Tipping Points Part 2: Behavioural Change
Butterflies, the Amazon, and planking
Welcome to the 19th edition of Honey Drops, where the usual format is out the window: this is Tipping Points Part 2.
Feel free to forward this on to anyone you think would benefit from a drop on their toast, a stir in their tea or a roadmap for behavioural change.
Last week, I wrote about the successful physical mitigation and adaptation initiatives we have already implemented to our betterment, in form of the Montreal Protocol to begin repairing the Ozone Layer, along with the advancements of sunscreen to enable us to keep enjoying our beach culture.
Today, I’m going to focus on social tipping points and why collaboration and partnerships are key to commercial sustainability success. As the business world continues to focus its attention on mandatory climate reporting, I’ve been noticing conversations to be far more focused on ‘what’ rather than ‘why’.
Being able to illustrate the underlying need for each company to have a deep understanding of their climate profile and scenario analysis is key to helping organisations take a proactive approach to their decarbonisation, rather than the bare minimum required to be compliant.
Twenty-Five Years of Gladwell:
As promised a couple of weeks ago, we can lean on Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point from 2000 (!), to provide the ‘Three Laws of Epidemics’, aka human behavioural change. When I read this book for the first time in 2006, I immediately knew it to be an important book: full of knowledge, anecdotes and blueprints I just didn’t have the professional experiences to map to.
I definitely didn’t think I’d be quoting it 19 years later, but I’m glad it‘s stuck with me as we engage in one of the great transformations of industry.
Gladwell explains these three laws of social epidemics to be:
‘The Law of the Few’ - it only takes a small group of influential people to start a social epidemic. Gladwell used the rise of Hush Puppies (in hindsight, surely the Y2K version of Crocs) from Manhattan’s nightclubs into every department store across the U.S.;
‘The Stickiness Factor’ - an idea has to be memorable and impactful for it to spread. Slip, Slop, Slap and ‘no hat, no play’ could probably be recited by the entire Australian population. The more recent additions of Seek, Slide, maybe not so much;
‘The Power of Context’ - behaviours and the spreading of ideas are significantly impacted by their environmental and situational factors. The request for a team member to complete ‘another box-ticking exercise’ for climate reporting probably won’t get very far without an overarching narrative of how multi-stakeholder pressures will impact the business’s current and future revenue targets, incentives and ability to retain staff.
These laws are moot, however, if three specific types of influential people aren’t also involved. Gladwell termed them Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen:
Connectors: What it says on the tin, people who bring together problem-holders and problem-solvers;
Mavens: The deep-divers, information specialists who accumulate and share their knowledge to propel the mission forward;
Salesmen: The persuader of others who can push initiatives over the line for adoption.
Why does this formula of the Three Laws of Epidemics and the three types of influential people determine success?
Well, butterfly wings in the Amazon, seemingly-small changes lead to significant effects, tipping an initiative into rapid, widespread adoption. By laying the permission structures/groundwork, most people will change their behaviour, due to a fear of missing out on being part of the action.
Think of any social media craze over the past fifteen years, and you’ll see my point: Planking, the ice bucket challenge, KONY, the mannequin challenge, the Blue/Gold Dress, eating TidePods, mullets.
FOMO existed well before social media because humans are, by definition, anxious creatures. In every movement, there are always people who miss out because they waited too long to see if ‘it’ will last. The same dynamics apply in the economy and will continue to play out as commercial sustainability continues to delivers stronger economic value to businesses while mitigating their financial risk exposure.
Derek Sivers breaks this down in three minutes:
“The leader needs the guts to stand out and be ridiculed”, but their movements are easy to copy;
The second person’s role is to show everyone else how to follow, and they’re embraced as an equal, making it about the collective, not the leader. The first follower also exhibits an underestimated act of leadership by standing out in such a way. “The first follower is what transforms a ‘lone nut’ into a ‘leader’”. You’ll see that the first follower is actually the one to call his friends to join him dancing.
The second follower then plays the role of showing “it’s not only two nuts, it’s a crowd, and a crowd is news.”
The next followers come as one, not as individuals: “Now we have momentum. This is the tipping point.”
Fun (little-known) fact #1: Santigold’s onstage during this clip, performing her song ‘Unstoppable’.
Fun fact #2: This isn’t just worth watching to view human psychology in real time, but also to put a smile on your dial today.
1 Thing For You To Ponder:
We know that a lack of agency in the face of overwhelming news often leads to higher rates of burnout and depression. It’s essential you are strengthening your connections with your friends, colleagues and family along this bumpy commercial sustainability ride.
“Community. Purpose. Service.” - former US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy’s cure for the growing rate of societal isolation. And yep, it’s another Simon Sinek episode.
So find the people who are looking for you. The first round of events for Climate Action Week Sydney are live, happening across Sydney 10th-16th March. Come hang out with your people, bring your knowledge and experience while learning from others, and figure out how to implement change together.
No one can do it all on their own, but everyone is needed.
Until next week,
Dan
Fabulous edition!
Really interesting Dan, just coming over here from our conversation on LinkedIn. The climate challenge seems to be the one space I can think of that eludes the tipping point narrative. We haven't seen widespread adoption (except in Norway where cost precludes buying a non-ev) of electric vehicles for example even though Tesla is one of the most valuable companies in the world and there are a significant number of influencers and passionate people involved. The issues seems to be that the climate is the first thing we've encountered where the change we make as an individual impacts someone else perhaps more than it does us. The change we make in the northern hemisphere impacts those in the southern hemisphere and often the change we need to make comes at a personal cost. Whether that is financial - installing heat pumps, going for an EV or experience - giving up meat, stopping flying. Typically a tipping point takes place where someone can see the clear benefit to them, even if its buying a pair of crocs! To positively impact the climate we need to do things that don't necessarily bring us personal joy or add to our lives, we are doing it for others, for us all, for our grandchildren. That makes the tipping point narrative difficult to apply, do we need to look at something else? Will more people change our of fear than hope??