Rating Qualities

9
Applicable
Innovative

The Tipping Point

How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
Malcolm Gladwell | Little, Brown US, 2000

This is the bestseller that made social theorist and New Yorker staff writer Malcolm Gladwell
a household name. Published in 2000, it remains among the top 1,000 bestsellers on Amazon.
Gladwell introduces concepts that still resonate – for example, that effective ad campaigns,
clothing trends, ways of thought and cultural changes have “stickiness.” They stick in your mind
and influence your actions, purchases and self-perception. He discusses “social epidemics” and
social “contagions” marked by the spread of localized trends or attitudes – like hipsters wearing
Hush Puppies. These epidemics spark broad change, generate solutions both conservative and
“counterintuitive,” and redefine what you regard as normal. The theories Gladwell raises and the
case histories he cites all support his central theme: that significant change doesn’t always evolve
slowly. It can occur suddenly and spring from the influence of a small, select, well-connected few.
getAbstract recommends this classic to those who want to understand how small events spark
larger ones and how social change reaches a tipping point.

Review
Gladwell’s books break down social science and academic research for a mass audience. Many
of the ideas he popularizes – most of which, as he always points out, didn’t originate with him
– become truisms and are as hard to dislodge from the common view as the ideas that they
dislodged. As he discusses the concept of stickiness – ideas that resonate and stay with you –
you realize that Gladwell is as sticky as they come. The central concept he describes in another
bestseller Outliers – that mastery in any field requires 10,000 hours of practice – pops up in every
other business, leadership or self-help book, as it has since he first reported the idea. Many picked
up on that concept, and many others repeated it. That’s how a “virus” turns into a social epidemic.
The messenger matters. Not everyone can spread a social virus because not everyone gets respect
for his or her opinion.

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The virus being spread or the person spreading it must have stickiness. Stickiness can be
counterintuitive. Social viruses might stick – as when East Village New Yorkers turned ordinary
Hush Puppy shoes into the coolest possible footwear – because they seemed to be the opposite
of what would stick. Hush Puppies were so uncool that when cool people started wearing them
they created an enviable aura of anti-cool. The message, in effect, was I’m so cool I can make this
uncool thing cool. That is a very sticky idea.

To understand any widespread social phenomenon, Gladwell explains, regard it as an epidemic.

Ideas, actions, styles – anything you can name, really – can “spread just like viruses do.” Someone
does, says, wears, sings or builds something. Somebody else likes and copies it. Then three
more people like it and copy it. Visibility builds around this tiny core, and suddenly, everyone is
doing, saying, wearing, buying, singing or building it. Consider The Tipping Point as an example.
Gladwell writes the book. His publishers show it to influential people. They write or talk about
it in influential publications or social settings. More influencers praise it. By the time it hits the
stores, positive word of mouth has spread like a virus, and reviewers echo it. Some people buy it
because they’ve heard about its ideas and they’re curious. Some buy it because, now, everybody
else is buying it. You may not be able to identify the precise moment The Tipping Point passed its
tipping point, but when it popped up on the bestseller list, you knew the dominoes had fallen.

“Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen”

Gladwell’s diagnosis is that social viruses spread because people with influence adopt or promote
them. Not everyone can turn an occurrence into a social virus and then into an epidemic. Three
kinds of people have the power to start, spread and sustain social epidemics, trends, fads and
lasting social change: connectors, mavens and salespeople. Viewing this book with the perspective
of the time that’s passed since its initial publication reveals that Gladwell himself is all three at
once.

Connectors connect. They “know a lot of people.” But, crucially, Gladwell notes, they know the
right kind of people – other connectors. Those who are connected to connectors value their input,
as the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon illustrates. In this game, you link stars to each other
because they were in a film with someone who was in a film with Bacon. The game emerged
because people regard Bacon as a connector. He has appeared in so many films that he serves as
a human crossroads. But Bacon is far from being the most connected Hollywood star. Gladwell
reports calculations from University of Virginia computer scientist Brett Tjaden that Rod Steiger,
of all people, turns out to be the actor who connects with the greatest number of other actors in the
fewest steps. But nobody considers Steiger a connector. This illustrates a crucial connector trait:
People have to connect to you and believe you connect with others.

Mavens know a lot about one thing or a lot about a number of things, but people recognize and
respect them as experts who accumulate knowledge. Gladwell explains how information drives
markets, so mavens make markets move. When they act, people find their actions credible and

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follow, in part because mavens like to tell people what they’ve learned. But mavens don’t sell. They
don’t push. They don’t seek to make people behave as they do. Mavens educate.

Salespeople sell. When they like something, they want everyone to embrace it. In Gladwell’s
construct, they may not be connectors or mavens. They may function in limited social circles and
may not know or care why what they like is superior or not. But they do encourage others to like
what they like. Good salespeople can convert others to their taste so effectively that their followers
will convert the people they know, and so on. A connector, maven or salesperson, alone, can’t turn
a virus into an epidemic, Gladwell finds. All three types of people must embrace the virus and
spread it in their own way.

Evolving Style

The difference in style between The Tipping Point and Gladwell’s later works is telling. As the
saying goes, you get 30 years to write your first book, but only three years to write your next. In
The Tipping Point, Gladwell’s sentences are longer and more complex than in his subsequent
books. He’s wordier and less concise. He seems to be writing for an audience as smart as he is.
That would be a small audience, indeed. In subsequent books, he writes more simply and explains
his examples in more basic terms. Here, he sometimes obscures the punchline and writes around
his main idea. It speaks to the stickiness of his themes that the book became a bestseller. This is
not, at times, his most graceful writing.

Enduring Concepts

But even when Gladwell’s style proves a little tedious or impenetrable, his ideas remain
irresistible. He analyzes how social forces explode. With The Tipping Point, he took on this task
pre-Facebook, pre-Twitter and pre-Snapchat, yet his explanations for how trends turn into social
norms remain applicable. If you substitute any of these social media venues for the channels
of communication he describes, his take on how social epidemics begin and grow hasn’t aged.
Gladwell’s five bestsellers plus his speeches and New Yorker articles – testify to his prolific
production. His skill suits his era perfectly. He’s an intelligent, articulate repackager of relatively
simple explanations of human behavior. Once Gladwell reworks them, these explanations seem
profound but remain accessible. That he repeats this feat book after book testifies to his genius –
not necessarily as a writer or a thinker, but his genius for understanding what makes a bestseller
and his ability to write essentially the same book again and again, giving you a portion more about
a different subject matter each time. When you reach for a Gladwell book you know what you’re
going to get. He is brilliant at maintaining and promoting his own brand.

Since The Tipping Point appeared, Gladwell has become a household name, a brand and even
an adjective. “Gladwellian” now refers to thinkers and pundits who use social science research
to uncover and explain counterintuitive causes for societal trends and markers. He’s created a
recognizable persona and earned wide respect. Gladwell appears on TV, radio, TED Talks and his

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own podcasts, and he’s earned a singular level of credibility. He’s revered as a public intellectual.
It’s hard to think of another author who occupies Gladwell’s position. This book was Gladwell’s
launch vehicle. It began as a New Yorker article, and Gladwell expanded it into a book. It’s ironic
that his first bestseller addresses how social epidemics rapidly expand from the actions of a few
prescient, energetic pioneers into a mass movement. That’s exactly what happened to Gladwell.
All the ideas he raises here apply to his own career, success and rapid celebrity. The Tipping Point
itself turned out to be Gladwell’s tipping point.

About the Author

New Yorker staff writer Malcolm Gladwell also wrote Blink: The Power of Thinking Without
Thinking; Outliers: The Story of Success; What The Dog Saw: And Other Adventures and David
and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants.

getAbstract maintains complete editorial responsibility for all parts of this review. All rights reserved. No part of this review may be reproduced or
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