The Tipping Point
~Malcolm Gladwell
How To Start a Revolution
Dalyce Armstrong, Barinder Atwal, Derek Campbell,
Brad Vandenberg & Christian Watson
Why Are You Here?
• What is a ‘Tipping Point’?
• Why you NEED to care
• The Pieces:
– The Stickiness Factor
– The Law of a Few
• Connectors
• Mavens
• Salespeople
– The Magic Number 150
• The Ultimate Conclusion
A Tipping Point Is…
• One Dramatic Moment of Critical
Mass
• The “Boiling Point”
• Where Unexpected becomes
Expected
• Characteristic of Modern Change
Tipping Points…
• ‘Tip’ due to a few select carriers
• Ideas and Messages spread like
viruses
• Rapid geometric progression to
infinity
• A function of those who transmit
them
• Small Changes
Large Effects
Why Should You Care?
Change is an Epidemic…
Why Not Start Your Own?
The Stickiness Factor
• We live in the Age of Information
– Many networks that connect us to the
world
– We shut ourselves off to noisy
channels
– Society is becoming numb
• Messages just don’t stick like they
used to
It Needs to Stick
• The goal is to get ideas to pass the
barrier and make the message
distinct
• Messages have certain
characteristics that make them
remain active in the recipients mind
– It needs to make an impact and stick
Message Construct
– The message must have right timing
and have the right context
– Recipient needs to become a
participant, not just an audience
– You must know what drives the
recipient and tailor it to them
– Stickiness Sample
Package it Right
• The content and packaging of a
message needs to be right
– Message must be replaced and tweaked
several times before tiny changes cause the
message to become sticky
• Must entice, not repel, to look deeper
– We tend to act on things that are personnel
• The Present
– You must use strategic foresight
– New ways of communicating must be found
Have the Right Target
• There is a narrow line between an
epidemic that tips and one that
does not
– Know who the best recipient is to
spread the message
The Law of the Few
• Epidemics
– Simple Start
– Nature of Messenger
• Word of mouth
• Rumours
• Mavens
• Connectors
Mavens
•
•
•
•
•
•
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Information Specialists
Problem Solvers
Databanks
Persuasion
Knowledge
Collaborate with connectors
“Computer Hubs”
Connectors
• People Specialists
– Special gift of bonding
– Know many people
– Social Connections
• Acquaintances
– Occupy different worlds
– “Weak tie”
• Trendsetters
• Salespeople
Social Glue
• Spreads the message
• Internet
– A majority of the world is connected
– Email
• Spreads the message quickly
• Builds Relationships
– http://www.myspace.com
– http://www.youtube.com
Spreading the Message
• Verbal Clues
– Persuasion
• Non-verbal Clues
– “Interactional Synchrony”
– Motor Mimicry
• Emotions
• Emotionally Contagious
Example: Yawning
• Malcolm Gladwell
• Yawning
– Powerful Act
– Stimulus
– Causes other people to yawn
– Ever-widening, yawning circle
Marketing Diagram
The Magic Number 150
• The Maximum Amount of Friends
– Brain is hardwired to pay attention to
about 150 people
– The larger the neo-cortex, the larger
the group you associate with
The Magic Number 150
• The ones you would feel most
comfortable with
– You would come uninvited for a drink
• Any increase in the 150 creates a
burden
The Magic Number 150
• Robin Dunbar found that the
average hunter gatherer society
contains 148.4 people.
• Same holds true for Hutterites
– When a colony becomes larger then
150 people, they separate into 2
colonies.
The Magic Number 150
• Peer pressure is much more
persuasive then a vague
concept of a boss.
Gore Associates
• Responsible for Gore-tex and
various technology cables.
• Plants are no larger then 150
• Only 150 parking spaces
constructed
Conclusion
• The ‘Tipping Point’
–The Stickiness Factor
–The Law Of The Few
• Connectors
• Mavens
• Salespeople
–The Magic Number 150
Any Questions??