Author: Malcolm Gladwell
Publisher: Back Bay Books (January 7, 2002)
ISBN: 0316346624 (available at amazon.com)

Def. Tipping Point
The tipping point suggests that the best way to understand the emergence of fashion trends, the ebb and flow of crime, or transformation of unknown books into bestsellers is to think of them as epidemics. They spread like viruses. The tipping point is the moment of critical mass, the threshold at which dramatic change occurs. Based on the understanding of the characteristics of epidemics: a) contagiousness b) little causes can have big effects c) change happens not gradually but at one dynamic moment.

Three Rules of the Tipping Point

1. Law of the Few – influence of exceptional people, through social connections, enthusiasm and personality spread the word. They are the salesman.
2. Power of Context: human beings are a lot more sensitive to their environment than they seem. We are powerfully influenced by our surroundings, our immediate context, and the personalities of those around us (peer influence).
3. Stickiness Factor: Ways of making contagious message memorable. Simple changes in presentation & structure that effect impact it makes (example used is Suicide in Micronesia)

p. 166-167 – What makes a product or idea tip?
When trying to make an idea or attitude or product tip, we’re trying to change our audience in some small yet critical respect; we’re trying to infect them, sweep them up in our epidemic, convert them from hostility to acceptance. It can be accomplished through the influence of special kinds of people, people of extraordinary personal connection (law of the few). Or, it can be done by changing content of communication, by making a message so memorable that it sticks in someone’s mind and compels them to action (stickiness factor). But environment also matters – specific and small elements (broken windows and graffiti on NY subway) are things we can change – we are powerfully influenced by our immediate context, and personalities around us - peer influence and community influence (power of context).

p. 190-191 Rule of 150
The size of a group is another one of those subtle contextual factors that can make a big difference. Crossing the 150 line can make a big difference, with structural impediments to the ability of the group to agree and act with one voice. Below 150 you can exploit the bonds of memory and peer pressure. (Author uses example of Hutterites and Gore Technology – split group in two once it reaches 150).

p. 198 Diffusion Model: Innovators v. Early Adopters/Early Majority
Diffusion model is a way of looking at how a contagious idea or product or innovations moves through a population. (uses example of hybrid corn seed in 1930’s Iowa)

• Innovators are the adventurous ones, want revolutionary change
• Early Adopters are the opinion leaders in the community; small companies who buy technology before it has been proven or before price has come down.
• Early and Late Majority, skeptical ones who never try anything until respected have tried it first. Big companies who want measurable, predictable progress.
• Laggards: most traditional of all who see no urgent reason to change. Geoffrey Moore argues that attitude of visionaries (Innovators and Early Adopters) is incompatible with those who want to limit risk (Early Majority) and a chasm exists between them. Most products or ideas fail to bridge the gap from early adopters to early majority. This is where Law of the Few – Connectors, Mavens and Salespersons play the most important role.

p. 200 Connectors, Mavens and Salespersons
The translators: they take ideas and information from a highly specialized world and translate them into a language the rest of us can understand. (Author comments on Study on Rumors). They alter an idea in such a way that extraneous details are dropped and others are exaggerated so that the message itself comes to acquire a deeper meaning. To start an epidemic you must employ connectors, mavens and salesmen to translate the message of the Innovators into something the rest of us can understand.