It's empowering to some and to some I guess it's a scary idea, but you can't deny the interesting applications of Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point. I think it scares some people who like to believe in the power of the system and that control and transferal of ideas by tradition is the way society should progress. This preference for the status quo definitly brings more comfort to those who might fear the power of the individual. I for one like the idea that big change can come from small groups of people. It's an optimistic, humanistic idea that makes insurmountable challenges (like the education gap) seem less frightening.

I read this book as part of training at my new job, a charter school designed to close the acheivement gap. I found implications in my own life all over the place. It was fun to apply the three "agents change" to the personalities of people you know as well as yourself. Gladwell says that Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen are the drivers of social change chronicled in The Tipping Point.

What are you? look at the link and decide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tipping_Point

I recommend the book if you'd like to make a change in world and feel like there might not be anything you can do.

Go Bills,

Colin