Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
Description:
Mark Twain once observed, “A lie can get halfway around the world before the truth can even get its boots on.” His observation rings true: Urban legends, conspiracy theories, and bogus public-health scares circulate effortlessly. Meanwhile, people with important ideas–business people, teachers, politicians, journalists, and others–struggle to make their ideas “stick.”
Why do some ideas thrive while others die? And how do we improve the chances of worthy ideas? In Made to Stick, accomplished educators and idea collectors Chip and Dan Heath tackle head-on these vexing questions. Inside, the brothers Heath reveal the anatomy of ideas that stick and explain ways to make ideas stickier, such as applying the “human scale principle,” using the “Velcro Theory of Memory,” and creating “curiosity gaps.”
In this indispensable guide, we discover that sticky messages of all kinds–from the infamous “kidney theft ring” hoax to a coach’s lessons on sportsmanship to a vision for a new product at Sony–draw their power from the same six traits.
Made to Stick is a book that will transform the way you communicate ideas. It’s a fast-paced tour of success stories (and failures)–the Nobel Prize-winning scientist who drank a glass of bacteria to prove a point about stomach ulcers; the charities who make use of “the Mother Teresa Effect”; the elementary-school teacher whose simulation actually prevented racial prejudice. Provocative, eye-opening, and often surprisingly funny, Made to Stick shows us the vital principles of winning ideas–and tells us how we can apply these rules to making our own messages stick.
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219 of 235 found the following review helpful:
Valuable insights for marketers, advertisers and sellersFeb 25, 2007
By Brad Shorr
"Brad Shorr"
With an entertaining blend of case studies and startling research, the Heath brothers lay out the critical elements of a sticky idea. They are--
1. Simplicity
2. Unexpectedness
3. Concreteness
4. Credibility
5. Emotions
6. Stories
As you might expect, the authors use these techniques to drive home their point. For example, in the chapter on stories, they talk about Subway's Jared campaign--quite a dramatic behind-the-scenes story besides being a near perfect example of storytelling in marketing.
Although these six elements seem like common sense, they are woefully underapplied in business communication. The authors state it well--
"Business managers seem to believe that, once they've clicked through a PowerPoint presentation showcasing their conclusions, they've successfully communicated their ideas. What they've done is share data."
Well researched, easy to read and hard to forget.
193 of 209 found the following review helpful:
"Do it yourself" consulting: Crafting memorable messages with integrityJan 04, 2007
By Amy Tiemann
"aka Mojo Mom"
If you are going to write a guide to crafting sticky ideas, your book had better embody your principles. Authors Chip and Dan Heath succeed admirably. What I love about "Made to Stick" is that it is not merely entertaining (though it is), it provides practical, tangible strategies for creating sticky ideas. Once you understand these recommendations, you can boil them down to a set of touchstone points to evaluate your own work. This sets "Made to Stick" apart from the work of Malcolm Gladwell, whom the Heath brothers cite as an inspiration. I enjoyed Gladwell's books but could not necessarily apply his ideas to my own work.
My review copy of "Made to Stick" is covered with highlighter. I am reading the book once through for pure pleasure, and then I am going back again to apply the ideas to evaluate the communications of a non-profit organization I am working for. "Made to Stick" challenges you to distill the essence of your message, to get back to core principles and to communicate them in a memorable way. Chip and Dan point out that as we become experts, we tend to use abstraction to define our ideas, and we lose our ability to communicate with novices. They teach us how to bridge that gap so that our ideas are once again accessible by everyone.
"Made to Stick" gives you the tools you need to revamp your own messages. It provides "do it yourself" conuslting in book form, which will be appreciated by activists, entrepreneurs, and businesses of all sizes.
30 of 30 found the following review helpful:
A must-read on communicationJun 13, 2007
By ServantofGod The authors had been too humble to title their book "made (ideas) to stick" and regard it as a complement to the bestseller "Tipping Point" (pg13). IMHO, this is one of the best books on communication. Some may argue that the six principles (SUCCESs: simplicity, unexpectedness, concreteness, credibility, emotions, stories) of sticky ideas are not unique. However, the samples and peripheral ideas presented are so intriguing. In short, a must read for all (who need to communicate). Highly recommended!
p.s. Below please find some favorite messages I found in it for your reference:-
Curse of knowledge: Once we know something, we find it hard to imagine what it was like not to know it. Our knowledge has "cursed" us. And it becomes difficult for us to share our knowledge with others, because we cant readily re-create our listeners' state of mind. pg20 If you say three things, you dont say anything. pg33 Simple = Core + Compact pg45 Statistics arent inherently helpful; it's the scale and context that make them so. pg146 If I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will. - Mother Teresa pg165 Why dones mental stimulation work? It works because we cant imagine events or sequences without evoking the same modules of the brain that are evoked in a real physical activity.......Notice that these visualizations focus on the events themselves - the process, rather than the outcomes. No one has ever been cured of a phobia by imagining how happy they'll be when it's gone. pg212 Picturing a potential argument with our boss, imagining what she will say, may lead us to have the right words available when the time comes.....can prevent people from relapsing into bad habits such as smoking, excessive drinking......can also build skills. pg213 If you make an argument, you're implicitly asking them to evaluate your argument - judge it, debate it, criticize it - and then argue back, at least in their minds. But with a story, you engage the audience - you are involving people with the idea, asking them to participate with you. pg234
20 of 21 found the following review helpful:
The cure for "In One Ear And Out The Other" SyndromeNov 15, 2007
By Damon Farnham Wow! Now I get it! Now I understand why the corporate world (in general) and information technology realm (in particular) are so ... hmmm ... challenged.
We struggle with ever-increasing complexity. We polarize into groups and teams that specialize in [this], or become experts in [that.] Communication breaks down, efficiency and productivity plummet, morale drops and chaos reigns.
Sound familiar?
By reading "Made to Stick," I learned why communicating ideas and concepts to other people is not as easy as we intuitively think it is. More often than we probably care to admit --- we talk, people hear, but our message doesn't resonate --- we ultimately fail to reach our intended goal to persuade, inform or entertain those around us. Our ideas and messages go in one ear and out the other.
How many times have you made an important point to a business client, or rushed through something with a co-worker that you thought was intuitively obvious, and walked away thinking "Hmmm, I don't think s/he got it?" or "Why is this problem so difficult to resolve?"
We sometimes forget, or have never been taught, that people don't always remember everything they hear, see or read. Only a small percentage of "content" actually gets through all the filters and barriers that our brains use on a daily basis to protect us from the sensory-overloading world that we live in.
"Made to Stick" will teach you how to recognize those message-squashing, idea-blocking impediments to effective communication. And guess what? It will do so in a way that is easy and dare-I-say fun to read.
Getting your thoughts and ideas to "stick" in someone's brain (aka "guessing machine") requires that we unlock many of the mysteries concerning how and why that wrinkly organ between our ears works. Without giving away the punch line, the authors of Made to Stick provide the keys to unlocking much of that puzzle, offering a powerful yet simple framework for making your ideas sticky, or spotting the elements that make some ideas more effective than others.
Just for fun, here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:
"Becoming an expert in something means that we become more and more fascinated by nuance and complexity."
"Common sense is the enemy of sticky messages."
"Abstraction is the luxury of the expert. If you've got to teach an idea to a room full of people, and you aren't certain what they know, concreteness is the only safe language."
"And that's the great thing about the world of ideas --- any of us, with the right insight and the right message, can make an idea stick."
23 of 25 found the following review helpful:
Thanks for Teaching Me How to Make A Good Idea Stick GoodMar 18, 2007
By Arline Curtiss The ideas in this book are terrific. We kind of know some of Heath's principles: simplicity (well, we've heard about KISS forever), unexpectedness (there should be something shocking or at least edgy to make it dynamic,) concreteness (it can't be "mystery meat" you have be able to connect with the essence right away,) credibility (one has to get an initial feeling of "worthiness"), it has to excite, to have emotional as well as rational appeal, and stories help (well, we've heard about testimonials, and parables too). But here in this book Heath puts it all into focus so you have a concrete measuring scale to work with.
He illustrates his points with some good examples. How do you get big, bad truckers to stop littering the State of Texas? "Give a hoot, don't pollute" is too tame for these macho guys. So state officials came up with the slogan "Don't mess with Texas" and did TV spots with such consummate Texans as Ed Jones of the Dallas Cowboys and country music's Willie Nelson.
"Business managers seem to believe that, once they've clocked through a PowerPoint presentation showcasing their conclusions, they've successfully communicated their ideas," Heath writes. "What they've done is share data" Sticky ideas shock, move and convince us. "If you want your ideas to be stickier, you've got to break someone's guessing machine and then fix it."
I had read about Heath's research in Cognitive Psychology, Psychology Today, and Scientific American. Unfortunately not before I made two big mistakes. But, thanks to what I have since learned, I think I have been able to correct them.
I'm a board certified cognitive behavioral therapist who has had great success training people to re-wire their brains to quickly get out of the pain of depression by using simple mind exercises to switch their neural activity from the feeling part of the brain (the subcortex) to the thinking part of the brain (the neocortex). These exercises are based on neuroplasticity, the ability of the brain to re-wire itself as a result of changes in one's thinking and behavior. So far, so good.
I called the process Directed Thinking, successfully presented my research before the National Board of Cognitive Behavioral Therapists, and got a trademark. BUT THE NAME WAS NOT CATCHY. The second mistake was letting my publisher use the title DEPRESSION IS A CHOICE. What I meant was that people had a choice TO GET OUT OF Depression but many people were insulted because they thought I was saying they chose TO GET depressed in the first place, and I wasn't around to explain when a prospective reader picked up the book at Borders. But I think I got Heath's message loud and clear. My second book is called BRAINSWITCH OUT OF DEPRESSION!
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