Let me start this blog post with the following disclaimer. “I don’t like reading books.” In all seriousness my desire in the past to read was quite low until recently. My lovely and quite amazing wife Beth encouraged me to read a book called The Tipping Point. I nodded, smiled and ignored the opportunity. I’m not sure when I started to read this book, or even why, but thankfully I did, and let me tell you, if you have any interest in the field of advertising, marketing, and or public relations this book is straight up awesome.
What I know for sure is this, this book isn’t new, nor are the glowing reviews of the book. Generally when I bring it up folks are telling me they read it a few years back. So, I’m a late bloomer, but let me tell you a few points that floored me and then I’ll encourage you too to read the book and let’s chat when you are finished and hash it over.
WOW Point #1.
The Broken Window theory. Without giving away the entire point here’s what the theory is all about. Taken from the book, I type: “Broken Windows was the brainchild of the criminologists James Q. Wilson and George Kelling. Wilson and Kelling argued that crime in the inevitable result of disorder. If a window is broken or 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 streets on which it faces, sending a signal that anything goes. In a city, relatively minor problems like graffiti, public disorder, and aggressive panhandling, they wiret, are all the equivalent of broken windows, invitations to more serious crime. The rest of this theory is then explained in greater details as you will see on page 141.
The reason why this point hit me so hard isn’t that it was the first time I’d heard the concept, actually, this was the second time this theory was presented to me. The first time I was enrolled in a Brainerd Lakes Leadership Training program where this theory was taught on how New York City reduced crime. Not by putting more police and weapons on the street, but by ensuring the broken windows were fixed and graffiti on the subway cars was always cleaned off. The theory means, if things look on the up and up, there is a good chance they will continue on the up and up. A solid case of what you see is what you believe. Broken windows says break some more. Fixed windows says, don’t break windows here.
It’s funny, because the first time I heard this concept about 5 years ago it moved our agency to become involved in our own backyard. Our first step was to become involved in the Downtown Brainerd restoration board. Again, using the Broken Window theory RedHouseMedia didn’t fix windows, we donated our services to create a new logo for the downtown, to create banners for the street lights posts, to write grants to receive the dollars to purchase the street light posts. We’ve also since been moved to donating our creative energies into the Cuyuna Lakes area. Again RedHouse didn’t clean graffiti off the walls, we created a new Chamber logo for towns of Crosby, Ironton, Deerwood, Trommald, Cuyuna, Emily and Riverton. We also created a new website for the Cuyuna Lakes Chamber to visually define where the city leaders believe their area is heading. I’m not thinking either of our examples have reduced crime, but we have seen businesses and residents begin to work in collaboration for the betterment of their street, their town, their community.
WOW Point #2.
Author Malcolm Gladwell breaks down all people into three different categories. Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen.
Connectors are the individuals who know everyone, they might not know everyone deep, but they have a surface working knowledge of people from every walk of life. Connectors are the people who connect people with people, and they really enjoy doing it.
Mavens are the individuals who understand price. To paraphrase Malcolm, Mavens notice a sign that says “everyday low price,” yet the price hasn’t changed. This irritates Mavens. Mavens know how to find a deal, and they love telling you about it. Mavens will do everything they can to educate the people they interact with how to find a deal, they will also provide free testimonials to anyone on a product they like. If you have a Maven in your life, you’d respect their opinion on products or services they trust.
Salesmen. Now the term salesmen has been drug through the mud due to the world we live in. In the pure sense of the word as Malcolm describes it, salesmen are individual’s (male or female) who are so passionate about what they do their excitement motivates others to want to be a part of it. Without thinking, Salesmen are blessed with the ability to motivate people to see something the way they themselves see it.
Now here is where extremely cool begins.
All three people groups are needed to get a product, a theory, or an movement tipped. (Tipping would be explained as once you push hard enough, all of the sudden, people catch on and move your message forward without your pushing.)
A great example Malcolm used was Paul Revere. What I didn’t know about Revere was this. There was another guy with Revere that night when they road out crying “The British are coming, the British are coming.” This other fellow went on a different road, to alert different people to the conflict that was at hand. Problem is though, have you ever heard of this other guy in the history books? I hadn’t, until now. Turns out this other fellow, William Dawes was his name, went out with the same message to people who would have been just as interested in defending their turf against the British. Why then no record of William in the history books? Turns out Paul Revere per Malcolm Gladwell’s writing was a Connector. He knew where to go, who to talk to, and who to connect with in order to get this news out. He was also a Maven. People knew Paul as someone who could be trusted with solid information. Put the two together and you have Revere who knew exactly who to tell, and actually what to tell them. End product, a Tipping Point of WOM (word of mouth) awareness that moved people into action. What about William Dawes? I really don’t know, but I’m guessing he might not have known which homes to go, in which case, rallying the troops would have taken more time.
So what’s the point?
If you want your business to make it, eventually it will need to tip. How do you get there? Read the book and then let’s talk. You can purchase The Tipping Point online from Amazon by clicking here, or better yet, click here to find a local bookstore in your neighborhood.
Happy reading.
( AWH )
About the Author
Aaron Hautala As creative director of RHM, Aaron believes the impossible isn't. The next time you see him, ask Aaron about Helsinki and swimming in the Baltic Sea after an extremely hot sauna. It’s a good story! 
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