The series of anecdotes in The Tipping Point are enjoyable reading and invigorating brain candy due to the ease with which one flips pages. The messages Malcolm Gladwell conveys are entertaining, engaging, and educational. Although many seem obvious, several clearly were not for a long time. From that primary fact, I took away three big messages from his book.

First, dig deeply and think broadly. In parable after parable Gladwell continually hammers home that the perceived initial solution to a problem does not always adequately address the core issue(s) involved. Emblematic of this is the murder of Kitty Genovese in New York when none of the 38 witnesses called the police. Widely held beliefs dictated that people in large urban areas had an emotional need to build an invisible and impenetrable wall around them. Further exploration determined that self-preservation had little to do with it, but rather the belief that someone else would handle the situation did. This story demonstrates the need to be indefatigable in pursuing a variety of answers to vexing questions.

Second, spend time trying to identify how different people affect the world. With his stories of mavens, salespeople, and connectors, I tried to determine what type of a person I am and what types of people my friends and colleagues are. While unable to draw definitive conclusions, I began to categorize. Clearly, this can be beneficial when trying to decide who creates radical and effective change. Failing that, at the very least it provides for an interesting mental journey that may lead to useful insights about oneself and interaction with others.

Third, exploit tipping points quickly. Perhaps the best example of this is seen from the phenomenal success of Gladwell’s book. To some degree its success appears due to Gladwell’s connections with the powerful publishing elite. His tipping point seems to have occurred when Tina Brown recognized him as a phenomenon and hired him to work at The New Yorker. From there, he leaped into the world of writer superstars. It seems clear that speedy utilization of a tipping point is necessary for the wind may quickly blow in another direction.