The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars | 9,074 ratings
Price: 17.05
Last update: 12-23-2024
About this item
From the bestselling author of The Bomber Mafia: discover Malcolm Gladwell's breakthrough debut and explore the science behind viral trends in business, marketing, and human behavior.
The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. This widely acclaimed bestseller, in which Malcolm Gladwell explores and brilliantly illuminates the tipping point phenomenon, is already changing the way people throughout the world think about selling products and disseminating ideas.
“A wonderful page-turner about a fascinating idea that should affect the way every thinking person looks at the world.” —Michael Lewis
Top reviews from the United States
5.0 out of 5 stars Informative and Thought Provoking
The first concept Gladwell discusses is the law of the few. This concept states that there are a few people who will push an idea until it gains a lot of popularity. These people can be broken up into three categories: connectors, mavens, and salesmen. Connectors are people that have many social connections, and can create relationships, deals, and connections that may have otherwise not occurred. Mavens are the people who feel passionately about the trend that is expanding, and help to sell its ideas to others over other choices. Mavens give information to other consumers that help them to make well-versed decisions. Last, salesmen are the people who have unusual charm and charisma, who are able to persuade other people’s buying decisions.
The first example that Gladwell uses is the spread of syphilis in the streets of Baltimore. He applies his the law of few concept to this scenario by pointing out that there are many people in the city who fit his model of connector, maven, or salesmen; who helped to contribute to the spread of the disease. One of these people is “Darnell ‘Boss Man’ McGee. He was big- over six feet- and charming, a talented skater, who wowed young girls with his exploits on the rink,” (20). His charming personality easily allowed him to persuade girls to do what he wanted, which is a perfect fit for Gladwell’s law of the few. McGee is an easy fit for Gladwell’s salesmen concept, because he is able to easily convince and persuade people to make decisions. There is truth to Gladwell’s concepts, because McGee was a huge instigator in the spread of syphilis, and he fits Gladwell’s mold of the salesmen so perfectly there can be no denying his involvement in the advancement of the disease.
The next key concept that Gladwell introduces is his idea of the stickiness factor. This concept states that a trend cannot become popular unless it is memorable and sticks to the minds of those who encounter it. This concept usually cannot be applied to the spread of diseases, but is crucial to other kinds of trends such as a business selling a product. The stickiness factor is simple, but essential to a trend’s success, if something is not memorable, then it cannot become a popular idea or product. Gladwell uses examples from television in order to explain the uses and importance of the stickiness factor. He talks about Joan Ganz Cooney’s, “show… that was contagious enough it could serve as an educational Tipping Point: giving children from disadvantaged homes a leg up once they began elementary school… lingering long enough to have an impact well after the children stopped watching the show,” (89). Cooney’s plan would later turn into Sesame Street which not only achieved this goal, but received great popularity and praise for doing so as well. Sesame Street won such praise for meeting this goal because teaching is usually done to target a child’s strengths and weaknesses, which is extremely difficult to do through television because there is a set script that cannot be changed and must effectively teach all the children that may be watching. The show’s founders discovered ways to still successfully deliver educational messages to children, which are still efficient today. These techniques are what give the show its stickiness factor, proof that a stickiness factor will help something gain immense popularity.
Gladwell’s final concept he discusses is the power of context. The power of context is an interesting concept that has largely to do with human nature. Gladwell’s definition of the power of context is that human nature is heavily influenced by its environment; the environment being not just a physical location, but the actual situational surroundings and social settings of a group of people as well. In his exact words, Gladwell says, “Epidemics are sensitive to the conditions and circumstances of the times and places in which they occur,” (139). In order to justify this concept, Gladwell used the declining crime rate in New York City during the 1990s. In this example, Gladwell states that the decline in crime in New York was due to a lot of factors, but mostly argues that the change in environment was the largest contributing factor. 1990s New York was a time that the broken window theory was introduced, which stated that many neighborhoods were becoming tremendously conscious of their own quality of living and would not allow even small signs of deterioration to occur; even a broken window. This made numerous New York neighborhoods a lot nicer, and safer, reducing the sale and use of crack cocaine, and violent crimes.
Gladwell’s concepts to hold strong truth in the world that we live in. There is no denying the fact that trends exist, and that they receive enormous popularity, and Gladwell’s concepts finally give us a sense of how this occurs. The law of the few, the stickiness factor, and the power of context all have clear implications on how trends spread, and they are all backed up in Gladwell’s historical research. The examples Gladwell provides are exemplary when it comes to arguing his points because they show all sorts of trends in history that blew up because of all his theories. The example I found to be particularly strong was the stickiness factor of Sesame Street. Sesame Street is one of the most popular children’s television shows and now there is a solid explanation as to why this is true. Gladwell was smart to use this example because it is relatable to a large number of people, which makes it easy for a large audience to quickly grasp and understand his concept that is the stickiness factor. This example is, in its own way, the novel’s own stickiness factor.
The concepts discussed in The Tipping Point are closely related to another book, which is entitled Made to Stick, written by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. Made to Stick builds off of The Tipping Point’s concept of the stickiness factor, examining what makes ideas memorable. It states that in order for an idea to be memorable, it must meet these requirements: simplicity, it must be a concrete idea, it must be unexpected, emotional, and have stories behind it (Heath). Since this book even exists, it is a statement to how well written and truthful The Tipping Point actually is. Other authors want to explore the concepts that Gladwell created, showing his success in dissecting how trends are set.
I found Gladwell to achieve his goals very efficiently throughout the novel. He clearly shows his audience how his concepts create trends, and provides explicit examples of historic trends that prove his concepts to be true. For example, Gladwell used the spread of syphilis as his topic, applied a concept to it; the law of the few; and showed an example of it. In that case, he showed his audience the exploits of Darnell “Boss Man” McGee, a flawless example for the law of the few.
All in all, The Tipping Point is a must read because it shows so much light on how things spread, or gain popularity. Whether the reader is a doctor, trend setter, or even a chief marketing officer of a firm, there is valuable information for just about everyone. Even casual readers should take joy in learning about the causes of trend setting and maybe even find ways to apply it to their lives. Anyone involved in marketing should definitely give The Tipping Point a read because it contains extremely valuable information, in the three concepts of trend setting, which can be used to market any product.
4.0 out of 5 stars Very Interesting and Educational Read!!!
Gladwell introduces the three rules of epidemics to explain what makes certain trends become a nationwide phenomenon while others just disappear after a short amount of time; The Law of the Few, The Stickiness Factor, and The Power of Context. The book tells a story about how a few teenagers in NY brought back the almost off the market Hush Puppie sneaker and made it a fashion icon; the Hush Puppie sneaker was a strong example of how The Law of the Few works. The Law of the Few explains how this epidemic is started by only a small group of people, but this small group of people must have the right traits to make the trend contagious enough to spread dramatically. Connectors, mavens and salespeople, are the tree type of people described in the book; Connectors are social butterflies which link different groups of people together, Mavens are like sponges in that they soak up as much knowledge as they can, and salespeople are the persuaders who are able to make others think a certain way or follow a certain trend. The book also explains that certain people can be more than one of these types, Paul Revere is used as an example of both a connector and a maven.
The second rule of epidemics focuses on the importance of not only making something contagious but making something stick. Gladwell explains how a message or trend may reach a large amount of people but for an epidemic to occur the message or trend must stick in people's minds. The book dives into the success of young children's TV programs such as Sesame St., explaining that producers do so much research to figure out what intrigue young people. Sesame St. producers understand what they're viewers want to see and are able to produce each episode to make it educational and fun for young children. The idea that a product or message needed a sticky factor was a given to me before reading this book, but what this book made me realize was how much research and hard work goes into making something stick even with something as easy as a young children's program.
Lastly the power of context explains how human behavior is highly affected by they're surroundings and specific circumstances which the context is presented. Gladwell explained how certain factors such as the state of the economy, shift in age demographics in the population etc could all potentially have an impact on crime taking place in New York City. An example used was how zero tolerance for minor crimes on the NY subway helped a dramatic decline in the amount of major crimes throughout NY, although this example got Gladwell's point across I did not find it as realistic as others. What I found to be most interesting in describing the power of context were the case examples and psychosocial studies showing that people are less likely to help people if there are other people around to help and if they are not under time pressure for other commitments.
Taking everything into account, I found The Tipping Point to be both educational and intriguing. I think Gladwell did a great job in using plenty of data and examples to discuss how social behavior plays a major role in turning a certain product or message into a nationwide trend. I would recommend everyone to read this book.