The Tipping Point By Malcolm Gladwell

After reading The Tipping Point, I have learned many important “tips” in marketing. Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point, identifies three important concepts based on his deep studies throughout his life: “the Law of the Few”, “the Stickiness Factor”, and “the Power of Context”. These factors play essential roles in deciding if a particular trend will work in widespread popularity. He makes these concepts interesting and understandable.

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

Is it coincidental that Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Bill Joy and many other multi-millionaires were all born within a span of 3 years? Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Outliers, suspects that there is something more behind this occurrence than just a simple coincidence. He asserts that there is no such thing as a self-made man and success does not come from natural talent, rather it comes from extraordinary opportunities and hidden advantages. In Outliers, Gladwell attempts to debunk the myth that people are successful because of themselves, and not because of other factors. Even Malcolm Gladwell acknowledges that passion and hard work are required to succeed. However, he believes that this passion and time to put in the work would not be possible without the aid of extraordinary opportunities. Gladwell prepares a firm set of logical arguments, including the advantages of birth dates, cultural legacy and family backgrounds, to guarantee that his audience will be convinced of his conviction.

“Happiness is only real, when shared.” - Jon Krakauer Into the wild. Jon Krakauer, the author of Into the Wild told the story of Chris McCandless. Chris escaped reality and went to go live off the land in Alaska, hoping to live a simpler life. In the novel, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless shared a similar philosophy with Jack London, as they both have a strong passion for Alaska, they both appreciated they beauty of nature, and both wanted to be reborn.

A Brave New World published in 1932 by Aldous Huxley was about a utopian society in which people were placed in castes because of how their embryos were modified. Little did the author know less than a century later the idea of “designer babies” might be a reality. Designer babies are very similar to Huxley’s idea; a person could be genetically altered before they were born. Unlike Huxley’s book, in which embryos were genetically modified due to government industrial control, designer babies’ destinies are determined by parental control. Although, gene alteration can prevent genetic diseases, predetermining genetic outcomes should be illegal because of its negative effects on society; the effect genes have on each other, and the underwhelming success rate.

Everyone aims to fulfill the American Dream, achieving prosperity through hard work. Society loves the ideology that anyone can become successful and that we all have the same opportunities and chance of success, if enough work is applied. With this ideal, people can blame their failure on not working hard enough or having an adverse life. However, Malcolm Gladwell sees success in contrast to the common people. Gladwell believes that success is mainly caused by having the right opportunity and circumstances rather than by working hard. David Karp, founder of the international social networking site Tumblr, is an individual who embodies Gladwell’s phenomenon by having extended advantages that were rare among his peers and having a supportive, relatable lineage that not only lead him to success, but also makes him an Outlier.

After that Chris continued to canoe and got caught by the US officers when he was trying to get back into the US from Mexico. So he spent a night in jail.

In April 1992, a twenty-four-year-old man walked into the Alaskan wilderness alone, only for his decomposed body to be found in August of that same year. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. Some people thought he was crazy but others who looked deeper into his past, such as Jon Krakauer and I, found that there were elements of emotional trauma and adolescent defiance that led to his sense of narcissism and avoidance behavior. Through a better understanding of Chris’s family dynamic, we can start to understand Chris’s behavior, and perhaps our own. In the novel, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, we see the authoritarian parent personified in Walt McCandless and the long term effects that such a parenting style has on his son, Christopher Johnson McCandless.

Throughout the non-fictional novel Into the Wild, the author Jon Krakauer catches the reader’s interest early on in the book. Krakauer takes us on a journey, telling the story of young Chris McCandless’ adventures after abandoning everything he owned. Krakauer fully emerged himself into the study of McCandless’ life’s adventures and soon developed a deep understanding of who he was and how he impacted to world. Krakauer connected with McCandless in an unexplainable way. Because of Krakauer’s past endeavors, he was able to capture the mentality of McCandless’ choices and write about them in a speaker and subject dynamic. As the novel progresses, the reader gets the sense of a unique brotherhood between the two, although they had never actually encountered one another. As Krakauer and McCandless’ “friendship” progresses, the reader will gain affection towards McCandless.

In order to pursue what one wish to be, one must fully understand what they wish to be. As human beings, we desire to become better and achiever greater amounts. In simple words, we want to become an expert of some sort. According to the Oxford Dictionary, an expert is a person who is very knowledgeable about or skillful in a particular area. But with this simple description of an ‘expert’, what does it truly mean? Malcolm Gladwell, a famous writer and speaker, with 10, 000 hours one could succeed to become an expert in a certain area. Gladwell explains his theory of 10, 000 hours in his book, “The Outliers,” with various examples of not only talented but also respected figures such as an European Violinist, Bill Gates, and even the Beatles. In the book, these figures explain similar yet different situation where after a certain amount of practice or effort, approximately 10, 000 hours, they began to excel in their area of interest. Furthermore, Gladwell explains that there are none naturally talented or ‘gifted’ people who reach the level of expertise without a significant input of hours. In order to improve or master in an area, all individuals must contribute the minimum of 10, 000 hours. It is true, through practice and effort one could reach a level of expertise. However, there are different circumstances that oppose this theory, such as the continuously growing information, one’s passion, and the way of learning.

The first type of social media was created in 1997 and it was called Six Degrees. It allowed you to upload a profile for yourself and be friends with other people on the site. It wasn’t until February of 2004 when Facebook was created by Mark Zuckerberg. When Facebook first came out it was an instant hit. Another social media that is trending is Twitter, which was created in March of 2006. Twitter did not become as big of a hit as Facebook in the beginning because Facebook was still the highest used social media in the world at the same time Twitter came out. In the book by Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point, it helps shows how twitter and social media is more of a connector than a maven or salesperson. Without the use of social such

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

On “The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell discuss different concepts that explain the sudden spread of a product or idea. Gladwell explains that this sudden and instantaneous spread is very similar to an epidemic. Gladwell uses the examples of fashion trends, the success of a book, the decrease of crime in New York City, smoking and the increase of suicide rate. To explain “the three rules of the Tipping Point, the law of the few, the stickiness factor and the power of context” (29) influence how a trend, product or action takes off as an epidemic. In the power of context Gladwell introduces a different way of being a connector. That one person can connect to many groups (173) and that small groups have the potential

Societal success relies on whatever society values most at a point in time. In the current state of society, this value exists as something quite obvious: money. Money carries with it a sense of glamour and achievement. Earning large quantities of money seems achievable, it acts as clear-cut goal that people can point to and shout, “Hey, that’s success!”. Furthermore, personal success does not offer this luxury, and thus evades people to its true meaning. Malcolm Gladwell’s novel, Outliers, demonstrates this principle perfectly. This novel tells the story of “successful” people; however, according to the definition being explored here, it only examines one aspect of success: societal. This book never mentions the man who considers himself a success because of his action figure collection, but it does mention people who have achieved wealth. Software tycoons, extravagant lawyers, and billionaire geniuses fall amongst a plethora of successful people referenced throughout the course of this book, but a man such as Morrie Schwartz never even receives the smallest amount of consideration. This book does not examine how people achieve success; instead, this book examines how people achieve wealth. As a book about success, Outliers demonstrates how integrated society’s definition of success has become in the modern mindset.

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