Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

Brothers Chip and Dan Heath in their New York Time’s best-selling book, “Made to Stick,” explore the stickiness of an idea. Those of us who spend time in the start-up world marvel at why one idea gains traction and other, seemingly better ideas, fall to wayside. The Heath brothers provide insights on this phenomenon and provide help for those bent on creating ideas that are “sticky.” “Sticky” ideas are understandable, memorable, and effective in changing thought or behavior. The six underlying SUCCESs principles for making things “stick” are: • Simplicity – Simple=core+compact. Find and share your core idea; make it simple and profound. “It’s the economy, stupid” (Clinton campaign, 1992) is a great example. The inverted pyramid approach which is used in journalism is a good tool to get your headline. • Unexpectedness - We need to violate people’s expectations to get them to pay attention. Break existing patterns to get people’s attention. Southwest flight attendants use humor (there are two doors on either side if you need to jump!) to hold attention when giving the pre-flight safety announcement. Humans adapt incredibly quickly to patterns. Consistent sensory stimulation makes us tune out. • Concreteness – You must help people understand and remember. Don’t use abstractions. Make your core idea concrete. Use common knowledge to make your idea stick. Our greatest villain is the Curse of Knowledge or when we assume everyone knows what we know or shares our unique perspective. We have to see it from the “others” point of view. We forget what other people do not know and slip into “abstractspeak.” Boeing’s criteria for a new plane was not “the best passenger plane in the world” but one that can seat 131 passengers and land on Runway 2-22 at LaGuardia. No ambiguity here. • Credibility – Help people believe by making sure your idea carries its own credentials. Pass the “Sinatra Test.” Examples offered include “Where’s the Beef?” and Reagan’s “Are you better off today?” Both were credible and resonated as they were based on common shared knowledge. • Emotional– Make people care by using the power of association, appealing to self-interest, or identity. “People donate to Rokia more than a wide swath of Africa”; “Honoring the Game” versus the use of the word ‘sportsmanship’; “I’m in charge of morale” as stated by a US military cook in Iraq. We must make people feel something to get them to care. We are wired to feel things, not abstractions. • Stories – Stories get people to act on our ideas. Stories act as a kind of mental flight simulator, preparing us to respond more quickly and effectively. Stories are told and retold because they contain wisdom. The Healths provide what they view are the three basic story plots – the Challenge Plot, The Connection Plot, and the Creativity Plot. Stories can almost single-handedly defeat “The Curse of Knowledge.” I have been involved in a ministry for people in career-transition for over fifteen years. We consistently advise those in-transitions to create stories to highlight their skills and experience when interviewing. It is well understood that interviewers will mostly remember your comportment and more importantly, your stories. A chapter is devoted to each principle with the authors providing context for clarity and understanding, examples, and tools to guide the development of a “sticky” idea. The Curse of Knowledge is what escapes most when trying to pitch an idea. It is the natural psychological tendency that consistently gets in the way of our ability to successfully create “sticky ideas” using these principles. Once we know something, we find it hard to imagine what it was like not to know. This knowledge has “cursed” us and makes it difficult to share our knowledge with others. It is because we cannot readily re-create our listeners state of mind. When a CEO discusses “unlocking shareholder value,” there is a tune playing in his head that the employees can’t hear. On the other hand, President John F. Kennedy knew that opaque, abstract missions don’t captivate and inspire people so he concretely challenged the country with “landing on the moon by the end of the decade.” Throughout the book, the authors present “Idea Clinics” which illustrate how an idea can be made stickier. Example: ”Do smokers really need to understand the workings of the lungs in order to appreciate the dangers of smoking?” The book itself is “sticky’ filled with stories of normal people facing normal problems who did an amazing thing simply by applying these principles, even if they were not aware that they were doing this. They distinguish themselves by crafting ideas that made a difference. Do your ideas gain traction and “Stick” or are they cast aside for less important ideas? “Made to Stick” was written for you.

The SUCCESs. Not the word that counts its literal meaning, but that invisible, intangible theory where we are able to express, deliver, and stick ideas to others. In this revealing book, you will be introduced to the six ingredients designed specifically to make ideas sticky, and let me deliver what I caught from this eye-opening book. Others may experience over time they develop habits that slowly erode their mind's sensitivity. The inevitable pain and disappointment of moments such as delivering your ideas at a business meeting or a conference have caused you to set up walls around your mind. Much of this is understandable. But, there's no way around the truth: your mind is out of tune with confidence it was created to maintain. As we live in community, communication is the way for us to feel the unity. The book is even greater because the authors, Chip and Dan Heath, apply their SUCCESs theory onto practical situation to help readers understand more clearly. Without the SUCCESs rule, some kinds of communications might ease our conscience temporarily but would do nothing to expose the deeper secrets we carry and deliver. And, it might be the secrets that keep our minds in turmoil. Worse, this kind of communication could actually fuel destructive behavior rather than curb it. The rules the authors explain in this book might seem the things you would feel that you already know. But, these are the things you could easily ignore. The book is a great reference to keep you on succeeding the efficient deliverability of your ideas. Chapter summary Chapter1: Simple When you needed to deliver your message in a brief and compact way, how would you prepare to deliver it to your audiences or readers? Simplicity is the key and first step to make a message sticky to others. Making it simple does not mean that you need to bring out your most important idea. It is critical to find the core. According to the authors, "finding the core isn't synonymous with communicating the core." But, that simplicity must come with its value. Like the metaphor of a company for the employees to be encouraged, your message needs to be simple and important to make your message remain not just in your mind but others as well. Chapter2: Unexpected "We can't demand attention. We must attract it" says the authors in the book. In order to grab people's attention, your message may be attractive with unexpectedness. Breaking a pattern could be one way. For example, the old emergency siren was too monotonic to stimulate our sensory systems and therefore failing to attract our attention. As the siren gets systematically and audibly improved, people hear much brighter and more stimulating sound and therefore being aware of some situation. In order to catch people's attention, you need to break the ordinary patterns. According to the book, "Our brain is designed to keenly aware of changes." The more you learn knowledge, the greater the knowledge gap you would get. Because we sometimes tend to perceive that we know everything, it's hard to glue the gap. However, curiosity comes from the knowledge gaps, so these knowledge gaps can be interesting. Chapter3: Concrete Humans can hallucinate and imagine what we've experienced in visual, audible, or any other sensory pathways. When we use all our sensory systems to visualize ideas or messages, then the ideas get much more concrete. As an example the authors provide in this chapter, "a bathtub full of ice" in the Kidney Theft legend is an example of abstract moral truths that makes it concrete. Chapter4: Credible When you are a scientist, you believe more in the things that are scientifically proven or that are referred to many other studies or to the words or the theories that the well-known scientist has established. That much, credibility makes or deceives people believe your ideas. Both authorities and antiauthorities work. We present results, charts, statistics, pictures and other data to make people believe. "But concrete details don't just lend credibility to the authorities who provide them; they lend credibility to the idea itself." Chapter5: Emotional What's in it for you? It is a good example of the power of association. Sometimes, we need to grab people's emotion. It does not mean tear jerking, dramatic, or romantic. It means that your idea must pull out people's care and attachment to it. However, we don't always have to create this emotional attachment. "In fact, many ideas use a sort of piggybacking strategy, associating themselves with emotions that already exist (Made to Stick)." People can make decisions based on two models: the consequence model and the identity model. The consequence model can be rational self-interest, while the identity model is that people identify such situations like what type of situation is this? Chapter6: Stories Have you seen and heard the story of the college student from the Subway campaign? He's the guy who lost hundreds of pounds eating Subway sandwiches. The story inspires people and even connects to people's real life. Like the book, Made to Stick, also presents a lot of stories to deliver and to help readers understand in each chapter, stories allow people to understand how your idea can affect or change their mind. Close the book and think for a moment before you start reading. How are things with your mind? Chances are, you've never stopped to consider your mind. Why should you? There are interviews to prepare for, meetings to blow others' mind with your amazing ideas, and moments you need to bring up emotional attachment with your family or your friends. If you are all caught up with these things and ask yourself this, "how are things?" "How have I dealt with those situations?" Before you go reading, you first need to dispel a commonly held myth about communication. You need to understand your old habits would die hard. And, like any habit that goes unchecked, over time they come to keep disturbing you to make your ideas sticky. Try to use the clinic part in each chapter. It will enhance your understandings, and you will improve your skills to make your ideas survive. If you really want to understand much deeper, as you read the book, look up some informative articles about the anatomy and physiology of the brain. It will help you. According to the book, your ideas must simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional, and stories. Try to apply these rules into your next presentation. I was not a good organized speaker. When I adjusted my mind with these rules to prepare my presentation recently, an amazing thing happened. I am the leader of the young adult ministry of a small local church. At almost every meeting, I needed to make the members understand what and why we need to awaken ourselves and other people; they barely paid attention to what I was saying. Even they seemed understanding, but once they returned to their home or to their life, they forgot what I emphasized. However, with the rules I learned from the book, the members started showing their interests in what I say and paying good attention to it. It works! Part of our confusion in delivering ideas stems from a misapplication of the rules we think we already know for persuasions. The notion that all confusions can be reduced down to a single underlying problem may strike you as a case of oversimplification. However, with the book, Made to Stick, you will track and be ready for your next presentation. When I was looking for a neuroscience book, Made to Stick was one of the recommended books related to neuroscience. The book is easy to follow, and it is really made to stick! If you are looking for a scientifically texted neuroscience book, this is not the book for you. However, this book will stir up your curiosity about neuroscience as a fundamental connector to higher neural knowledge. Simply, highly I recommend.

"Made to Stick" is a useful book which explores how to make ideas more 'sticky' -- easier to accept and remember for people. The authors provide boatloads of examples of different messages and explain why some of these work and why some of these don't work and also give examples how you could change the message format (to say the same thing!) which would make it easier for people to remember. The book is well structured according to the author's message template for making sticky messages. The SUCCES acronym is this template used throughout the rest of the book. The next six chapters contain one of the elements of the message template. After that is an epilogue which summaries the book and makes some closing remarks. The last part contains a small article which was added after the first release of Made to Stick. The six chapters are for each of the elements of the SUCCES acronym: 1) Simple -- the point of the message needs to be simple and not buried deeply inside the message. 2) Unexpected -- When something unexpected happens in the message, a sudden change or so, then it will be easier to remember the message. 3) Concrete -- ideas ought to concrete with examples as most people are concrete thinkers and won't remember abstract ideas. 4) Credible -- the source of the idea and additional details can give an idea more credibility and making it easier to remember and accept. 5) Emotional -- trying to get an emotional reaction out of people based on a message makes it easier for people to remember. We want to be rational but we are emotional. 6) Stories -- Often good ideas and messages come in stories (with lots of concreteness and color). Formulating messages in stories will increase it's stickiness. Each of the above chapters contains dozens of stories, examples of good and bad messages, and tips on how to improve them. Also each chapter contains a clinic in which they take a message and, using the theme of the chapter, they give two different variants of the same message and explain why one is better than the other. All in all, I enjoyed reading Made to Stick. It was well written and I'll remember a lot of stories from the book as they were pretty... sticky. That said, while reading the book, there was no major Aha! moment, but instead if seemed to add words and concepts to things that I had already experienced. That also made it easy to accept what was written in Made to Stick. The book didn't dramatically change the way I create messages/ideas, but it did gave me a new thinking tool to use. I was going between 3 stars (does what it should do) and 4 stars (good and recommended). I decided to stick with 4 stars. Pretty good, especially for people who give training, are in marketing or in other ways need to make easy to remember -- sticky -- messages.

I don’t usually write reviews of books, even good ones, but Made to Stick is so good I feel the need to make an exception. It is, quite simply, one of the best non-fiction books I have ever read – definitely in my top five, possibly top three. I won’t reiterate the main content: I can see other reviewers have done that. But I will say that the power of the book’s ideas combined with its clear, readable and lively presentation (“let’s skip now to another timeless and beautiful domain of expression: accounting”) make for one helluva package. This is one of those few books where I’ve bought both the hard copy as well as the Kindle version. That’s how good it is. While it’s still early days for me in applying the very practical lessons in Made to Stick they hold great promise in yielding high impact in thought leadership, providing learning, and marketing effectively. One example: I recently drafted an article for submission to a training magazine that has previously published half a dozen of my articles. Before I submitted it however, having just finished reading Made to Stick I ran the article through the author's checklist and made some changes (notably, creating some story-like case studies on which to hang the article, filling out my examples more concretely, and ensuring the core, simple idea came through clearly) and then submitted it. The editor’s response - on the same day I submitted it - was “…I wasn’t going to edit this today but once I started reading I could not stop…” As I say, very promising… There’s tremendous breadth in the areas you can apply the lessons in from Made to Stick: my interests range across learning and development, strategy, and marketing, and Made to Stick applies powerfully to each of these. But there are applications across all of business, government and not-for-profits, as well as if you’re a parent, an employee or anyone wanting to make an impact! One of the book’s real gifts for me was in sensitising me to my audience’s ‘higher’ motivations, rather than just baser or more selfish appeals (the authors refer to this as ‘getting out of Maslow’s basement’). This nicely reflected my underlying – but hitherto undeveloped – approach, enabling me to speak more authentically and forcefully, with greater resonance for my readership and clients. Another of the book’s great gifts for me was in teaching how to correctly use mental visualisation to solve problems and improve performance, in a nice and much-needed contrast to the pop-psychology and self-help gurus (The Secret – this means you!). This is a good thing to get at any time of the year, but especially when setting goals for the new year. And all of Made to Stick’s assertions are soundly backed by credible and solid academic research. Who would have thought you’d get all this in a book about communicating more clearly! The other terrific aspect of Made to Stick is its legacy in inviting people to look for stories in their own lives and experience. Stories play a key role in making ideas sticky - they’re concrete, credible and more memorable than straight facts: ‘facts tell, stories sell’. The authors emphasise that you don’t even have to create stories at all; rather, become a story spotter: just recognise when life is giving you the gift of a story to use. Nice. I may sound like I’m on commission for sales of Made to Stick (regrettably this is not so) but I am very enthusiastic about what this compact and considered book has to offer. Here’s my sticky recommendation: buy not one, not two, but three copies of this book: one for work, one for home, and one to keep in the glovebox of the car (so you can read it at the red traffic lights). And then join with me in lobbying the Gideons to place a copy in every motel room…

Made to Stick Chip & Dan Heath Made to Stick teaches you how to make ideas simple enough for everyone to understand. The brothers used their backgrounds to figure out how to make ideas stick, Dan with a love of education and Chip a professor at Standford University has spent around 10 years asking why bad Ideas stick. Together, the brothers have put together six principles to make ideas stick. Simplicity- “How do we find the essential core of our ideas?” This does not mean to shorten your idea until it is nothing, but to make it where you and everyone else understand it. Unexpectedness- “How do we get our audience to pay attention to our ideas?” We need to increase people's alertness, causing them to focus their attention on the idea. The idea will be nothing unless we spark their interest. Concreteness- “How do we make our ideas clear?” We must speak in ways that make the average human understand, images so they can imagine and language that make them understand enough to remember. Credible- “How do we make people believe our ideas?” Credibility for ideas might not be statistical evidence but from evidence that we build for ourselves. Emotions- “How do we get people to care about our ideas?” The human brain is wired to feel things about people, not about their ideas. Stories- “How do we get people to act on our ideas?” Telling stories to people acts as training on a job or a simulation which prepares them to respond more effectively. These 6 principles are known as SUCCESs and are the key to the book and gives meaning to the lessons and ideas used in this book. I believe if you are going into the business field, you should take the time to sit down and read this book. You could be the smartest person in the room and have a brilliant idea, but if you can’t get the other people in the room to believe in you or your idea, then it will go nowhere. If you were to understand the aspects of the book and how to make your idea better, then you would say the idea in a way to make the others at the table believe in it and want to pursue it with you. After taking the time to read this book I did have a change of perspective for certain problems and ideas. It made me think life is not as complicated as we make it out to be and if I try to just simplify it then everything will be okay. The book itself was a good read. I would say that some parts of the book got repetitive, but that did not last long. Overall, it was a well-worded book that made you want to keep reading even if you think you should stop.

A "Simple Unexpected Concrete Credentialed Emotional Story" according to the book ‘Made to Stick’ by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. They boil it down to six principles that explain what ideas / content stick. This coming from their study of urban legends, proverbs, ads, newspaper headlines, jokes to understand the phenomenon of why some ideas stick. Simplicity Unexpectedness Concreteness Credibility Emotions Stories Each chapter in the book is on each of the 6 principles. Some excerpts and take-aways that might pique your interest: Simplicity doesn’t imply sound bites. Proverbs are good examples illustrating this principle – they are both simple and profound. In your messaging, don’t be tempted to tell everything, but just enough info to be useful, then a little more, then some more. Find the core of the idea, strip it down to its most critical essence. Elegance and prioritization, while not dumbing the idea down. Use the unexpected to make people pay attention. Systematically open gaps in their knowledge, and then fill those gaps. Surprising AND insightful. Figure out what is counterintuitive about your message. As an example, an ad for buckling up while driving, that starts with a smoothly cruising minivan that then abruptly gets hit side-on by a speeding car asks, “Didn’t see that coming?” . Right, we don’t. Our guessing machines fails, which causes us to be surprised, the message catches our attention and sticks. Speak concretely. explaining ideas so people understand and remember. And what is concrete as against abstract? For explaining Nordstrom’s customer service, “World-class customer service” is abstract. On the other hand, a ‘Nordie ironing a customer’s shirt' is concrete. Credible as in helping people believe. Stephen Covey drawing an analogy of a workplace to a soccer team is a great example. He describes a poll of 23,000 employees drawn from a number of companies and industries. Only 37 percent said they have a clear understanding of what their organization is trying to achieve and why, only one in five was enthusiastic about their team’s and their organization’s goals and similar other statistics. Covey draws a metaphor to present the statistics. If a soccer team had these same scores, only 4 of the 11 players on the field would know which goal is theirs, only 2 of the 11 would care and so on. The lack of cooperation in a soccer team becomes much more vivid. Making messages emotional is to make people care. Feelings inspire people to act. Spell out the benefit of the benefit. As the saying goes, people don’t buy quarter-inch drill bits. They buy quarter-inch holes so they can hang their children’s pictures. Stories simulate and inspire. You don’t always have to create the stories yourself, rather have the ability to spot the good stories that life presents each day.

Many business folk seek the one great idea that’ll transform the world and their bank accounts. They want to start a company or a product line to take them to the top or provide more stability. In our information age, however, ideas are everywhere; people able to push those ideas forward into beneficial, lasting change are harder to find. Leadership gurus (and brothers) Chip and Dan Heath seek to educate us about how to make our concepts “stick” around in the minds and lives of our listeners. In an age where authoritarian tendencies are seemingly flourishing, the Heath brothers offer a refreshing look at persuasion. They do so by pulling examples from dozens of different fields – all with the common theme of making lasting change. Obviously, you need a good idea, but most good ideas don’t morph into results without good rhetoric. They show us how to identify those story lines and narrative hooks in our own lines. Thus, at the proper time, we can pull out the proper push to inspire, challenge, or springboard our audience to reach new heights. I’ve appreciated both Chip Heath’s and Dan Heath’s writing in other domains, but I found this book not up to their usual standard. The examples are interesting, but the central, take-home message is weaker. The book dissected different ways people pitched ideas, but I finished the book without a lot of action items for my daily life and work. I guess you could say that the book itself didn’t have much “stickiness” for me. Don’t get me wrong: The concepts were good and sound, but it read more like a normal business book rather than reaching the high bar these two have set for themselves.

This is an excellent book for professionals seeking to master delivering memorable messages. It provides a practical and insightful framework, enriched with numerous compelling stories to reinforce its message.

This book will stick! Great examples to make the six key qualities of an idea that sticks, stickier. Also very suitable for re-reading over and over.

Do you have trouble conveying your ideas? Life would be a lot better if you were able to communicate your ideas. But you stumble like English is a foreign language. Made to Stick will solve most of your communication problems. It clearly instructs the reader on how to properly convey their ideas. The read is simple and engaging. It's such a blast to read, considering that the topic is boring. After finishing this book, you're going to wish you had read this years ago. So if you have to give a presentation, write content, make educational videos, basically any scenario requiring you to convey your ideas. This book will help immensely. Don't wait any longer to buy this book, because it is absolutely worth the investment.

Me encantó, desde la introducción hasta el final, realmente te atrapa

Muy buen libro sobre comunicación eficaz con ejemplos y casos prácticos en los que se "reparan" textos para que resulten de mayor impacto.

I haven't read the book, but right after opening the package I noticed creases in the cover; from flipping through it, I didn't notice any printing errors, but the crease in the book cover is not something one expects.