Three ways people lean in

Anyone selling something new wants people to lean in. But interest is not one thing, and it helps to know which kind you are working with.

The first kind is the crowd. Everyone seems to be talking about the same thing at once. It never exists on opening day. It builds as something moves from person to person through a city, and by the time it reaches its height, the seller had very little to do with the timing.

The second kind comes from a glimpse. Information is scarce, and people are shown only a corner of it. A shuttered shopfront in Doha with one line painted across the hoarding. A product photo cropped so you only see an edge. Nobody knows enough yet, so everybody looks.

The third kind comes from tension. Something is not as expected. It is late, or it is about to happen, or it simply does not add up, and the mind will not let it go.

Small sellers often hope for all three at once: an opening that is mysterious, surprising and on everyone's lips by the weekend. That almost never happens, and waiting for it is how good launches get judged as failures.

The glimpse and the tension can be designed. The crowd has to be earned, slowly, long after the opening.

Knowing which one you have this month is most of the plan.