Called to Connect
IllustrationHistorical Account★★★★Malcolm Gladwell’s book Tipping Point tells the story of two American patriots, Paul Revere and William Dawes. Both left on a mission the night of April 18, 1775. They rode off to warn surrounding communities that the British Redcoats were coming.
Revere crossed the bay to Charlestown, jumped on a horse and began his famous midnight ride. Like pieces of a puzzle he went to Charlestown, Medford, North Cambridge and Menotomy. Revere knew precisely where each town’s leaders lived. They in return recognized him and opened their doors to his urgent knocking. Since they trusted the warning of their friend, they spread the word around their neighborhoods as he rode on.
Revere reached Lincoln, Massachusetts, by 1:00 a.m. He rode into Sudbury by three. Before dawn Revere had connected with Andover, 40 miles to the northwest, then finally on to Lexington. Mission accomplished.
William Dawes set out on the same urgent errand, working his way to Lexington via the towns west of Boston. He carried the identical message, through just as many towns, over just as many miles as Paul Revere. But Dawes didn’t know the people he needed to connect with, and they didn’t know or trust him. So nobody rallied the local militia.
As puzzling as it may be, history does not record anyone showing up to fight from Dawes’s midnight ride! He failed his mission because of neglect to connect with the people.
–Van Hurst, Mid-America Outlook, December 2005, 8.
The point
Paul Revere succeeded in his midnight ride by knowing community leaders and being trusted by them, while William Dawes failed without such connections.