Revisiting The Tipping Point

In early July, I had never heard of a Labubu. Two weeks later, this furry creature had popped up in multiple conversations with friends, across major media outlets, and with celebrities ranging from Rihanna to David Beckham. 

To understand how, in a matter of days, I went from not knowing about these plush toys to being unable to escape them led me to reread Malcolm Gladwell's book The Tipping Point. Published two decades ago, the book explored the fundamentals of how small ideas and trends reach a critical mass. Gladwell outlined three rules for how things spread: the law of the few explains how small groups of highly influential people advance social epidemics; the stickiness factor underscores that ideas must be memorable and impactful to take off; and the power of context highlights the importance of time and environment for driving human behavior.

Recently, we’ve seen these dynamics at play within politics. Ideologies and candidates have gone from obscurity to victory, from polling at one percent to posing for the cover of TIME Magazine. As we work to mainstream a moderate vision for the future, it's worth considering how lessons from The Tipping Point can help us understand how political ideas can spread, catch fire, and rapidly reshape civic life.

The Law of the Few: Mobilizing Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen

Gladwell argued that epidemics are driven by a small group of highly influential people: connectors, who have vast networks; mavens, who gather and share knowledge; and salespeople, who can persuade with charisma. Buoyed by the DSA, the Mamdani campaign activated tens of thousands of volunteers who were connectors within their own circles, and the candidate’s charm and embrace of new media made him an effective salesman. The Abundance Movement, meanwhile, benefits from mavens like Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, who are steeped in policy and command influential reach. 

Campaigns and movements succeed when they identify and empower these individuals. To advance a centrist vision for the future, we must identify and train a new generation of organizers and influencers who can translate and champion wonky policy conversations across TikTok threads, neighborhood WhatsApp chats, podcast conversations, and community gatherings.

The Stickiness Factor: Making Ideas Memorable

Gladwell outlined that an idea must be memorable, repeatable, and emotionally resonant for it to spread. Obama embraced the hopeful simplicity of “Yes We Can.” Trump emblazoned “Make America Great Again” on ubiquitous red hats. Mamdani led his supporters in chants to “Freeze the Rents.” 

Political leaders need to invest not just in policy details but in narrative design. While solutions might be nuanced and complex, movements win when their core messaging is simple, straightforward, and repeatable across dinner tables, rallies, workplaces, and social media.

The Power of Context: Timing and Environment Matter

Gladwell’s third lesson explored how an environment shapes behavior. An idea that seems radical in one moment can become mainstream in another, depending on public mood, economic conditions, or cultural shifts. 

The 2008 financial crisis made Wall Street reform a winning political cause. Mamdani’s housing and affordability message resonated at a moment when New Yorkers are experiencing the worst housing shortage in 50 years. Similarly, the Abundance Movement is rising alongside voter frustrations with government gridlock and high living costs.

Advocates must read the environment carefully and know when the conditions are ripe for an idea to spread. When the right idea finds the right moment, a position can move swiftly from the fringe to the mainstream. With affordability dominating concerns of voters in New York and across the country, leaders should embrace a policy platform that curtails costs and expands economic opportunity.

Lessons for Today’s Politics

Transformative change rarely comes from top-down policy papers, elite debates, or millions of dollars spent on television ads. It comes when the right people deliver the right message at the right time. For centrist policy ideas to tip, reformers must invest in building networks of trusted messengers, distilling complex issues into sticky stories and ideas, and seizing moments when the public context makes people open to change.

Three more things:

• On housing, the City Council approved a plan to rezone 42 blocks across Midtown, paving the path towards developing around 10,000 new homes in a historically commercial area. Meanwhile, the New York City suburb of New Rochelle completed more than 4,500 new housing units over the last decade and has another 6,500 units in the pipeline. With all of this new development, median rents for New Rochelle are only up 1.6% since 2020, compared to 25% in New York City and other surrounding markets in Newark, Hoboken, and Jersey City.

• On AI and public transit, cities including Philadelphia and Los Angeles are mounting AI cameras on city buses to identify and ticket drivers and illegally parked cars in bus lanes. In Los Angeles, the effort boosted bus speeds by as much as 36%, and early pilots in New York showed rush-hour gains in speed of up to 25%.

• On a tech agenda for City Hall, Bradley Tusk outlined a series of policies City Hall should consider in the next administration. This included frameworks for autonomous driving and AI, advancing nuclear energy, and scaling vocational tech schools.