Sustainability - An Idea Whose Time Has Come; The Tipping Point

Jet lagged and ready but waiting for another leg, I walked into a shop in Frankfurt Airport. On the way to Switzerland and later Israel, I was too excited to attempt to sleep. Grabbing souvenirs for my family, I was happy to see some books. The one that stood out was "The Tipping Point; How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference." by Malcolm Gladwell, Happily, I exchanged some Euros for the book that would change my life. For my beautiful wife, I grabbed chocolate! For the babies, Frozen memorabilia!

As I held the book, I thought to myself, "How can I apply this concept to my own dreams? How can I turn my dreams into reality?" My heart skipped a beat when I read the back cover.

"THE TIPPING POINT IS THAT MAGIC MOMENT WHEN AN IDEA, TREND, OR SOCIAL BEHAVIOR CROSSES A THRESHOLD, TIPS, AND SPREADS LIKE WILDFIRE."

"Just like a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. This widely acclaimed best-seller, in which Malcolm Gladwell explores and brilliantly illuminates the tipping point phenomenon, is already changing the way people throughout the world think about selling products and disseminating ideas."

When I was a kid, I tried to read as fast as my mother. She would read novels over night. She reads faster then John F. Kennedy. She didn't go to college to be a nurse. As a mother of 8, she didn't have time for that - she read all the nursing and physician books and clepped out. That's another amazing story. So, I read more books than any kid in the nation in the 5th grade for the Accelerated Reader Program. My principal had a long standing promise he would wear a dress if a student ever achieved what I did. He didn't shave his legs but he did put on the dress in front of the whole school.

I loved reading. I still do. I'd stand reading while walking to the next class. Hormones and the teen years changed that. College gave me the opportunity to do it again. Then I had to 'adult'. Briefly I spent some years studying economics and markets and some time studying the great philosophers. The Tipping Point brought me back to that childhood hunger for learning. Similarly, covid-19 has prompted a newfound gratitude and respect for life and others across the globe.

I read the book from cover to cover on the plane. Walking eccentrically with a book in my face in the airport, did I care what people thought? No, I had just discovered the book that would change my life.

"Startling and convincing. . . . Gladwell may be about to start an intellectual epidemic that could shake up the way we think about everything from selling shoes to planning cities. And how cool is that? . . . Nimbly juggling a remarkable assemblage of anecdotes and facts, he presents a convincing case that, contrary to the prevailing wisdom of mass trends and focus-group marketing, a few individuals or a single haphazard event can set off a social epidemic that profoundly alters the culture." - Liz Seymour, Attache

Efficiency, Elegance, Sustainability, Innovation

For the next 3 weeks, I experienced radically different cultures. The pace was slower and everything seemed so orderly with beautiful clocks and rail lines. The kind of efficiency and elegance I've dreamed of. Quite the adjustment for an American, the cars were tiny and even the affluent hung their cloths to dry. There were Tesla's charging among the Ferrari's and BMW's in Zurich. Switzerland and it's countrysides were the cleanest of places I've ever seen.

When I made it to Israel, I was quite shocked and am still amazed by the hundreds, maybe thousands of cranes reaching the skies. For a small country, building up makes sense. What I enjoyed the most was the food and friends who are like family. Without a care in the world, except missing my family, I let my mind run and applied this new way of thought toward making some major changes in my mindset and life.

The Tipping Point Wikipedia:

"The Law of the Few" is, as Gladwell states: "The success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social gifts."[3]?According to Gladwell, economists call this the "80/20 Principle, which is the idea that in any situation roughly 80 percent of the 'work' will be done by 20 percent of the participants" (see?Pareto Principle).[4]?These people are described in the following ways:

• Connectors?are the people in a community who know large numbers of people and who are in the habit of making introductions. A connector is essentially the social equivalent of a computer?network hub. They usually know people across an array of social, cultural, professional, and economic circles, and make a habit of introducing people who work or live in different circles. They are people who "link us up with the world...people with a special gift for bringing the world together."[5]?They are "a handful of people with a truly extraordinary knack [... for] making friends and acquaintances."[6]?Gladwell characterizes these individuals as having?social networks?of over one hundred people. To illustrate, he cites the following examples: the?midnight ride of Paul Revere,?Milgram's?experiments in the?small world problem, the "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" trivia game,?Dallas?businessman?Roger Horchow, and?Chicagoan?Lois Weisberg, a person who understands the concept of the?weak tie. Gladwell attributes the social success of Connectors to the fact that "their ability to span many different worlds is a function of something intrinsic to their personality, some combination of curiosity, self-confidence, sociability, and energy."[7]
• Mavens?are "information specialists", or "people we rely upon to connect us with new information."[4]?They accumulate knowledge, especially about the?marketplace, and know how to share it with others. Gladwell cites Mark Alpert as a prototypical Maven who is "almost pathologically helpful", further adding, "he can't help himself."[8]?In this vein, Alpert himself concedes, "A Maven is someone who wants to solve other people's problems, generally by solving his own."[8]?According to Gladwell, Mavens start "word-of-mouth?epidemics" due to their knowledge,?social skills, and ability to communicate.[9]?As Gladwell states: "Mavens are really information brokers, sharing and trading what they know."[10]
• Salesmen?are "persuaders",?charismatic?people with powerful negotiation skills. They tend to have an indefinable trait that goes beyond what they say, which makes others want to agree with them. Gladwell's examples include?California?businessman Tom Gau and?news anchor?Peter Jennings, and he cites several studies about the persuasive implications of?non-verbal cues, including a headphone nod study (conducted by Gary Wells of the?University of Alberta?and Richard Petty of the?University of Missouri) and?William S. Condon's?cultural microrhythms study.

I'll leave you with some quotes by Gladwell. Before I do, let me explain what we are up to and how you can help. We are attempting to connect, inform and mobilize the connectors, mavens and salespeople necessary to reach a tipping point for the sustainability movement. My personal interests are in the electrification of the world but I also support any means toward sustainability.

Covid-19 is a pandemic that awoke our senses and much like my boredom on a layover in the airport, it might just prompt the kind of action we need to reach a tipping point. Our minds and our spirits are ripe for the kind of change that aligns with our dreams and vision. The technology is here. The ideas are here. The people are here. The revolution is here, JOIN US

All we have to do is connect, learn & collaborate and we will push it to the tipping point. That is why I encourage you to join me in our most recent attempts to make the world more sustainable.

Now you know what led to GreenTech News and why I am so excited.

We are close. Tune in to learn about the technology, see the good news and learn from the thought leaders. Be a part of it. Much like the spread of covid-19, we can see a word of mouth, social learning, viral technology and sustainability pandemic spread in the same way. Like wildfire. The revolution is here. Thank you for JOINING US!

“If you want to bring a fundamental change in people's belief and behavior...you need to create a community around them, where those new beliefs can be practiced and expressed and nurtured.”

“That is the paradox of the epidemic: that in order to create one contagious movement, you often have to create many small movements first.”

“There are exceptional people out there who are capable of starting epidemics. All you have to do is find them.”

“There is a simple way to package information that, under the right circumstances, can make it irresistible. All you have to do is find it.”

“Acquaintances, in sort, represent a source of social power, and the more acquaintances you have the more powerful you are.”

“Look at the world around you. It may seem like an immovable, implacable place. It is not. With the slightest push—in just the right place—it can be tipped.”

I highly recommend all of my friends read THE TIPPING POINT to understand how it impacted me and how we can impact the world. As a team. We are in this together. Thank you for your support and mutual enthusiasm. See you soon.