A Magic Moment

"The name given to that one dramatic moment in an epidemic when everything can change all at once is the Tipping Point." (page 9)

The book that I am currently reading, "The Tipping Point", is a study of how little things can make a big difference. This quote, taken from the introduction of the novel, provides the reader with their first definition of what a tipping point is. "The Tipping Point" as Gladwell puts it is the point when an idea or product reaches a certain point and then "tips", becoming extraordinarily popular in a very short period of time. Gladwell feels that tipping points are caused by three major factors; contagiousness, little causes have big effects and finally change happens at one dramatic moment. The third of these major factors, change happens at one dramatic moment, is, in Gladwell's opinion, the rule that makes sense of the first two and allows for insight into why modern changes occur in the fashion they do. The example that Gladwell refers to regarding these three major factors is the Hush Puppy shoe and how it took off in New York fashion after being all but dead until that point. Gladwell explains that in the case of this shoe, the tipping point began at a few clubs and bars in New York where the shoe was becoming very popular. This new found trend spread from the clubs, to a New York stylist and then tipped once the idea reached two fashion designers who used the shoe to peddle something else, haute couture. No one along the way was deliberately trying to create this "epidemic", it just happened. "The Tipping Point" will reveal how something this profound is possible, how an idea or product can "tip" without deliberate effort to make it do just that.