The Tipping Point – Book Review

I read it first, then listened to the audio book. The voice artist made it more fun.

There are multiple book that belong to the same theme – Undercover Economist, Freakonomics, Even Outliers and Blink. This one is just more well rounded. Better flow.

The Tipping Point describes the concept of why certain goods, firms, writers, etc. are highly popular (tip), while others never seem to break away as something special from the masses.

He truly enjoyed this non-fiction, business/sociology book that is easy to read. The author did a good job of bringing together details in a straightforward, concise way and I appreciated the examples used in the book. The entire book carries several examples used early on, i.e., Hush Puppies (shoe) fad, AIDS, etc.

Gladwell proposed 3 persona’s:

– Mavens: People that are very particular about products. They thoroughly research products or businesses and like to stay in the “know” about many things. “Mavens have the knowledge and social skills to start a word-of-mouth epidemic.” Mavens are the data banks. They are the messengers.
– Connectors: People who KNOW a lot of people. Not just close friends, but acquaintances. Connectors are the social glue–they spread the word.
– Salesmen: People with the skills to persuade us when we aren’t sure. They are the critical point for the “tipping” of word-of-mouth epidemic.

A lot of good information packed into this book for business as well as sociology.