The Tipping Point

The premise of the tipping point is, at first appearance, a simple one: tiny, seemingly-insignificant changes can produce massive effects. What makes this book so enjoyable are the varied examples Gladwell uses. These different instances are what paint the picture in our minds and make it a wildly interesting read.

What took the little-known shoes, “Hush Puppies”, and brought them from being discontinued to being a hundred million dollar staple of American fashion? It was friend-group of fifteen kids living in Soho who wanted to be different. They just went to the thrift store on the corner (one of the only places they were available), bought them, and started wearing them. As the trend snowballed to kids in neighboring districts and past the “tipping point”, Hush Puppies shortly went city-wide, state-wide, nation-wide, and then global nearly overnight.

So, what was the secret kindling to the explosion? Here’s where it gets more complex (and more interesting). After Gladwell lays out what the “tipping point” is, he seeks to look at situations from every angle to figure out the subtleties that make epidemics happen. If you could introduce these tiny elements into the equation, you would effectively have the power to make any idea, trend, or product “tip”.

What I found most interesting was a closer examination of the people involved in the epidemic spread of ideas. Most people roll with the crowd, says Gladwell, but some are different. These people are the key:

• Connectors: Think about the person you know involved with many different people and more importantly, many different groups of people. You’ve likely met a good portion of your friends through them.


• Mavens: What connectors are for people, mavens are for information. These are the people who are constantly learning and are always informed and many times ahead of great trends, products, and ideas. Mavens love to help people because they simply enjoy it. They might even have a blog reviewing books and writing on the big ideas of life…


• Salesmen: As the name implies, these people are good at tipping people who are on the edge about a particular idea into actually going with the idea. Think of the friend who always gets you to come out to whatever it is going on that night.

Along with the people involved in epidemics, Gladwell also looks at the message’s “stickiness”, and “channel limits” but these shan’t be expanded here. In elaborating on these concepts he probes Paul Revere’s midnight ride, crime in New York, syphilis in Philadelphia, Airwalk shoes, the absolute brilliance of Sesame Street, college vaccinations, the Ya-ya sisterhood, and even John Wesley’s preaching in England. Each of these examples lends different information vital to understanding what goes into the epidemic spread of ideas, giving us the huge output wrought by tiny input.

“So, then,” you might ask, “Where’s the application?” Honestly, you would be well served by simply reading this book for entertainment as I did. But, the potential applications are endless. “The Tipping Point” could have huge implications on starting a photography business, getting people to live healthier or eat organic food, gospel ministry, or simply alerting people about an upcoming concert. That’s what’s so doubly good about “The Tipping Point” Don’t get me wrong: the reader is learning a new concept, but through great writing and unique examples, learning rarely proves to be this fun.