Have you ever wondered, How little things can make a Big Difference - The Tipping Point

Have you wondered why some idea, trend or a social behavior attains dramatic heights or tips and spreads like wildfire? Yeah, I started to wonder about that when I started reading, Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. If you haven't heard about him yet; maybe you are not keeping your eyes open. They adorn the shelves at Airport stores, Book Stores, even at FedEx stores in the Best seller’s categories. This book provides an amazing Insight into social behavior, how an idea spreads like a virus and parameters/conditions that contribute and create that tipping point.


How does a particular brand of shoes which was losing market share at an alarming rate, suddenly become the fashion vogue? Malcolm, analyzes the case of Hush puppies shoes, which was loosing sales by 30,000.00 pairs every year; the company wolverine who are the makers of Hush Puppies were thinking of phasing out the shoes that made them famous once. In this case, something strange happened, Executives from Hush puppies were at a Fashion shoot – when a New York stylist approached and told them, Hush Puppies were hip in the clubs and bars of downtown Manhattan. The Executives were baffled and couldn't comprehend what they were hearing and couldn’t believe what they witnessed themselves.

Now, the Author takes us deep into the rabbit hole; to analyze what created this surge, the study goes back to East Village and Soho; where a few kids started wearing Hush Puppies (not to promote the company's brand rather they were wearing them because no one else would wear them), then the fad spread to two fashion designers and then became an incidental touch. No one was deliberately trying to promote it but then the shoes passed a certain threshold of popularity and Tipped; shoes which started with a few Manhattan hipsters and Fashion designers to every mall in America. In 1995, the company sold more than 430,000.00 pair of shoes.

The Author provides lot of statistical facts throughout the book; for some this might feel like too much information, but you will feel the author's enthusiasm and an eagerness to keep you glued; to devour all those data and to analyze and come to a conclusion.

Another case study which I really liked was exploring the secret behind the Dip in the crime rate in New York City. In 1965, there were 200,000 crimes in the city and it started rising sharply until it hit 650,000 crimes in the 1970s. It stayed there, for another 2 decades. Some strange phenomenon happened; after that it started to plunge in 1990s. There can be umpteen number of reasons, people could give for the dip in the crime rate- but none of them came close to the fact - what the author explains in the book; which is in general terms the laws of the few. In the book, Malcolm explains in detail, of the little things that took place, like cleaning up the Graffiti on the Metro cars, arresting for petty crimes and also projects an Incident in 1984. where Bernard Goetz shot four youths who were harassing him on a subway train, the showdown on the subway between Bernie Goetz and those four youths was later attributed to how Goetz, after a stern upbringing and being mugged and injured, got a gun, with clear plans to become a vigilante.


Another case study in point in the book is the Baltimore syphilis epidemic, in 1995 - 1995 almost within a space of one year; increased by 500%. The Author's research shows that it goes down to three basic concepts, which Malcolm calls it the "The three rules of epidemics" - The Law of the few, the Stickiness factor and the Power of context.

Malcolm, emphasizes the "The Law of the Few" with another reference from the book, "And the Band played on" by Randy Shilts - at length the so-called Patient Zero of AIDS, the French-Canadian Flight attended Gaetan Dugas, who claimed to have 2,500 sexual partners throughout North America, and who is linked to at least 40 of the earliest of the AIDS cases in California and New York. These are the kind of people who make epidemics of disease tip.

Overall the takeaway points from the book,

Very well written, Informative and Educational, Insights into why some ideas spreads or tips or reaches a threshold or critical mass or Boiling point while others don't.

Helps us understand the three rules for any epidemic:

The Law of the few(Gaetan Dugas), the Stickiness factor(Blues Clues, Sesame Street and the Educational virus) and the Power of context(Bernie Goetz).

Tipping Point contains Case studies about the Suicide, Smoking and in Chapter 6, Malcolm talks about Power of Rumors, Sneakers using case studies.

Although, it is easy to get lost on how to put all these data in perspective could be a likely concern but If you re-read this book a few times; you can take the core concepts which I have mentioned in this review above and can apply it in your own arena. I highly recommend this book for anyone who has an Inquisitive mind to know how things reach those epidemic proportions, parents, to Business owners on how to create an Idea Virus.