In “The Tipping Point,” Malcolm Gladwell paints a unique
perspective discussing the topic of trends and how they take off. In his book,
he talks about certain products and ideas, and how those trends tend to reach
the “tipping point” and sky rocket towards popularity. Gladwell introduces the
idea of the “tipping point” by stating it is a very simple idea. The idea, in
his words, is to think of things such as “the emergence of fashion trends, the
decline in crime waves, the rise in certain sales of books, or even the rise of
habits such as teenage smoking,” like epidemics.
One of the first examples Gladwell points out in the
beginning of his book is the rise of Hush
Puppies shoes. The shoe company, Gladwell says, was on its last leg until
they noticed a group of people going to clubs, cafes, or walking the streets of
downtown New York. This exposed others to what he puts as the “Hush Puppies
virus.” Next, another example he uses in coming out with the same result is the
decline in crime in New York City during the mid-1990s. Gladwell notes that the
change of behavior among a small group of people, and how that turned into an “infection”
and started to spread to other people that fell into similar situations.
Also, a second point
with these two examples is that these changes, which were little, ended up
having big effects. The drop in crime rate came as a result of incremental
changes such as the crack trade leveling off, an older population, and an
improving police force, all contributing to make a dramatic effect. As with Hush Puppies, it took a small group of
kids in downtown Manhattan to turn the shoes into an international trend. Finally,
Gladwell says both trends skyrocketed in a hurry, and didn’t grow incrementally
over a small period of time.
These three factors, Gladwell says, can be comparable to a
disease moving through a school or workplace, or a sickness occurring during a
distinct time of year.
Another point that Gladwell makes when describing trends are
the three different types of people that contribute to the popularity of
trends; connectors, mavens, and salesmen. Connectors, according to Gladwell,
are people who have a special gift for bringing the world together, because
they know a variety of different kinds of people. Mavens are known for having
copious amounts of information concerning a variety of things, and likes to
pass on the word of how to get the good deals on certain products. Finally,
salesmen are the people with the persuasion skills to convince others who have
no preconceived view, and are essential to “tipping” of the word-of-mouth epidemics
that quickly spread. These three types of people combined help add to the
notion of how trends quickly take off.
Looking back after examining Gladwell’s take on the rapid
takeoff of trends, it’s amazing to think full circle about how certain people
and factors can play to the effect by doing small things, that eventually turn
out to be major trends.
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