Guide to The Tipping Point
Gladwell, M. (2002). The tipping point: How little things can make a big difference. Boston:
First Back Bay Books Little, Brown and Company.
Notes:
1. Information in red indicates a story Gladwell uses to make a point. Be able to explain the
story and describe the concept that it illustrates. Notice that often the author will introduce a
story, talk about other stories, and then come back to the first one. It’s this later place that he
explains the concept. (With his biggest stories like Paul Revere and Sesame Street, he makes
references all the way through the book.)
2. Information in black refers to his major themes or frameworks. Be sure you understand these
well.
3. If this book was all you read about change, it could occur to you that all change can be
explained as a epidemic that caught on (successful change) or one that did not (failed
change). With the other books and articles you’ve read, you know not to grasp this as the
single explanation for change. Change is complex; Gladwell gives you one way to view
change and to understand how to deal with it.
Introduction
Hush puppies, p. 3
Drugs in NYC, p. 5
Principles of Change and Epidemics, p. 9
1. contagiousness
2. little causes have big effects
3. change happens at one point, not gradually – tipping point
Yawn, p. 9
Tipping point origin, p. 12
threshold
1979’s white flight to suburbs. Critical mass, boiling point,
Fax machine, p. 12
Cellular phones, p. 12
Role models & dropout and pregnancy rates, p. 12
Freezing point, p. 13
Ch 1: Three Rules of Epidemics
Syphilis in Baltimore, p. 15
An epidemic tips because something has changed in infected people, the infection, or the
environment, p. 18
80/20 rule, p. 19
Gonorrhea in Colorado Springs, p. 19
AIDS – Williams & Dugas, p. 20
1. Law of the Few, p. 22
Slogan and Winston, p. 22
2. Stickiness Factor, p. 25
Genovese attack, p. 27
3. Power of Context, p. 29
Ch 2: Law of the Few
Paul Revere, p. 30
Connectors
Mavens
Salesmen
Milgram’s small-world problem, p. 34 six degrees of separation
Connectors – people with a special gift for bringing the world together, p. 38
Horchow, p. 43
Rod Steiger, P. 47 (spanning many worlds)
Granovetter on getting a job, p. 53
Horchow and the restaurant, p. 55
Mavens – those who accumulate knowledge, p. 60
Mavens are data banks. They provide the message. Connectors are social glue; they spread it.
Salesmen persuade us. p. 70
Tom Gau, p. 70
Peter Jennings, p. 75
Condon, dancing to your speech, p. 81
Friedman’s Affective Communication Test, p. 85
Ch. 3: The Stickiness Factor
Sesame Street, p. 89 (the message)
Wunderman’s gold box, p. 93
Levanthal’s Tetanus shorts, p. 96
Palmer’s distracter, p. 102
Flagg’s eye movement photography, p. 108
Blue’s Clues, p. 111
Bruner’s Narratives from the Crib, p. 118
James Earl Jones effect (repetition), p. 125
Ch 4: The Power of Context (Part One)
Bernard Goetz and NYC crime, p. 133
Epidemics are sensitive to the conditions and circumstances of the times and places in which
they occur – the context p. 139.
Broken windows theory, p. 141
Gunn’s Graffiti clean-up, p. 142
Bratton’s fare-beating crack down, p. 143
Minor crimes were tipping points for violent crime. An epidemic can be reversed, can be tipped,
by tinkering with the smallest details of the immediate environment p. 146. The Power of
Context says that what really matters is little things p. 150.
Our inner states are the result of our outer circumstances p. 152.
Zimbardo’s mock prison experiment, p. 152
A powerful situation can overwhelm our inherent nature, p. 154.
Hartshorne and May’s honesty tests, p. 155
Fundamental Attribution Error, p. 160 fundamental character traits vs. importance of situation
and context
Character is more like a bundle of habits and tendencies and interests, loosely bound together
and dependent, at certain times, on circumstance and context. The reason that most of us seem to
have a consistent character is that most of us are really good at controlling our environment p.
163.
Darley and Batson Good Samaritan experiment, p. 163
The convictions of your heart and the actual contents of your thoughts are less important, in the
end, in guiding your actions than the immediate context of your behavior, p. 165.
When we are trying to make an idea or attitude or product tip . . . that can be done through the
influence of special kinds of people . . . That’s the Law of the Few. . . . It can be done by
changing the content of communication; by making a message so memorable that it sticks in
someone’s mind and compels them to action. That is the Stickiness Factor. . . . But we need to
remember that small changes in content can be just as important in tipping epidemics. (Power of
Context)
Ch 5: The Power of Context (Part Two)
Wells’ Ya-Ya Sisterhood, p. 169
Crucial role that groups play, peer pressure, social norms, p. 171
Wesley and the use of group power, p. 172
The Rule of 150, p. 175
Channel theory, p. 175
Dunbar’s social channel capacity, p. 177
Gore Associates’ business structure, p. 183
The Paradox of the epidemic: in order to create one contagious movement, you often have to
create many small movements first, p. 192.
Ch 6: Case Study
Airwalking shoes, p. 193
Diffusion model for seed corn – innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority,
laggards, p. 197
The role of connectors, mavens, and salesmen, p. 200, 203
Allport’s concept of leveling, sharpening, and assimilating – distortion and rumors, p. 201
Baltimore’s syringe super-exchangers, p. 203
Ch 7: Case Study
Sima and suicide, p. 216
Teen smoking, 220
Contagiousness is in larger part a function of the messenger. Stickiness is primarily a property of
the message, p. 234
Adoption study, nature or nurture, parents and peers, p. 240
Ch 8: Conclusion
Sadler’s diabetes and breast cancer campaign, churches and beauty parlors, p. 253
Change the context of the message, change the messenger, change the message. First lesson of
the Tipping Point: Starting epidemics requires concentrating resources on a few key areas. Law
of the Few says connectors, mavens, and salesmen start word-of-mouth epidemics. p. 255
Second lesson of the Tipping Point: The world does not accord with our intuition, p. 258.
In the end, Tipping Points are a reaffirmation of the potential for change and the power of
intelligent action. 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. p. 259.
Afterword
Isolation, p. 265
School shootings, p. 266
Hysteria cases, p. 270
Immunity, fax effect, and email, p 272
The cure is finding mavens, connectors, and salesmen, p. 275.