The tipping point is the "the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point" that occurs when a group suddenly and impulsively changes behavior to adopt a previously unpopular concept or trend.
When creating the Iowa Sustainable Business Alliance, we thought long and hard about what our realistic and empire goals should be. ISBA is a public charity, representing the collective of its members: business, organizations, nonprofits, social enterprises, and individuals of Iowa who share our principles. We want ISBA to be a force for positive change, but to create the kind of impact we envision, we must first build our numbers.
The idea of the "tipping point" struck us. It has been show in research that when approximately 10% of a population holding a strong opinion, while still a minority, is enough to greatly influence the whole populous. After doing research on the demographics of Iowa businesses, we discovered 97% of are small businesses (defined as having fewer than 500 employees). Currently there are around 243,932 small businesses in Iowa. Using the "tipping point" strategy, we are aiming to have 10% of small businesses be members of ISBA, that's 24,393 members! This is the number we have determined will be able to generate enough momentum to be effective in shifting the way Iowa views, operates, and protects its businesses.
The Tipping Point