Experiencing the Tipping Point

Gladwell mentions in his book that the tipping point is “the one dramatic moment in an epidemic when everything can change all at once.” This one dramatic moment is what I like to call a momentum builder or catalyst for change. It is in this moment where everything changes and the fire is fueled to keep on burning. Gladwell means just what he states on the front cover of his book, “How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference,” and I would argue how good things can become great things. I think Gladwell’s definition of the tipping point is a variation of many things that I have heard before, but yet I am still compelled by Gladwell’s commitment to seeing the tipping point “grow richer with each new reading” and his ability to inspire readers like myself to use the Tipping Point as a way to come up with new ideas using the word of mouth phenomenon and finding those types of people in society: Mavens, Connectors and Salesman.

I believe I am a Salesman at heart and a Connector as a result. Gladwell’s story with Tom Gau was a great example of a natural salesman and I found many common characteristics that we shared. Gau said, “If you don’t try, you’ll never succeed,” and I think there is so much truth in his statement. Many of the calculated risks I take daily are simply in a good effort to succeed using my best performance. In addition, I believe that I have a high level of connectedness given that I am naturally optimistic and persuasive as a Salesman. I have a great versatility to my work as a student and like Gladwell states, “ In the case of Connectors, their ability to span many different worlds is a function of something intrinsic to their personality, some combination of curiosity, self confidence, sociability and energy.”

For our Relay For Life event to “TIP” this semester, we must use our entire class made up of Mavens, Salesmen, and Connectors to work together and use our individual skills to better the group. I think our groups focus on the little things will make a big difference like Gladwell’s Power of Context example with the NYC Police and cutting down on crime. It’s those small out of context actions that get great results. My creative suggestion comes from my recent trip to the Atlanta Falcons game where the players were wearing pink sneakers, tape, gloves and the cheerleaders were also dressed in pink. The Falcons colors are red, white and black so this seemed out of context. However, they were doing this to promote breast cancer awareness. Implementing wearing purple at local community events, etc to promote Relay For Life seems to me would be highly effective. I think finding a similar niche place to promote Relay For Life would also be effective like the hair salon example in Gladwell’s book. I believe that our understanding in answering the question, Why Relay For Life? will help us to tip. This event is about these cancer survivors and their stories and helping to let others know through celebrating their memory. Like Gladwell’s smoking example, you can’t start to help people until you understand why people smoke.

Lastly, applying the use of social media is evident, the essence of the tipping point was using word of mouth phenomenon, but today there are so many ways through using the Internet to spread the word around. Viral marketing is a term to describe the way the Internet is used to spread a virus simultaneously and instantly through the Internet. One example is when Burger King launched a viral marketing campaign with its Subservient Chicken website. This was a hit and many people were prompted to go online and check it out. I believe that I have experienced the tipping point this semester through blogging and microblogging. The Kanye West performance that most of us blogged about in class is an example of how microblogging such as Twitter was used to spread information about Kanye West instantly. Also, participating in Blog Action Day was another great way to experience the tipping point and see how one little thing like writing a blog can make a big difference when you have many people joining in to do the same.