82 • 100 GREAT BUSINESS IDEAS
The spre a d of products or ideas and the decline of others are
rarely understood. Writer Malcolm Gladwell has developed the
idea of the “tipping point”: a compelling theory about how an idea
becomes an epidemic. The “tipping point” is the dramatic moment
when everything changes simultaneously because a threshold
has been crossed—although the situation might have been building
for some time.
The idea
Malcolm Gladwell likens rapid growth, decline, and coincidence to
epidemics. Ideas are “infectious,” fashions represent “outbreaks,”
and new ideas and products are “viruses.” Gladwell explains how
a factor “tips”—when a critical mass “catches” the infection,
and passes it on. This is when a shoe becomes a “fashion craze,”
social smoking becomes “addiction,” and crime becomes a “wave.”
Advertising is a way of infecting others.
Several factors are signifi cant in making sure that an idea “tips”:
- The law of the few. Epidemics only need a small number of people
to infect many others. This is apparent with the spread of disease:
it is the few people who socialize and travel the most that make
the difference between a local outbreak and a global pandemic.
Similarly, word of mouth is a critical form of communication: those
who speak the most (and the best) create epidemics of ideas. There
are three types of people: connectors, mavens, and salespeople.- Connectors bring people together, using their social skills
to make connections. They are key agents in the spread
- Connectors bring people together, using their social skills