Introduction

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference is a book written by Malcolm Gladwell. According to Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of English, the meaning of Tipping point is “the culmination of a build-up of small changes that effects a big change.” Another definition done by Gladwell, in the Tipping point is, “the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point” (p. 12). A tipping point in this context is the point or the moment at which an idea or something becomes common in our life. The basic question asked by Gladwell in the entire book is, “Why is it that some ideas or behaviors or products start epidemics and others don’t?” (p.14). It is obvious that Gladwell’s purpose is to develop a general theory applicable to different social situations. Apparently, he achieved it in a very simple manner.

While I was reading The Tipping Point, I felt like I was reading a history book that included not only the history of U.S. but also history of companies in the U.S. Basically, he talks about “how little things can make a big difference” in a society. To give that basic point, he discussed everything from the children’s shows like Sesame Street and Blue’s Clues to the drop in crime in New York in the early 1990's, to the Columbia Record Club, and to how "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" became a best seller. In the right context and with the certain powerful people-Mavens, Connectors, and Salesman- it is very easy for social epidemics can spread so fast.

The Three Rules of Epidemics

            Gladwell presents three principles-the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context-of epidemic or as he calls them also the “three agents of change” (p. 19). Gladwell’s point in this chapter is to show how small percentages of people affect the whole event. For instance, he says that 80 percent of crimes are committed by only 20 percent of the criminals. This proportion extremely changes when it comes to epidemics. The interesting thing is that most of the acts that lead epidemics are done by a very little percentage of people. He says social epidemics work in exactly the same way as the medical epidemics. Those three principles, listed above are the direction that leads to the Tipping Point. Each of them will be discussed under the separate title below.        

The Law of the Few

            According to Gladwell, there are three types of people who have the power to start social epidemics. If you want to create change in society, you have to find them. You can start an epidemic with a tiny majority of people. Gladwell emphasizes the power of the word-of-mouth communication form. He claims the Paul Revere’s case is the most famous historical example of a word-of-mouth epidemic. Without having connectors, mavens, and salesman, it is hard to influence or create change in society. They have the ability of starting any kind of dissemination. Connectors specialized on people, and they know lots of people. They have an extraordinary power of having friends and making social connections. They have connections in so many different social environments and they have the ability to bring them all together. In short,” Word-of-mouth epidemics are the work of Connectors” (Gladwell, 2002, p. 59). They are the people who spread the message to the all levels of society.

             The second type of people is mavens who are the data bank of society. They accumulate all kind of knowledge. As you know, knowledge is power. So as Gladwell says that the people with the most information must be the most important (p.60). They are willing to solve other people’s problems. They think that solving other problems means solving their own problems. They are also capable of starting word-of-mouth epidemics. They are mentoring everybody about everything they know.

            The third type of people is salesmen who have the powerful negotiation skills. Salesmen possess the capability to convince other people. Gladwell emphasizes the importance of non-verbal cues. Salesmen give non-verbal cues. They have powerful and persuasive personalities that dictate the “terms of the interaction.” When connectors, mavens, and salesmen are all involved into a project, it is obvious that it has a much higher chance of expansion. As a result, you have to find those three types of people if you want to start an epidemic in society.

The Stickiness Factor

            The Law of the Few emphasizes the necessity and importance of messenger. The success of message depends on the quality of “stickiness” (p.92). The message has to be memorable. In order to create social epidemics, all we have to do is to create ideas that are memorable and force us into action. If we know the way of packaging information, it will definitely be irresistible. You don’t have to present your message with the fancy words. All you have to do is to find a memorable and a trivial slogan. 

The Power of Context (Part One)

            As human beings, we are heavily under the effect of our outer circumstances. A simple thing can be a cause of big problems or social epidemics. For example, a minor problem like graffiti can be an invitation to more serious crime. New York City’s crime problem was argued in detailed in this book. Gladwell looks the crime issue as an epidemic and he analyzes it within same context. “Epidemics are sensitive to the conditions and circumstances of the times and places in which they occur” (p. 139). The point is that what really matters is that little things that lead big problems. In order to solve big problems such as crime in New York City, all you have to do is to scrape off the graffiti and arrest the fare-beaters. Briefly, Gladwell states that environmental conditions have an important role than we give them credit for.

The Power of Context (Part Two)

The Magic Number One Hundred and Fifty

In this chapter, Gladwell emphasizes the importance of the number 150 which can be also called a small group.

"The figure of 150 seems to represent the maximum number of individuals with whom we can have a genuinely social relationship, the kind of relationship that goes with knowing who they are and how they relate to us. Putting it another way, it's the number of people you would not feel embarrassed about joining uninvited for a drink if you happened to bump into them in a bar." (Robin Dunbar)

The research behind Dunbar’s number suggests that one can only have effective social relationships with 150 people. When you exceeds that number, it will definitely decrease you chance of being effective. It doesn’t necessarily mean that a small increase in the size of a group [beyond 150] doesn’t create a significant social change. This principle indicates that the size of group is another important contextual factor that can trigger viewable changes. Gladwell claims that “Peer pressure is much more powerful than a concept of a boss” (p. 187). The other important advantage of group is that because of having limited mental energy, we focus on what we do best that creates collective data base and synergy. Finally, one of the necessities of inventing transmissible movement is to create many small movements first.

Conclusion

            I think that Gladwell successfully implied the principles for himself. He got the idea from the concept of Epidemic. He basically asks how an idea or a movement becomes so common. The Tipping Point was his first book which has interestingly become well known book and was sold more than a million. His success proves applicability of his theory.

            Gladwell’s book reminds me the movie “The Butterfly effect.” The essence of this movie is that how tiny changes cause big changes in our lives. What Gladwell did is also interesting. He nearly wrote a 300 page book with a simple idea. The principles in this book can be very helpful for people who are in management positions.   The direction presented by Gladwell is very simple to follow. First of all, we need to find right people-connectors, mavens, and salesmen-, then we need to create a memorable slogan for the company or the organization, and last we need to environmental conditions.

Gladwell, M. (2002). The tipping point: How little things can make a big difference. New York, NY:   Hachette Book Group.