1. What method did Georgia Sadler find to tip her diabetes/cancer campaign? Would you classify her as a connector, maven, or salesman?
The method Georgia Sadler found to tip her diabetes/cancer campaign was to move the campaign from black churches to beauty salons. She found that women who go to the beauty salons are a captive audience and will be at the salon for anywhere from two hours to eight hours. The stylist, who is a natural conversationalist, has a special relationship with their client. Sadler changed the contest of her message, the messengers and the message itself. Because of her method I would classify Sadler as a maven.
2. What is Gladwell’s view of a Band-Aid solution?
The Band-Aid solution is an inexpensive, convenient, and remarkably versatile solution to an astonishing array of problems. Gladwell thinks this is the best kind of solution because it involves solving a problem with the minimum amount of effort, time, and cost.
3. What two lessons does he mention from the Tipping Point?
The two lessons Gladwell mentioned from the Tipping Point was that we reframe the way we think about the world and that those who are successful at creating social epidemics do not just do what they think is right but they deliberately test their intuitions.
Afterword.
Tipping Point Lessons from the Real World
1. How might the AIDS epidemic have been better combated if it had been examined as a social phenomenon?
The Aids epidemic may have been better combated if it had been examined as a social phenomenon because it would have been far more effectively just by focusing on those beliefs and social structures and poverty and prejudices and personalities.
2. What does Gladwell mean when he writes that "we are about to enter the age of word of mouth" (on page 264)?
Gladwell writes that "we are about to enter the age of word of mouth" which means that with all of the sophistication and wizardry and limitless access to information of the New Economy is going to lead us to rely more on very primitive kinds of social contacts. To deal with the complexity of the modern world we rely on Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen.
3. What does Gladwell mean by the phrase "the Age of Isolation"?
The age of Isolation is a time we are in a period of isolation. Teenagers were not mimicking an adult practice or reacting to something the adult world was imposing on them. They were entirely blind to what adults said and did. The ritualized, dramatic, self-destructive behavior among teenagers has extraordinary contagious power. Gladwell feels that the way adolescent society has evolved in recent years has increased the potential for this kind of isolation.
4. What is Gladwell’s take on school shootings like Columbine?
In the twenty-two months that followed the Columbine shooting, there were nineteen separate incidents of school violence in the United States that were similar to Columbine. Gladwell believes that this was not part of a larger wave of violence because the Columbine wave happened in a period when violence among students was down. If it hadn’t been for Columbine, the wave of 19 separate incidents would not have happened. There is no use making sense of it because it only makes sense in the closed world that teenagers inhabit.
5. What is the "fax effect"? How does "immunity" negate the "fax effect"?
The "fax effect" is a network in which each additional fax machine that is shipped increases the value of all the fax machines operating before it. Buying into the access to the entire fax network is more valuable than the machine itself. The more people this "virus" infects, the more powerful this epidemic will be. However, this epidemic will come to an end once too many people develop immunity to it. It is like a particular strain of the flu. Once too many people develop immunity to it, it comes to an end.
