What “The Tipping Point” Missed About the Spread of Ideas

Jonah Berger says his goal is nothing less than entirely upending the premise of The Tipping Point, the book that launched both the ongoing trend of big-think pop-science books and Malcolm Gladwell’s career as a famous and well-paid corporate guru. In classes he taught at Wharton, Berger told students that “Fifty percent of The Tipping Point is wrong. My job is to show you which half.” Big talk from a relatively obscure marketing professor.

, the book Berger released earlier this year, challenges the alleged centrality of the was that if they could convince these influencers (Gladwell categorized them as mavens, connectors, and salesmen) to adopt and promote their products, then those products would “go viral,” with sheep-like regular folks following the tastemakers’ lead.