The Tipping Point

The Tipping Point by MalcolmGladwell.

I was always frustrated by the descriptions in ComplexityTheory? of how the butterfly's wing causes the tornado. "I want to be that butterfly. How do I know to do that?"

The Tipping Point explains how. Ideas spread like wildfire because the ideas themselves are "sticky" (memorable), and because they pass through three kinds of people: Connectors (think big rolodex), Salesmen (self explanatory), and Mavens (trusted experts).

I've heard of the book and was interested to see it, but if claims to explain the butterfly phenomena then I would be disappointed. -- ThaddeusOlczyk

[discussion of the Butterfly Effect moved to ChaosTheory (which this book is not about)]

(See also: PatternsAsMemes)

The best example in the book is Paul Revere and William Dawes, riding through the countryside warning the Americans of the British army's arrival (1776). They both set out at the same time to warn of the coming of the British. Revere was a Salesman and a Connector and is remembered. Dawes was neither and is largely unknown. -- KentBeck

Hmmm.. I'm almost disappointed to see you finding this significant -- maybe you mean to point this out as an example of "form winning over substance." Do you see any intersection between this phenomena and *CollectiveOwnership*? Immediately I think of SteveJobs contrasted to AdeleGoldberg -- who is more known, who provided more substance? It is such an injustice and so insanely common. Should we acquiesce to this reality by becoming better Salesmen and Connectors? Thinking of these issues immediately brings to mind a quote from that Jeremy Irons and Robert De Niro movie The Mission. After some injustice, one man says "Thus is the world", then another man answer "No, thus have we made the world." --RobertDiFalco

Spot the AmericanCulturalAssumption :-) So they both set off... what happened? What made Mr Revere those things, but not Mr Dawes? -- AlanFrancis

Remember that third group of people, the Mavens. The Connectors don't know everything, but they know who the Mavens are. The Salesmen sell the stuff the Mavens design. If you want to be well known, then being a Connector and/or a Salesman is the way to go. If you want to make stuff better in a tangible way, be a Maven.

As for Revere, we remember him because Dawes is harder to rhyme. Thank you H.WadsworthLongfellow?. -- KatherineDerbyshire

Harder? Maybe.

Listen my children, of the hero that was, to the midnight ride of William Dawes

What happened is that we remember Paul Revere and don't remember William Dawes. My son was just telling me last night, "and there were actually two of them who rode through the villages, and Paul Revere even got caught before he got very far, and the other guy was the one who made the whole ride..." ...Except, note that not even my son knew the name of "the other guy" who actually completed the ride. The point is not Who Is Paul Revere, but Why don't we remember the OtherGuy's name? -- AlistairCockburn

The quick explanation of why is that Revere was a well-connected extrovert. He knew the leaders of the local "revolutionary cells", and knew which doors in the villages along his path to knock on to get the word out. Dawes was not as well known or as well connected, and passed through several villages without effectively passing along the warning. Revere was also a focal point for information, which is how the news of the British Army's pending move made it to him in the first place. For the longer explanation -- one which advances the book's thesis -- best is to read the first few chapters.

I was less impressed with Gladwell's handling of "stickiness". It felt like that portion of the book was an attempt to recycle material he'd developed while writing other articles. -- DaveSmith

I'm with you on that. I'm also reading the InnovatorsDilemma, and the research is obviously far deeper than TheTippingPoint. -- KentBeck

And yet... No mention of the third rider -- Dr. Samuel Prescott.

Should we acquiesce to this reality by becoming better Salesmen and Connectors?

No--I can do without the competition. :) Seriously, these skills are worth having no matter what you want out of life.

CategoryBook