"Tipping Point Shows Little Things Make Big Difference"

Although this book is several years old, the title attracted my interest. I was not disappointed in reading, “The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make A Big Difference” The author, Malcolm Gadwell, who often writes for the “New Yorker”, presents an interesting thesis about societal change.

The author asks, “Why do major changes in our society so often happen suddenly and unexpectedly?” “Why do ideas, behaviors, messages, and the desire for certain products spread like outbreaks of infectious diseases?” Just as a few sick people can start an epidemic, so too can a few satisfied customers fill the empty tables of a new restaurant or a half-dozen well-placed photographs of men wearing berets cause a fashion statement that ricochets across the world. According to Gadwell, these are social epidemics, and the moment when they take off--when they reach their critical mass--is the “Tipping Point”.

Gadwell identifies the three characteristics of the change-makers. First, the change is contagious; second, the change is minor but it causes big effects; and third, the change happens not gradually, but at one dramatic moment. This last characteristic is the most important because it is the drama of the change that makes it significant.

Example follows example of “tipping points”: Suddenly, the microwave was an essential kitchen appliance in 1982. The VCR followed in 1986. In 1989, the Fax machine suddenly became ubiquitous with one or more in every office. In 1998, everybody suddenly had cell phones. The critical mass has just about tipped for the DVD player/recorder.

The book publishing industry thrives on the “tipping point” phenomenon. Can you remember when you had to read “Love Story”? What about “Bridges of Madison County”? Practically everyone has now read “The Da Vinci Code”? Most all of these books were written by relatively obscure authors who by dumb luck benefited by a social epidemic that seized upon their books and caused everyone to have a desire to read them.

Four or five years ago, while my wife and I were vacationing in Boston, we decided to attend a theatrical production. At a street kiosk, we looked over the billboards of all the plays currently showing. One billboard advertised “The Blue Man Group”. We had no idea what this production was about. I had not read a single review about it. It hadn’t been on “Broadway”---the arbiter of American theatre. 
We turned to a young woman who was also perusing the billboards. She told us that she had seen the production twice and loved it. But, she said that it would be impossible for her to explain the context of the production. She insisted that we see it for the “experience”. 

I later learned that “The Blue Man Group” had grown out of the art scene in New York’s East Village and Soho neighborhoods a few years earlier. With minimum financial backing, it opened in Boston. Two months after we saw the production, it was featured in “Time” magazine. I now know that we saw “The Blue Man Group” just as it was reaching its “tipping point”. Since then, it has become a cultural phenomenon with long run shows in other cities, including Chicago, Las Vegas and Berlin. We paid about $35.00 apiece for our seats. A seat at the Las Vegas Luxor sells for $95.00.

Memorials to the Columbus Library Foundation include those from D’Ete and Fred Kluck in memory of Herman Ernst and Monica Wunderlich. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Kratky presented a memorial in honor of Gail Parrott. The Library staff, including Jan Osten, Donna Thiem, Dianne Clause, Kathy Soulliere, Donna Thomerson, Matt Asche, Sally Hansen, Veronica Kiuntke, Ellen Stewart, Robert Trautwein, and Brad Hruska presented memorials in memory of Fritz Engel, the father-in-law of library employee, Peggy Engel.