The Tipping Point Book Review

According to Gladwell’s “Law of the Few,” the successes of social epidemics are attributed to the efforts of three types of individuals: the connectors, mavens, and salesmen. First, he uses the example of Paul Revere’s ride to spread news warning the local revolutionary leaders about the incoming British. These leaders would, in turn, spread the word to others. Paul Revere is the successful social man in this example. Gladwell states that, “The success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the

Throughout The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell explains to his reader his ideas about drastic changes in society, and how they seem to occur so rapidly. In this particular selection, Gladwell emphasizes the purpose of “connectors”, saying that they have a “special gift for bringing the world together (page 38)”. Gladwell states that part of the reason information or trends spread like wildfire is the presence of a specific group of people. They are called “connecters”, and they are people who know, or are connected to, people of “different worlds (page 51)”, and bring them together. In his book, The Tipping Point, Gladwell uses different forms of persuasion, rhetorical questions, and organization to

Society is stocked full of various trends and epidemics. To many, the way in which these trends start is a mystery. As members of a society, we often subconsciously take part in these patterns without questioning our participation. Therefore, people continue to ignore the drastic changes in society, and the reasons why they occur so swiftly. There is a lack of motivation to take a step back and inquire about society as a whole, and rethink one’s actions. In The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell effectively discusses and analyzes how and why ideas spread throughout societies using the rhetorical appeals, ethos, pathos and logos.

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell looks at a number of social epidemics and analyzes their build up to the point where they tip. “Tipping” is that point where an epidemic booms, or grows, to its maximum potential. Gladwell begins defining “tipping” with a literal example of the famous shoes, Hush Puppies. Once considered old-fashioned, Hush Puppies experienced a social boom in the mid-90s when hipsters in New York made them trendy again. Gladwell continues explaining “tipping” with a medical epidemic of syphilis in Baltimore. Gladwell introduces us to three essential rules of epidemics: the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor and the Power of Context. The Law of the Few says a key factor in epidemics is the role of the messenger: it

In The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell, the tone clearly drives the strategy to be logos. Logos is an exceptional rhetorical strategy as it persuades the reader, not through the use of emotions and feelings, but rather through the use of logic and reasoning. There exists an energy in the style in which Gladwell writes that has the power to persuade the audience to believe what he believes in, the Tipping Point. Gladwell does not only give us his theory on how epidemics spread, but uses logos to connect the world we live in to his theory. The author’s use of logos results in a greater impact of the rhetoric.

Position = NOT RANK, what do they argue for? What are they against based on what they stand for? Their claim of truths and falseness? What are they telling you to believe in? What is the argument itself? How do they argue their position? Describe the method of persuasion! [What do salesmen do]

How big is the world? Some might ponder and the answer is, not as big as it seems. The world isn’t a scary, huge and untouchable place, as it is perceived to be. In reality, the universe is just a blank canvas filled with unique and mesmerizing people. That shapes our world into what it has become. The world would never be what it is without the people living on it. In the Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell explains the theory of the world and how it seems to be and control everything. Although, it’s the people in the world that make a difference. However people don’t believe they can change and make a difference in the world, but they can. Everyone has the power to change the world and shape their lives and others. Therefore it's up to them to decide if it will be for good or evil. In The Tipping point, Malcolm Gladwell uses the motif of how little things can make a big difference, for example, hush puppies. This motif signifies how the slightest movement in just the right place can change the world completely. We all have the power, but it can just take one to change the world.

Many parts of our daily life revolve around social sciences and are caused by much more research and in-depth thought than we may originally realize. Innumerable products, ideas, epidemics, and modern thought processes are the product of tipping points. For any idea to gain enough ground to become popular to a large audience, it has to have a very specific environment and the idea must be spread at very certain times in history. There is a very precarious balance to making anything have the ability to be prominent or sought after. Nature, political revolutions, and credibility and popularity are all events and phenomena that have tipping points and relate to The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell.

4) How would you relate “the law of the few” to a transition management team?

Personal selling is where a sales man actually comes to target market doors and tries to promote and make a sale from his product. This method of selling is perceived to be quite intimidating and often salesmen can be quite bullish in their approach of the customer. A business that is looking to maintain its corporate image will want to employ good salesmen that will not give off a bad aura when they are at work.

What can one consider being a tipping point in a situation. Is it when a situation changes from bad to worse? Could it be when it changes from good to better? Or could it be from when it changes from a bad situation and all of a sudden it turns around and becomes good? In my essay we are going to explore the tipping point from four different authors: Malcolm Gladwell, Mary G. King, Lynne M. Anderson, and Christine M. Pearson. From subject of: hush puppies, teen suicide, crime, smoking, incivility in the workplace and the black women’s breakthrough into clerical work. There could be many reasons why there were tipping

In his book “The Tipping Point: How little things can make a big difference,” Malcolm Gladwell (2001) indicates the power of intelligent action and the potential of little changes are responsible for starting epidemics. These epidemics occurred, according to the law of the few, the stickiness factor, and the power of context. The law of few affirms the influence on communication. That connector, maven, and salesman each has its ability to conjoin, collect, and cajole; they distribute information globally. The stickiness factor refers to a technique that allows information to stick in the minds of society. Moreover, he acknowledges how repetition and direct information bring success to Sesame Street. Last, the power of context stresses that not only human reactions are responsible for epidemics, but also the environment’s elastic. Gladwell, intelligently, collects the secret keys to successful business. To capture customer’s attention, to hire the perfect leaders, and to invest in the firm’s future, Whole Food Market enlarges its potential market even when large chain retailed competition increases.

After spending a good amount of the semester discussing and learning about Robert Cialdini, it is safe to say that no good discussion on influence and persuasion can go very far without talking about the man who wrote the book on influence. After learning about Cialdini, we now know what he identifies as the six weapons of influence. The six weapons are reciprocity, commitment and consistency, social proof, liking, authority and scarcity. By weapons, what Cialdini really relays, are the six behavioral triggers that tend to create habitual and expected compliance. To see if these influences really exist in the real world, we made trips to places where we were going to be potential customers, being sold a product or service by someone. We

Perhaps one of the most important points made by Gladwell in this book is that neither analytical nor intuitive thinking is good or bad. But under chaotic conditions, the lesser the information available, the better because information overload can delay decisions, and under pressure, delayed decisions are worse than bad decisions. Gladwell illustrates this with an astonishing example of an experiment where sales of a jam shop were as high as thirty percent more when they had only six types of jam than when they had twenty four.

The spillover effects that hit the consumer market eventually accelerate the process of positioning the product image in their minds.