The Tipping Point is now a business classic. Here we have summarised the main points of the book in ten slides.

1. Book: The Tipping Point
Author: Malcolm Gladwell
Category: Business Strategy
Summary: How little things can make a big
difference – and what those little things are.
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2. Introduction
Ideas, products, messages and behaviours can
spread just like viruses or epidemics do.
Just as a single person can start an epidemic of flu,
so too can a few people turn a book into a
bestseller, start a crimewave, increase teenage
smoking or start a fashion trend.
These are called social epidemics, and the moment
when they explode into life, the point where they
reach critical mass, that point is called the Tipping
point.
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3. Epidemics
The three characteristics of epidemics (virus or social) are the following:
1. Contagiousness
2. Little causes can have big effects
3. Change happens not gradually but at one dramatic moment
Epidemics are a function of:
1. The people who transmit the “infectious agents” (ideas, products etc.)
2. The infectious agent itself (product, idea, agent etc.)
3. The environment in which the infectious agent is operating (context)
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4. The people who transmit
The “Law of the Few” states that a few people can tip
the balance.
These extraordinary individuals who are responsable
for the “epidemic’ reaching its Tipping Point can be
divided into three categories:
1. Connectors
2. Mavens
3. Salesmen
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5. Connectors
Characteristics:
– They know lots of different people in different subcultures and
niches.
– They are the centre of events.
– Personalities that combine curiosity, self confidence, sociability and
energy.
– They have a “skill” at knowing people.
– They like and “collect” people.
– Belonging to different worlds makes it possible for them to bring
them together.
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6. Mavens
People who gather knowledge and like to pass it around.
Characteristics:
– They are not persuaders
– Not passive collectors of information.
– They find the information and they tell people about it.
– Have information on a lot of different products, prices and places.
– They like to help people.
– They are socially motivated.
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7. Salesmen
People who are charistmatic and can influence others.
Characteristics:
– Can influence others without saying anything.
– Nonverbal cues are more important than verbal cues.
– They set the rhythm of the interaction and control the direction of
the conversation.
– They build trust and rapport with other people faster than the
average person.
– They are more emotionally expressive.
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8. The Stickiness Factors
In epidemics, the content of the message (the infectious agent) is also very
important.
Stickiness is about whether the product, or the idea, or the service, or the
message is actually memorable and actually moves us to action.
Each ‘social epidemic’ has at its centre something that possesses a stickiness
factor – all you have to do is find it.
(Ed. Note: Unfortunately The Tipping Point goes into less detail on finding a
formula for this factor)
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9. The Power of Context
Epidemics are extremely sensitive to the conditions in which they occur (time,
place, circumstances)
The reason for change can come from a feature in the environment.
Minor things can have a huge influence.
As humans we can suffer from information overload. In terms of context this
means that an effective group should consist of 150 people or less – which
leads to one of the elements of an epidemic – sometimes to create a large
epidemic you need to start lots of small ones first.
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10. Conclusions
You should focus on the most important people in an epidemic: the
connectors, mavens and the salesmen.
You should make sure that your ‘epidemic’ is memorable and moves people
to action.
Change is posible.
We are heavily influenced by our surroundings.
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