December 2005/January 2006

Volume 46, Number 3

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

by Evan Lockwood

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
Malcolm Gladwell. 2000. New York: Back Bay Books. [ISBN: 0-316-31696-2. 301 pages. $14.95 (paperback).]
www.gladwell.com

How do we define insanity in the workplace? Roger Milliken put it this way: "Insanity is doing the same thing you've always done and expecting different results." We've all repeated this phrase and laughed at the sad reality it characterizes. We usually recognize the need for change, but we are often frustrated by not knowing how to create the change. Is there a secret to creating change?

Malcolm Gladwell's book, The Tipping Point, reveals how change happens. From his insights about epidemics, fashion, social change, and education, we can learn to locate the key components and the key people so that we can create much needed change.

What is the main idea behind the tipping point? The following description appears on the book's back cover: "The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire."

I love this book because it challenged my thinking. I'll be reading and re-reading this book for a long, long time. I use the concepts at work as a corporate trainer as we revise our training materials (especially from Chapter 3 "The Stickiness Factor") and when I'm home.

The contents of The Tipping Point, which was Gladwell's first book, are divided into the following chapters:

• Introduction
• The Three Rules of Epidemics
• The Law of the Few: Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen
• The Stickiness Factor: Sesame Street, Blue's Clues, and the Educational Virus
• The Power of Context (Part One): Bernie Goetz and the Rise and Fall of New York City Crime
• The Power of Context (Part Two): The Magic Number One Hundred and Fifty
• Case Study: Rumors, Sneakers, and the Power of Translation
• Case Study: Suicide, Smoking, and the Search for the Unsticky Cigarette
• Conclusion: Focus, Test, and Believe
• Afterword: Tipping Point Lessons from the Real World
• Endnotes
• Acknowledgements
• Index

Although Gladwell's book may not relate directly to the nuts and bolts of technical communication, it does present us with a new way of thinking about sharing our ideas. Reading this book is guaranteed to rev up your mind, but I'd advise not reading it before you go to bed. Your mind will be working so hard that it won't allow you to sleep!