation was superior in every way. But farmers didn’t rush to adopt it. In the early years, only a few took the plunge—just a handful by 1933. Then came 16 in 1934, 21 the year after, and eventually, a wave of 36, 61, 46, and so on. By 1941, nearly every farmer in the study had switched.

What caused the change? It wasn’t just the seed—it was the story.

The adoption curve they uncovered became foundational in understanding how new ideas spread. It spawned classic works from the likes of Everett Rogers, Geoffrey Moore, Malcolm Gladwell, and Jonah Berger.

First come the Innovators—risk-takers drawn to what’s new. Then, the Early Adopters—respected, thoughtful leaders who validate the innovation in the eyes of others.

Then, the Early Majority and Late Majority—those who wait for proof, safety, and consensus. And finally, the Laggards—the traditionalists who change only when they have no other choice.

But what most people misunderstand about this curve is why it bends the way it does.

It isn’t just about logic or performance. It’s about language—specifically, the way an idea is translated from one group to the next through words that make it safe, valuable, and worth sharing.

That same dynamic still plays out today.

We recently conducted a study of our own—asking 250 farmers how they first heard about and adopted autosteer technology and what led them to actually adopt it.

The results were striking:

• 50% of farmers first heard about autosteer from a sales rep. But only 29% of those went on to buy.