The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

By Malcolm Gladwell

 

 

If you had the good fortune to sit next to Malcolm Gladwell on a plane, invariably he would be apt to tell you that a “butterfly that flapped its wings in China, would cause a hurricane in New York City.”  More importantly, he would be able to explain how and why this phenomenon would occur in terms more appropriate for a late night bull session at a Starbucks rather than in a stuffy dissertation defense in front of seasoned University professors.

Since the odds of sitting next to Gladwell on a plane are relatively slim, he has cheerfully provided a fun, detailed (yes, I do use fun and detailed in the same breath) of the wonderful, random world of social epidemics, in his creative and insightful work, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference.  While I casually refer to social epidemics as random in nature, Gladwell carefully points out that all social epidemics, “share a basic underlying pattern…they are clear examples of contagious behavior.”  According to Gladwell a social epidemic demonstrates the power of the phenomena of word of mouth. 

In Gladwell’s world, there is no difference between the patterns of explosion of the HIV-AIDS disease in the early 1980’s and a fashion trend, like the reemergence of Hush Puppies as a vital fashion accessory in the mid-1990’s.  Both of these explosions occurred rapidly and were all-encompassing to their respective audiences.  What makes Tipping Point special is that it captures the critical point of inflection where these two events transcended from unique occurrences into the annals of history. Gladwell insightfully points out that there are three significant agents responsible for the Tipping Point, The Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context. Gladwell carefully weaves these three change agents throughout the entire book while simultaneously referring to every major American social trend of the last few decades.

 In a leisurely pace, chockfull of cultural references ranging from Sesame Street to the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, Gladwell is very effective at developing his ideas and theories and presenting them in such a way, you may never view your friends and acquaintances in the same manner.  However, the one thing you will definitely do when you run into your friends and acquaintances after reading Tipping Point is recommend that they read it.

 

 

 

 

By Brian Green