The Tipping Point Review

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell is a book that represents a modern marketing euphemism. It stands for that moment when small, consistent effort builds that breakthrough moment of success. This book did to me what it was teaching others to do: it stuck with me. I thought the information was easy to dissect and simple enough to remember. I also think it did a great job creating an umbrella on the communication world. 

In this book, Gladwell models what it’s like to introduce a groundbreaking idea. His formula for this is to pitch something in a simple yet powerful way. This can be done through breaking the concept up into small pieces that are easy for the common person to take in, making the idea “sticky” enough to stay with that person, and operating in a nurturing concept. 

I like when he talks about the three key people: Connector, Maven, and Salesman. Lately, I’ve seen the word “maven” pick up speed and become a part of people’s brand. A man takes the newest trend and make it seem effortless and simple. A lot of times you seen people label themselves as “social media mavens” and it wasn’t until reading this book that I realized how well that mixed together. It’s true, a “social media maven” can make something as complex as social media seem effortless and authentic to their audience. 

On the topic of social media, Gladwell also touched upon the unusual properties tied to the size of social groups. Groups of 150 of less members usually display a level of intimacy, efficiency and interdependency that begins to wind down as soon as the group’s size goes over 150. This reminded me a lot of college auditorium classes. Many times, especially at public schools like UF, students feel like just another number when they’re in such large classes. Ironically, I had this feeling in one of my marketing classes, where I felt significantly less interested in the professor when there were a 200 other students vying for his attention.  

It definitely caught my attention when he talked about news in his book, especially since that is my major. In the classroom, we constantly evaluate the cause and effect of news and it was good to see it in this book too. He mentioned the well-known case about a Stanford University study that analyzed the psychology of people who were divided into prisoners and guards. This is a case I’ve often heard about but his analysis of the case itself was interesting. His conclusion was that people are shaped by their environments and it does affect who they are. I think this is something marketers and anyone can carry with them, we have the ability to shape ourselves and others depending on the environment.  

Overall, I think The Tipping Point gives an elegant example of making the details count and creating a lasting impression. Also, it gives you an opportunity to find where you fit in most between the three “key people” of Salesman, Maven or Connector.