The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

I would completely agree with Publishers Weekly review of this "facile piece of pop sociology". It's the sort of rubbish that poisons the minds of managers and raises unrealistic expectations.

At the heart of the book is a dangerous illusion, that changes happen rapidly in business, especially in the area of innovation. Yet empirical study after empirical study shows otherwise. Adoption curve analysis of empirical data about innovations such as Broadband, the Internet, mobile phones, portable MP3 players, fax machines etc. show that the half-life penetration period for all these technologies is 5-10 years. Innovation is adopted slowly, always has been, and empirical evidence does not support the view that this is in any way accelerating.

The dotcom bubble was inflated by wild ideas about rapid adoption of innovation. Gladwell should pay heed to the lessons from this before raising the expectations of gullible managers about "tipping points".

This isn't to say that tipping points don't exist - a quick tour of the literature of catastrophe theory shows this - prison riots etc. all conform to tipping point behaviour. But tipping points are generally at the microscopic level, and macro instances are confined to stock markets not consumer markets.

What explains this book's popularity then, if it's so flawed? Well it's written by a staff writer of the New Yorker, collating articles that were written to amuse and titillate readers. The articles are laced with amusing snippets, and the author hops from snippet to snippet without pausing for thought.

His trendy piffle is overinflated, vacuous and dangerous. Follow this book's ideas and you will squander a fortune. Avoid.

Suggested reading:
- The Innovation War (ISBN: 0132681781)
- Portfolio Management for New Products (ISBN: 0738205141)
- Marketing Payback (ISBN: 0273688847)

I would completely agree with Publishers Weekly review of this "facile piece of pop sociology". It's the sort of rubbish that poisons the minds of managers and raises unrealistic expectations.

At the heart of the book is a dangerous illusion, that changes happen rapidly in business, especially in the area of innovation. Yet empirical study after empirical study shows otherwise. Adoption curve analysis of empirical data about innovations such as Broadband, the Internet, mobile phones, portable MP3 players, fax machines etc. show that the half-life penetration period for all these technologies is 5-10 years. Innovation is adopted slowly, always has been, and empirical evidence does not support the view that this is in any way accelerating.

The dotcom bubble was inflated by wild ideas about rapid adoption of innovation. Gladwell should pay heed to the lessons from this before raising the expectations of gullible managers about "tipping points".

This isn't to say that tipping points don't exist - a quick tour of the literature of catastrophe theory shows this - prison riots etc. all conform to tipping point behaviour. But tipping points are generally at the microscopic level, and macro instances are confined to stock markets not consumer markets.

What explains this book's popularity then, if it's so flawed? Well it's written by a staff writer of the New Yorker, collating articles that were written to amuse and titillate readers. The articles are laced with amusing snippets, and the author hops from snippet to snippet without pausing for thought.

His trendy piffle is overinflated, vacuous and dangerous. Follow this book's ideas and you will squander a fortune. Avoid.

Suggested reading:
- The Innovation War (ISBN: 0132681781)
- Portfolio Management for New Products (ISBN: 0738205141)
- Marketing Payback (ISBN: 0273688847)

As a fond reader of Malcolm Gladwell's articles in the New Yorker, I was anxious to read The Tipping Point, particularly in light of the buzz the book has been getting. I can see why the book is so popular. Gladwell uses extremely simple terms to define what he calls a "new" theory: that ideas and trends do not become popular through a gradual process; instead, they "tip," pushed beyond an invisible boundary where they spread rapidly, like an epidemic. Ideas and trends catch on for certain reasons, because the idea/trend is "sticky" or hits the right people (connectors, mavens, salesmen) in the right environment. Gladwell draws upon several interesting case studies and experiments, littering them throughout the book with the aim of backing up his premise.
The first problem with the book, though, is that this premise doesn't need any support. It is not a groundbreaking idea... sociologists have been describing this phenomenon for years, it's just that none of them has dumbed the idea down well enough for the book to become a bestseller... until now. Gladwell cites a great many sociological and psychological experiments which are admittedly very interesting; but what the results of the studies suggest is often up for debate, but Gladwell tells us that while some experts believe an experiment indicates x, the real meaning of the results is y. He then supports y without ever explaining why x is not a valid interpretation. I also found it irksome that he was constantly referring to his own experiences and group of friends, rather than taking himself out of the picture (this is the difference between real investigative studies and pop-sociology, this book falling into the latter category). I also wish he would have found more interesting trends to examine than children's television shows and footware (with only a handful of fully fleshed-out case studies, two are focused on children's tv: Sesame Street and Blue's Clues; and two on shoes: Hush Puppies and Airwalks). Towards the end of the book he includes a very irritating chapter on smoking which compares cigarrettes to suicide (the sections on suicide were interesting, but the sections on smoking sounded like a lecture from a high school guidance counselor).
Again, the book has some very good points and can be put to practical use. But in reading it I had the feeling that Gladwell believes he has a more revolutionary theory on his hands than he actually does.

This book seems to have done well only because it has the attraction of the gullible audiences who read the business self help books that are all so similarly vacuous. There are a few interesting points here (perhaps where networks are concerned), but what is troubling is the authority Gladwell feels he possesses with the "evidence" he has to back up his theories. Few of the studies he provides conclusively support his ideas, and some of the studies themselves come to dubious conclusions provided he portrayed them correctly.
THE TIPPING POINT is really an example of poor social science from an author who has obviously read a freshman year psychology textbook at some point in his life, but who doesn't give much thought to what you can reasonably infer from statistical data. He tries to explain the world with his "tipping point" theory and, in order to accomplish the task, he simplifies complex processes like crime and smoking to a point where his "theory" becomes more like a marketed product than science. This isn't too surprising. After all, he wants to show how marketing can change the world.
Gladwell says he's not a Connector. But he's also not a Maven who's in the know. He's a Salesman, and if you're not careful, he's likely to persuade you into buying this book.

The Tipping Point is a book by Malcolm Gladwell. Tipping point is a sociological term that refers to the moment when something unique becomes common.

The book seeks to explain "social epidemics", or sudden and often chaotic changes from one state to another. For example, he cites the drop in the New York City crime rate in the 1990s. The ability to generate these epidemics is highly-sought in marketing. They are similar, in their mathematical properties, to disease epidemics.

Gladwell identifies three types of people who have the power to produce social epidemics:

Connectors: Those with wide social circles. They are the "hubs" of the human social network and responsible for the small world phenomenon.

Mavens are knowledgeable people. While most consumers wouldn't know if a product were priced above the market rate by, say, 10 percent, mavens would. Bloggers who detect false claims in the media could also be considered mavens.

Salesmen are charismatic people with powerful negotiation skills. They exert "soft" influence rather than forceful power. Their source of influence may be the tendency of others, subconsciously, to imitate them rather than techniques of conscious persuasion.

Other key concepts in The Tipping Point are:

The Law of the Few. Those with the skill sets described above have disproportionate influence over the spread of social phenomena, and without their aid, such dissemination is unlikely ever to occur.

Stickiness: Ideas or products found attractive or interesting by others will grow exponentially for some time.

The Power of Context: Human behavior is strongly influenced by external variables of context. For example, "zero tolerance" efforts to combat minor crimes such as fare-beating and vandalism on the New York subway led to a decline in more violent crimes; the perception of increased vigilance altered the behavior and attitudes of the passengers. Gladwell also describes the bystander effect.

The Magic Number 150. In sociology, it is commonly posited that an individual can only have genuine social relationships with 150 people. Likewise, groups larger than 150 are prone to fragmentation, and it is often best for the group's health that it split. Most extant hunter-gatherer villages, as well as military companies also stay just shy of this number.

The New Product Cycle: According to the model of Everett Rogers, there is a bell curve of adaptation to the new phenomenon: first are innovators, then early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. Each category corresponds to one standard deviation worth of width, and the apex of the bell curve is between the early and late majorities. Innovators lie 2 or more standard deviations to the left of the mean, while early adopters are between 1 and 2 standard devations to the left, and so on. Laggards, the last group to adopt a new fad, lie at least 1 standard deviation to the right of the mean, thus make up about 16 percent of the population.

If I haven't bored you to this point then you'll definately enjoy The Tipping Point. Please vote "yes" this review was helpful.

This book is a case study of logical fallacies. Much like Good to Great, the author of this book presents "data" that prove nothing, while pushing common sense dressed up with catchy terms. Almost all of the examples in the book have alternative explanations that the author conveniently ignores.

Don't waste your time. Don't waste your money. Don't reward authors who think you're stupid.

This book is a case study of logical fallacies. Much like Good to Great, the author of this book presents "data" that prove nothing, while pushing common sense dressed up with catchy terms. Almost all of the examples in the book have alternative explanations that the author conveniently ignores.

Don't waste your time. Don't waste your money. Don't reward authors who think you're stupid.

This book is presented as an explanation of what it is that might cause something to go from insignificance to ubiquity. It in fact does nothing of the sort and is actually just an amusing collection of stories.
It is well written as a social history, and has a light, journalistic style good for dipping into, but the reader is left absolutely none the wiser as to why any of it happened. I would therefore class it as pretty much a waste of anyone's time.
One thing that particularly annoyed me about this book is that chaos theory - a branch of mathematics almost 40 years old, for the analysis and prediction of exactly the sort of thing this book is wondering about - is mentioned only once: as a footnote.
That's like writing a book about why planets stay in orbit around the sun, and mentioning astrophysics as an aside.

Malcolm Gladwell's "The Tipping Point" is one of three hot titles that examine human behavior in a refreshing new way. They're not only controversial -- they're also great fun to read. The other two books in this trio are Gladwell's "Blink" and "Freakonomics" by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. Not surprisingly, all three are currently bestsellers.

Of these three, I enjoyed "The Tipping Point" least. Gladwell's basic premise is that small changes can lead to dramatic results. For instance, a small group of trendsetters in lower Manhattan can suddently "rediscover" Hush Puppies. If the right conditions exist, this discovery can be transformed into a national craze that lasts for years.

So what are the right conditions?: 1) The new trend must be promoted by the right mix of highly connected people, whom Gladwell calls Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen. 2) The new phenomenon must be "sticky" -- which means it has a powerful appeal or attraction. 3)The social context must be right for a sudden rise in mass awareness.

The problem is that Gladwell takes his theory a bit too far. Not only does it apply to fashion and criminal behavior, he says, but it can also be used to explain the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and the epidemic of teenage smoking. What's more, Gladwell claims these principles can be used to confront important social problems, improve education and boost the effectiveness of advertising. What? No cure for cancer? I think he's stretching the concept too far.

Two of the famous case studies that Gladwell writes about -- Hush Puppies and the Herman Miller Aeron Chair -- are made by companies right here in West Michigan where I live. Unfortunately, niether company has been able to replicate their earlier successes. My guess is that "the tipping point" is much more random, and less controllable, than Gladwell would have us believe. The book is fun to read, but remember to pack along a giant grain of salt.

As I write this, there are 740 reviews of this book. Well, here is one more.

Read this book if you want to be mildly entertained by the anecdotes within. There are some stories that do have some interest.

However, the book only gets three stars because it purports to be more than a collection of anecdotes. The Tipping Point is empty. It offers common sense and oft heard wisdom stated with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight. As stated in other reviews, Gladwell works backwards to give his ideas credence. The ideas are without worth if trying to work forwards.

The bottom line is, the book does not offer a framework for analyzing situations that has predictive value, as such, it offers very little value at all.