Chapter 8: Conclusion: Focus, Test, Believe

This last chapter of the book wrapped up the idea of the tipping point. It mainly talked about starting with an issue and the approach on might take to solve it. He brought up a final example of how a nurse wanted to raise awareness of breast cancer in the African American community. She brought about the fact that when African American women lose their hair during the course of treatment, it is difficult for them to find wigs that match their original hair. This little fact, the nurse believed, reached out to people more because it wasn’t throwing facts out like traditional education of the disease. She believed that we people relate they are more likely to respond. Gladwell called this approach a Band-Aid solution as it just attempts to treat the symptom of the problem without actually solving the actual problem. However, relating back to his earlier chapter about the importance of context in every issue, solving a little issue like this can be more affective than one thinks to solve the larger problem. He says that eventually, if there are enough “Band-Aid solutions” for this problem, it can result in a tipping point. I think this chapter summed up the main ideas of the book very well. The whole idea of the tipping point has many aspects that go along with it. The main focus of it is that you need enough positive “advertising” of what you are trying to “sell” to people in order to reach a point that will ultimately “tip” you into success. This doesn’t always necessarily have to relate to business. It can also relate to personal and societal issues that need a solution. I found this book to put an interesting spin on a phenomenon. Gladwell always finds incredibly interesting evidence to support his argument. I love it because it’s not only relatable to the layperson but it also makes for an interesting, though provoking read. All in all I really enjoyed most of this book. At first I thought reading a business book would be boring and difficult to get through but this book was a pretty quick read and it wasn’t at all boring.