I just got through reading Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, an incredibly well-written and stimulating look into the how world-of-mouth epidemics work and how change can happen socially. If you’re unfamiliar with the book, Gladwell argues that by tweaking elements surrounding a problem you can cause the problem “to tip” and either skyrocket or reduce drastically (depending on the context). One of the examples Gladwell uses to demonstrate small changes is the drop in fare-beating and subway crimes in New York City as soon as the transportation department started regularly painting subway cars. The graffiti that was eliminated sent a message to the vandals that they could spend hours painting the subway cars but their work would be erased at the end of the night. The elimination of graffiti and the subsequent installation of police officers at key points throughout the New York City subway system allowed for a massive overhaul in the appearance of the subway system which soon brought customers back and let them feel secure about traveling through the underbelly of New York City. If there’s one thing to really take away from the book it is that targeting key people and key groups that might not be so obvious can take an idea from something small that has little effect or reach to having a larger mainstream audience. I can’t nearly do this book the justice it deserves and the brilliance that it conveys through what had to be years of research. I will take what I’ve learned in The Tipping Point and apply it to aspects of my life and projects that I’m involved in because as Gladwell elegantly shows that it’s the little things that can have huge impacts in the larger scope of it all.

I just got through reading Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, an incredibly well-written and stimulating look into the how world-of-mouth epidemics work and how change can happen socially.

If you’re unfamiliar with the book, Gladwell argues that by tweaking elements surrounding a problem you can cause the problem “to tip” and either skyrocket or reduce drastically (depending on the context). One of the examples Gladwell uses to demonstrate small changes is the drop in fare-beating and subway crimes in New York City as soon as the transportation department started regularly painting subway cars.

The graffiti that was eliminated sent a message to the vandals that they could spend hours painting the subway cars but their work would be erased at the end of the night. The elimination of graffiti and the subsequent installation of police officers at key points throughout the New York City subway system allowed for a massive overhaul in the appearance of the subway system which soon brought customers back and let them feel secure about traveling through the underbelly of New York City.

If there’s one thing to really take away from the book it is that targeting key people and key groups that might not be so obvious can take an idea from something small that has little effect or reach to having a larger mainstream audience.

I can’t nearly do this book the justice it deserves and the brilliance that it conveys through what had to be years of research. I will take what I’ve learned in The Tipping Point and apply it to aspects of my life and projects that I’m involved in because as Gladwell elegantly shows that it’s the little things that can have huge impacts in the larger scope of it all.