The Tipping Point

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. Recommendation: Must read

This is a really good book, gets you thinking and thinking differently about a lot of things which are taken for granted in our daily life. As one review of the book says "makes you see the world in a different way".

The tagline of the book is “How little things can make a big difference”.

Malcolm Gladwell takes lots of examples where things have spread like “epidemics” due to some small incidents which tipped the balance resulting in avalanches. He takes the examples of how the Hush Puppy shoes once floundering, suddenly in 1995 made a comeback and soared in popularity. All this wihtout the company really doing much. And how crime in the city of New York was so prevalent but due to some small changes the crime rates drastically tipped downwards and the city made a comeback as a safe and very livable place.

The book explains these "epidemics" using 3 rules or laws: the Law of the Few; the Stickiness Factor and the Power of Context.

The Power of Context (Part One) chapter is the one I really liked. The Power of Context and the Broken Windows concept (explained and used in the book to illustrate the drop in the high rate of crime in the city of New York) suggest that behaviour is a function of social context. It is not that behaviour is not governed by genetics, social upbringing etc but it additionally suggests that certain times you can have a very normal person with everything straight but their behaviour can yet be powerfully affected by changing their immediate situation and environment.

The Broken Windows theory suggests that “…crime is the inevitable result of disorder. If a window is broken and left unrepaired, people walking by will conclude that no one cares and no one is in charge. Soon, more windows will be broken, and the sense of anarchy will spread from the building to the street on which it faces, sending a signal that anything goes.”

In the New York subway system every inch of the trains and stations were covered in graffiti and crime was really prevelant even in daylight. Mugging was a common place. The book explains how the graffiti was the Broken Window invitation and some administrators just by ensuring that the trains and stations were cleaned up, inside and out, managed to "tip" the decline of crime on the subway and in general also.

Another concept which really appealed to me is how it is generally believed that emotion is only inside-out. “I feel happy, so I smile. I feel sad, so I frown.” But the Emotional Contagion theory suggests that the opposite is also true. “If I can make you smile, I can make you happy. If I can make you frown, I can make you sad.” “Mimicry” is the way where if you show people smiling faces or better yet you yourself smile at them, they will smile back. Although, as the book says, the response may be so fleeting that you may need electronic sensors to detect micro smile. But the whole point is that you do influence and have the power to pass on your happiness, just by cracking a small smile maybe at someone who you know is feeling down or maybe at a meeting in office or maybe even at someone with whom you share a “cold” relationship. :-)

"Emotion is contagious" :-)