A while ago I reviewed Gladwell’s latest book, Blink! I wasn’t raving about it; I was disappointed by it. It felt like Blink! was just going on and on and not making new points. The writing felt forced; it felt like I feel when writing an article and I don’t feel like writing one. (The glory being I don’t get paid for this, so I can chose not to write one.)
I got the book due to all the brouhaha I kept hearing about Gladwell, but perhaps Gladwell tried to hard to make Blink! a success like The Tipping Point has been. It, his first book, is by contrast one fantastic read and should be read by everyone. It would give us all a better insight into human behavior.
The Tipping Point is about epidemics, not the biological ones like Bird Flu, but the epidemics of human behavior or created by human behavior. But mostly it’s about the little things that give birth to an epidemic; these little things are what constitute the tipping point, the point where localized phenomena spreads… quickly.
According to Gladwell there are three conditions necessary to create epidemics. The first one is “The Law of the Few”, which states that there’s a 80/20 Principle. This principle says that 80% of the work gets done by 20% of the people. The second rule is “The Stickiness Factor”. This factor points to information and the types of information that will stay with you, stick with you, like a kick-ass commercial that touched on something for you. The third rule is “The Power of Context”, which is all about sensitivity to our surroundings and how it can influence us whether we accept it or not.
In the first rule, “The Law of the Few”, Gladwell divides people into three major groups: Connectors, mavens and salesmen. “Connectors” are what I call social addicts. These people thrive on human interaction. They have social power and this is what’s needed to bring people together for the impending epidemic.
“Mavens” are the information junkies who actually read the freakin' manual, calls the 1-800 number of a company and cross their Ts and dots their Is for them. These are the guys who learn anything they can from a product. These are the guys who can tell you where to get the best deal for whatever you desire to purchase.
The third player type is the "salesman". The name says it all. These will sell an Eskimo a freezer. Why? Because they have this ability to mind-meld with people, get into the proper frame of mind and can get anyone to agree with them, they can convince anyone, therefore sell anything.
Article comments
1 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Sold! Good review. Sounds like a great read--I'm always fascinated by the reconciliating of the seemingly irreconciable. I'll be getting this book.