Sticky Ideas

“Even when freshly washed and relieved of all obvious confections, children tend to be sticky.” - Fran Lebowitz

I just finished a great book, listening to the CDs while commuting to work. It’s called “Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die” by Chip and Dan Heath. These brothers studied urban legends, advertising, and successful teachers, scientists, and leaders to find out what makes ideas click with people. Why do you forget your cousin’s phone number but remember word for word a funny story she told you?

The authors found that successful ideas that “worked” often used several of six techniques:

1. Simplicity
   Stick to one core message in plain language. Avoid the “curse of knowledge” and technical jargon.
2. Unexpectedness
   People will quickly forget something that is “common sense” or just plain common. Use uncommon sense and the unexpected instead.
3. Concreteness
   People remember concrete things, not abstract things. Use physical nouns and hit as many senses as you can.
4. Credibility
   Why should people trust your message?
5. Emotions
   Emotions grab the attention and bypasses the analytical brain filters.
6. Stories
   People love, remember and will retell a good story.

Example:
One of the many examples used in the book is Kennedy’s statement, "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth."

Simple? The message in plain language with common words.
Unexpected? It was a shock. No one had done this before and he’s started the clock ticking
Concrete – definitely! “man” to “moon” before the end of “this decade”
Credible? This is the US president setting the goal.
Emotional? Yep – it had “wow” appeal
A story? – in miniature. He’d didn’t just say a man to the moon, but included a safe return to describe a complete journey.

Did this idea stick? Certainly and even beyond Kennedy’s death. It inspired a nation and the goal was met in 1969.

Bottom Line

You might not be a Madison Avenue advertiser but if you are a parent, teacher, coach, team leader at work, etc, then there are times when you need to make a point and want that point to be remembered and followed. This book is filled with great stories and examples of how to make your point successfully.