The Tipping Point
Malcolm Gladwell
Black Bay Books
Little Brown and Company
AHP Montreal
June 27, 2009
J.B. Michael Farrell FAHP
Principal
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The Tipping Point
… “that one dramatic moment when
everything can change all at once”.
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Miriam Webster Definition
1 : a deserter from one faith, cause, or allegiance
to another
2 : an individual who rejects lawful or
conventional behavior
3: having rejected tradition : unconventional
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Anatomy of a Social Epidemic
Hush Puppies sell about 30 k a year to the
“backwoods outlets and small town stores”
1995-95 resale shops appear in New York
Designers start calling…Hush Puppies are
in my “fall collection”
1995 430,000 pairs sold
Wolverine the Manufacturer “had almost
nothing to do with it”
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Hush Puppies Ad Circa 2009
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The “not so humble” Hush Puppies
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The Tipping Point…
Malcolm Gladwell
“Ideas and products and messages and
behaviours spread just like diseases.”
“The ‘tipping point’ is that magic moment
when ideas, trends and social behaviours
cross a critical threshold and ‘take’, causing
a tidal wave of far reaching effect.” from a
review by Mark Tyrrell
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Gladwell’s Description
…“I like to think of it as an intellectual
adventure story. It draws from psychology
and sociology and epidemiology, and uses
examples from the worlds of business and
education and fashion and media”.
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What’s to be gained…
Why read it…“People who
understand The Tipping Point, I
think, have a way of decoding the
world around them.”
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The Tipping Point’s Relevance
“two simple questions lie at the heart of what
we would like to accomplish…”
“Why is it that some ideas or behaviours
or products start epidemics and others
don’t?
“ …what can we do to deliberately start
and control positive epidemics of our
own?”
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Key Elements of a Social Epidemic
The Law of the Few
The Stickiness Factor
The Power of Context
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Six Degrees of Separation
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160 people get letters in Omaha
To be sent to a broker in Boston… lives in Sharon
Omaha-L.A.-Dallas-Buffalo-NYC-Boston-recipient
Average trip …6 people
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Six Degrees of Separation…the rest
of the story
16 of 24 that reached his home came
through one person
The rest came to him at his office…
primarily through 2 people
In a city the size of Boston, fully one half
of all of the responses came through the
hands of 3 people.
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The Law of the Few
It means that a very small number of
people are linked to everyone else in a
few steps, and the rest of us are linked to
the world through those special few.
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The Law of the Few
Mavens…label readers, experts…the
person who knows the best way to do
almost anything…and shares…razor info!
Connectors… The ability to retain and
influence an abnormally large circle of
friends
Salesmen…people who by the sheer
power of their personalities influence and
affect others
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Mavens
You all know this person
Others are listening as well
Sometimes difficult but effective Board
Members
Key opinion leaders
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Connectors
William Dawes
-Tanner
Paul Revere
-committee to install Boston's first
street lights
-first coroner Suffolk County
-Mass. Mutual Fire Insurance Founder
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The Rest of the Paul Revere Story
He was a fisherman, a hunter, a card-player
and a theatre lover, a frequenter of pubs and
a successful business man. He was active in
the Masonic Lodge and a member of several
select social clubs. “he had an uncanny
genius for being at the centre of events”
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Roger Horchow
A roster of 1600 names maintained
a little red pocket diary… if you happen to
mention your birthday I write it in”
Normal behaviour is to move from
acquaintance to friend
Connectors are “master of the weak tie”
Sometimes “fools gold” as solicitors
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Salesman
What separates a great salesman from an average one is
the number and quality of the answers they have to
objections commonly raised by potential clients. Moine
and Gau from a financial planners handbook…
Optimism is a contagion
Non verbal clues are more powerful than
verbal cues
Persuasiveness is more than responses to
FAQs
Great Campaigners
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The Stickiness Factor
The Magic Gold Box…a treasure hunt…find the
gold box on any print add and mail in for a free
record
Sesame Street…Big Bird with adults
Blues Clues…repetition
“there is a simple way to package information
that, under the right circumstances, can make it
irresistible. All you have to is find it.”
Chip and Dan Heath and their book “Made to
Stick” required reading here.
Mission based case development
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Power of Context
Bernie Goetz...1984
Broken windows …the dramatic drop in NYC crime
Context dramatically effects behaviour
150 people limit- Hutterites – Gore Industries
Contestant and questioner game. People make up
their own questions. Contestants always rate the
questioner as smarter!
“Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood” Released
96…best seller 98… “book group book”
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Power of Context
What events is your organization
associated with?
What is a major gift in your world?
Be Careful what you celebrate!
What is the board norm?
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Word of Mouth Epidemics
Hush Puppies
Crime reduction in New York City
Transformational gifts
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Transformational Gifts In
Hamilton “Tipped”
Dr. Tomlinson $60m (2000)McGill
Mr. & Mrs. Young $40m (2002) HCF
Michael Lee Chin $30m (2003) ROM
Charles and Margaret Juravinski $43m
(2005-07)
Michael DeGroote $105m (2006)
David Braley $65m (2007-08)
Ron Joyce $20. (2009)
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“In the world of the tipping point there
is a large measure of hopefulness
Look at the world around you. It may seem like
an immovable, implacable place. It is not. With
the slightest push—in just the right place – it
can be tipped.”
The exciting part about these donors… no
one on that list has made their last gift!
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