When I was first asked to speak at the launch of the Advance Queensland Regional Enablers Program just prior to the FWDFEST 25 Innovation Conference on the Sunshine Coast. I’ll admit — I paused.
Not because I didn’t want to show up. But because I wasn’t sure what I could offer to a room of people already doing the work.
The super spreaders. The raving fans. The ones who’ve been championing Queensland innovation from the bush to the boardroom, quietly shaping momentum in their communities long before it was trendy
At the time, I happened to be reading The Revenge of the Tipping Point — and it struck me what a beautiful lens to pause, reflect and reset on as the right lens.
Not because it had easy answers, but because it challenged me to look more closely at my own assumptions.
It gave language to a question I couldn’t shake: What are we actually spreading — and is it aligned with the outcomes we say we want? What if what we’re tipping… isn’t what we intended? What if, despite all the programs, pilots, and partnerships, we’re quietly reinforcing the same patterns we set out to change?
Ecosystems don’t don't just explode they are shaped — by what we fund, what we celebrate, who we listen to, and what we amplify without even noticing. Some systems are built with blueprints. Others are shaped in quieter ways — through repetition, reward, expectation, habit.
We talk a lot about innovation, culture, and momentum. But if we zoom out, many of the outcomes we see — both the ones we celebrate and the ones we quietly tolerate — come not from what’s written down, but from what’s repeated. From what we build… without noticing.
This was the idea I unpacked recently with the Regional Enablers Network, a group of deeply invested ecosystem leaders and community builders across Queensland. The talk wasn’t a presentation in the traditional sense. It was an invitation to pause and reflect.
The Revenge of the Tipping Point — gave me a construct, a framework (who doesn't love a good framework) and a language to frame something I think many of us feel: We’re not always spreading what we think we are.
And yet, what spreads matters. It becomes what sticks. And over time, it quietly shapes what systems reinforce — whether or not it was the original intent.
We tend to think systems are built by strategy. But they’re just as often shaped by:
Who we listen to
What we fund
What we measure
What we copy
What we celebrate
This isn’t about good or bad design — it’s about unconscious reinforcement.
Because even the best-intentioned programs can drift.
Even values-aligned initiatives can quietly start rewarding the wrong things if we stop checking the signals we’re sending.
From Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, we learn that ideas spread through a handful of powerful forces:
The Law of the Few — a small number of people with outsized influence
Stickiness — messages or behaviours that are memorable and repeatable
Context — the environment that allows ideas to catch on
But the systems lens goes deeper. Drawing from The Revenge of the Tipping Point, I added three more lenses in the room:
Super Spreaders — not just people, but mindsets and patterns that scale quickly
Overstories — the deep, often invisible narratives that tell us what success looks like
Social Engineering — the subtle ways behaviour is shaped by incentives, design, and expectation
These elements aren’t inherently good or bad. But they are powerful.
And they’re often at work, even when we’re not consciously directing them.
One of the most powerful things we can ask as ecosystem builders, founders, funders, or policy designers is this:
What are we unintentionally reinforcing?
Sometimes we celebrate resilience, but reward burnout.
We speak about innovation, but fund familiarity.
We talk about inclusion, but repeat the same invitations.
We run new programs, but use old measures of success.
None of this comes from malice. It comes from drift.
That’s why noticing matters.
Because what we reinforce — however quietly — becomes what the system remembers.
There’s a short video I often come back to when I think about how change really catches. You may have seen it — it’s known as the Dancing Guy. (
It starts with one person dancing alone on a hillside at a music festival. He’s uncoordinated, offbeat, completely uninhibited. People watch, laugh, look away. But then, something small happens: someone else joins him. Then another. Then a wave.
The tipping point doesn’t come from the first mover.
It comes from the moment someone else says: “I’ll go too.” The Revenge of the Tipping point puts this at about 25%.
That’s how culture shifts.
Not just by starting something — but by making it safe, human, and worth joining.
And whether we realise it or not, that’s what we’re all doing in our work — sending signals about what’s possible, what’s permitted, and what’s encouraged to grow.
Why this ?
My ideas for blogs generally come from a position of aha moments, introspection and observation. After being at FWDFEST25 and seeing an ecosystem that was so positive and having seen others that are less positive and forward moving I thought why not .
This is an invitation to embrace curiousness and consciousness. At the Regional Enablers Meetup, we explored questions like:
What’s spreading in your ecosystem — and is it useful?
What do you celebrate? Who do you centre?
Where are you seeing quiet drift away from your values — and what might need a course correction?
Those same questions apply to all of us.
Because no matter where we sit — in government, industry, community, or startup land — we are always building something.
Sometimes with intention.
Sometimes by default.
If we want systems that hold up under pressure, we have to keep noticing what we’re building without realising it.
And if we want tipping points that take us somewhere better, we have to check what we’re tipping.
Want to explore what your work might be reinforcing — and what’s ready to shift?
At Australian Impact Group, we help teams, communities, and governments design momentum that sticks — for the right reasons.
Let’s talk.
www.australianimpactgroup.com
—
Miranda Mears is the Managing Director of the Australian Impact Group. She helps organisations and ecosystems create alignment between what they believe in, what they deliver, and what they reinforce. She believes the mess before momentum is where the magic happens.
#WhatWeReinforce #EcosystemDesign #TippingPoints #MomentumMatters #BehaviouralStrategy #AustralianImpactGroup #RegionalInnovation #DoTheThing)