Book review: Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point

Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point dissects the anatomy of a message and how a well-crafted one can change the world. Lauren Mullane takes a look at Gladwell's book and how brokers can use the principles he unravels to boost their bottom line

Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point dissects the anatomy of a message and how a well-crafted one can change the world. Lauren Mullane takes a look at Gladwell’s book and how brokers can use the principles he unravels to boost their bottom line


The Tipping Point Book ReviewTitle: The Tipping Point
Author: Malcom Gladwell
Publisher: Abacus
RRP: $24.95



According to Gladwell, messages that change the world have a strong stickiness factor and exist within a broader external environment that allows for their wider transmission and reception.

In other words, for a message to reach as many people as possible, and to be heard and retained, it must have all the characteristics of a highly contagious virus.

Sounds unpleasant, but in his international bestseller The Tipping Point, Gladwell convinces even the most paranoid hypochondriac that sometimes an epidemic can be a good thing.

He defines a tipping point as “that magic moment when ideas, trends and social behaviours cross a threshold, tip and spread like wildfire”.

The premise of Gladwell’s tipping point theory is that it is often the little, seemingly insignificant things that make a big difference through their flow-on effect.

It is the 'nature' of the little message or idea, the 'characteristics' of the individuals charged with its transmission and the 'external context' that determine the success (or failure) of pushing the tipping point.

According to Gladwell's 'Law of the Few', the success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social skills – these being ‘Connectors ’, people who “link us up with the world”; ‘ Mavens ’, “information specialists who we rely upon to connect us with new information”; and ‘salesmen’, those charismatic people who make others want to agree with them.

He explains ‘The Stickiness Factor’ as the specific content of a message that makes it memorable and have impact, while the ‘Power of Context’ relates to the sensitivity of human behaviour and its ability to be strongly influenced by its environment.

He illustrates how these concepts come together in the real world by using a range of examples.

One of these is the rapid uptake of Hush Puppies, which were once considered incredibly unfashionable footwear by hip young things in New York – a phenomenon which appeared to happen purely by chance.

But after reading The Tipping Point, you will understand why this happened and, more importantly, be left with a newfound sense of power and influence, and the attitude that there does not exist a tipping point which cannot be forced.

For brokers facing a changing world order, understanding how to manufacture their own tipping point may be the difference between success and failure.