The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
February 20th, 2011
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Since I liked Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers so much, I’ve been meaning to read some of his other books. I finally got around to his first bestseller, The Tipping Point
It’s about the idea that “ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread like viruses do,” becoming epidemics when they reach a critical mass, or their tipping point. But what causes something to tip?
It happens though the efforts of a small number of people with very specific talents: connectors (social networkers), mavens (information specialists), and salesman (persuaders). If something is spread by the right people, and if it’s “sticky” enough, and if it’s delivered in the right context, it reaches a tipping point.
He shows how his theory explains the tipping points of a number of epidemics, including Paul Revere’s midnight ride, the six degrees of Kevin Bacon, Sesame Street, Hush Puppies shoes, New York crime rates, syphilis in Baltimore, suicide in Micronesia, and smoking in the U.S.
You probably won’t find it very practical, but it’s very thought provoking. I found it good, but not as good as Outliers (although I’ve heard other people say the opposite).
February 22nd, 2011 at 10:34 am
We are watching the tipping point in action as we watch the today’s news unfold. The Middle East and much of the rest of the world has fallen over the edge of the tipping point and by tomorrow the world n will be different. With each successive tomorrow morning at the speed of light, we will have a new world unfolding as we watch. What it will be and how it will affect us is something to be studied for years to come.
February 23rd, 2011 at 10:17 pm
Richard is right. There are big things happening on a daily basis right now, and that region of the world will probably be a very different place when all the dust settles.
March 19th, 2011 at 8:53 pm
Hi Hunter
Thank you for saying more about these books. Thanks to some raving reviews and recommendations from a few trusted friends, I bought both – I think it has been over 2 years ago (ouch!) and haven’t had a chance – scratch that – haven’t made the moment to read either. I have so many other books that I am constantly going through that these are sitting on my shelf, but I do have a date with them for some future moment
As for the tipping point, I too agree with Richard. We are watching it in action – whether this is environmental, political, food, society, people, what have you… we have come to an amazing, yet critical point in time – and I wouldn’t change being alive here and now for nothing. We are at the cusp of creating a new society and living in balance and harmony with the Earth, like never before. Sure it looks grim now to many, but it is all about that tipping point I believe, which can turn things around beyond people’s wildest expectations.
March 19th, 2011 at 9:48 pm
@ Evita, yes, I do think we’re at some kind of a tipping point now, though I don’t know which way we’re going to tip. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.
Oh, and I have a few books waiting on my shelf as well. The shelf never seems to be empty!