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Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

by: Chip Heath, Dan Heath
en

0739341340 

 


Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
By Chip Heath, Dan Heath


 


Product 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.


From the Hardcover edition.



Summary: An Informative Guide and Reference
Rating: 4

Keeping it simple really keeps people tuned-in. Authors and brothers, Dan and Chip Heath break down the common factors that keep some ideas around for years and leave others out on the street. Primarily a book on effective communication, Made to Stick, is a valuable, easy and fun read drawing on examples and years of research by the authors.

SUCCES - Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotion and Stories are the common factors which make certain ideas stand out. Urban legends, for example, are simple, full of detail and unexpected events. Made to Stick investigates case studies from business, teaching, advertising and sports throughout the book while discussing concepts such as Gap Theory, to demonstrate how certain ideas inspire attention and interest.



Summary: Excellent Book!
Rating: 5


This is a complement book for The Back of the Napkin,
You have to read this first then polish it with the Back of the Napkin,

Rich of great examples,,

But if only there are few pictures to back it up..



Summary: Great Concepts
Rating: 5

Really enjoyed this book. Concepts are great and the examples illustrated the concepts very well. If you want to learn the keys to communicating concepts or ideas model the steps from Made to Stick. It stays in my library.



Summary: Curse of Knowledge addressed
Rating: 5

Over the past year I discovered a hurtle with my personality.

When I am talking to people one on one, I am outgoing, loquacious, animated, and blend in analogies and anecdotes with great abandoned. When interacting with friends, this method enthralls them (at least that is how I choose to view it), but I have a very different way of presenting ideas to others in a business setting.

Because of my technical background, I choose my words carefully when speaking about business. I make great efforts to be both precise and accurate and labor over how to most completely present all of the relevant ideas... and I do mean completely. I feel it necessary to go into great detail about all of the aspects of the topic under consideration because I believe all of the points to be critical - I want to make sure my audience is as informed about the topic as I am.

This led me to a problem. I discovered (to my amazement) that people didn't want to become experts on these topics, especially not in our first meeting. They wanted to quickly understand the breadth of the concept and then decide whether they wanted to know more or not. How could this be with such exciting ideas?

So, as I started to pitch my most recent project to potential investors, I ran into problems. How do I fit my ideas into a 60-second elevator pitch, a 3-minute overview and a 20 minute project presentation. With the complete development plan assembled, the business model defined, and the team ready to go, I had to learn how to efficiently present the dream to find funding and my free wheeling conversational style used with friends and detailed oriented professional style weren't cutting it. I had the Curse of Knowledge and needed to alter it.

Made to Stick outlines a game plan for how to do this. They provide methods that help to refine a message to make it sticky to audiences so that it is more easily understood and absorbed at a deeper level - separated from abstraction. I found myself putting the book down mid-chapter to make revisions to presentations and documents and making notes about new steps that I needed to take. Presentation times dropped, people were able to repeat the key concepts I wanted to drive home, and there was dancing in the streets. I highly recommend this book to anyone trying to communicate more effectively.


Marcel Crudele
Atlanta, GA



Summary: Good ideas but why a whole thick book?
Rating: 3

How do you communicate so that the message is remembered? The authors have many good ideas. The question is broad so anyone can take something away from the book. You don't have to be a marketer or Powerpoint presenter to get value of the ideas. (You can get the whole content of the book by reading some of the longer reviews on amazon!)

This could have been a very nice book if they wrote 80 pages (like the 1 minute series). Now it is just repetitive and bloated. The ideas are good, but it is very tedious to wade through the pages.