BookSummarybyBillHammack

MadetoStick|item#4958a|page1of4

MadetoStick:Whysomeideassurviveandothersdie byChipHeathandDanHeath(RandomHouse, 2007)

Introduction

hemainproblemisthe"CurseofKnowledge":Theperson sharingtheideahasallsortsofinsiderinformationthat othersdon't,sotheyhavealreadyframedtheproblemand understanditsrelevance. Example of a Sticky Idea Asingleexample Contrast the phrase of a CEO "let's illustratestheessenceof maximize shareholder value" with theproblem:Onestudy JFKs peel-clear call to "put a man on testeda"tapperand the moon and return him safely by listeners"game:They the end of the decade." This is askedapersontotapout simple, unexpected, concrete, therhythmofasongand credible, emotional (for the times), haveanotherrecognizeit and a story. If JFK were an aerospace CEO he would have said "Our thelistenernearly mission is to become the alwaysfailedtoidentify international leader in the space thesong.What industry through maximum teamhappened,ofcourse,is centered innovation and strategically targeted aerospace thatthetappersingsthe initiatives." songintheirheadand thusthinkshehasthe rightrhythm,butthepersonhearingthetapscannothearthe songinsidetheothersheadandthereforehasnoideaofwhatthe tapsmean. Chapter 1: Simple

rememberthelettersJFKFBI,buteasytorememberthesameset arrangedasJFKFBI.)In pitchingaHollywood Generative analogy movieaproducerwould Disney uses the term "cast member" to describe their describeitintermsof amusement park employees. This otherhits:E.g.,Speed tells employees how to behave: willbeDieHardona Even if you are just sweeping the bus,orAlienwillbe park you are "on stage" and need Jawsonaspaceship. to behave. Contrast this to the poor choice by Subway to call their Onecanusememory schemastokeepanidea employees "sandwich artists". It is completely useless as a guide to simple:Onecould behavior: In no way does Subway describeapomeloasa want their employees to innovate "largecitrusfruitwitha when making sandwiches, they thick,butsoftrind",or should instead follow the rules as"apomeloisbasically precisely. asupersizedgrapefruit withaverythickand softrind."Anotherwaytodescribethisisasa"generative analogy";thatis,ametaphorthatgeneratesnewideas. Chapter 2: Unexpected

hegoalistostripanideatoitscorewithoutturningitintoa sillysoundbite.Thehardpartisn'tweedingoutunimportant aspects,butitisinpruningtheimportant,butnottrulyessential aspectsi.e.,distillingtothemostimportantideaatthecore. Findthecore:Determinethesinglemostimportantthing,being carefulnottoburythelead.Themilitaryusesa"Commander Intent"insteadofaplan.Forexample,ratherthandetailsonhow totakeabridge,theCImightbe"takethebridge."Usethe techniqueoftheinvertedpyramidfromjournalism:Tellmost importantaspectfirst,thentailor,thenadddetails.Thisforces prioritization. Sharethecore:Thekeyto Using the core motivatingotherswithyour Southwest uses "We are the low ideasistousethecore cost airlines." Thus, every messagetohelpthemmake decision involves meeting this decisionsastheyapplyyour concrete and simple goal. E.g., deciding whether to offer dinner idea.Theessentialpartisto on flights: Main concern isn't makethemessagecompact andtohaveitimplyasenseof great passenger comfort, but it is low-cost so no dinner. worthorprioritiesabouthow Contrast to Nordstroms which toimplementit.(Or,toputit emphasizes customer anotherwayitneedstobe experience and would offer the bothcompactandprofound.) dinner if they were an airline. Forexample,anewspaper editorlikedtohavehispaper stronglyandonlyreflectlocalissues.Hehadamottoof "names,names,andnames."Notehowthisguidestheindividual decisionsmadebyhisreporters. Onewaytodothisistotapintothememoryoftheidea's recipientsbyembeddingschemas.(Forexample,itishardto

hefirstrequirementofeffectivecommunicationisgetting attention,thesecondis keepingit.Inordertodo Getting attention with the thisyouusethe unexpected unexpected:Humansliketo A TV commercial for the new thinkinpatterns,thekeyis Enclave minivan started as a tobreakthesepatterns.For typical car commercial: Announcer describes all its new features as a example,whenaflight happy family piles into car and attendantatSouthwest drives away, then - bang - a doessomethingdifferent speeding car plows into it. The screen fades to black: "Didn't see withthesafety that coming? No one does." It was announcement. Inusingtheunexpected car ad. akeyistoavoidgimmicky. Forexample,aSuperBowl adonceshowedamarchingbandonafield,andthensuddenlya packofwolvescameoutofatunnelandkilledthem.Thiswasnot connectedwiththead'smessageitall:Thewolvesdidn'treinforce themessage. So,agoodprocessformakingideasstickeris:(1)Identifythe centralmessageyouneedtocommunicatefindthecore;(2) Figureoutwhatiscounter intuitiveaboutthemessage Using the unexpected i.e.,Whatarethe Nora Ephron's journalism teacher unexpectedimplicationsof announced their first assignment: To write the lead for the student yourcoremessage?Why paper. He give them facts: Entire isn'titalreadyhappening naturally?(3)Communicate school faculty will travel to the state capital on Tuesday for a yourmessageinawaythat meeting with the Governor, breaksyouraudience's Margaret Mead, etc. He asked guessingmachinesalongthe them then to write the lead. They all missed it: No school on critical,counterintuitive dimension.Then,oncetheir Tuesday! guessingmachineshave failed,helpthemrefinetheirmachines. Akeyistoalwaysuseamysterystoryeveninscience.As scriptwritershavelearnedcuriosityistheintellectualneedto answerquestionsandclosepatterns.Storyplaystothisuniversal
seat-belt or safety ad instead of a

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desirebydoingtheopposite,posingquestionsandopening situations.So,theykeyistoopengapsfirstinpresentingyour ideas,thenworktoclosethem;thetendencyistogivefactsfirst. Thelocalnewsusesthistechniqueverywell:Theymightbump with"There'sanewdrugsweepingtheteenagecommunityand itmaybeinyourownmedicinecabinet!Thestoryafterthese ads."MoresophisticatedversionofthisincludeaSonyengineer whovisualizeda"pocketradio" orJFKandhisideaof"aman Creating gaps walkingonthemoon."While Roone Arledge at ABC noted that theseseemjustlikebrilliant most sporting events where done ideas,theyareactuallysticky: in a "facts first" way: The cameras started on the field and Bothcreatesurpriseradios waited for things to happen. He arepiecesoffurniture,not called it "like looking at the somethingforapocket;and Grand Canyon through a peep mendon'twalkonthemoon. hole." He changed the shows to Bothcreateinsight.Rather feature the stadium, and the thanleadingusalonga town preparing for the game, etc. He created "gaps" that made ploddingroutefromone people not from the area incrementalsteptothenext, interested in the outcome from theideasgiveusasudden, the game. dramaticglimpseofhowthe worldmightunfold.Andnot justhow,butwhy. Chapter 3: Concrete

example,thedifferenceinreactionbetweenajudgeandajury: Thejuryseesalltheconcreteaspectsofatrialthelawyers' clothing,manner,thespecificproceduresinaclassroom;the judgeseesallintermsoflegalprecedentandthelessonsofthe past.Novicesperceiveconcretedetailasconcretedetail;anexpert seesconcretedetailsassymbolsofapattern. Chapter 4: Credible

hatmakespeoplebelieveideas?Webaseitonauthorities ourparents,traditional,experts,etc.Ifonecanbringina trueauthoritythentheproblemofcredibilityiseasilysolved,but whatifwecannot?Thischapterfocusesonhowtocreate credibilitywhenyoudon'thavesuchauthorityfigures. Thereareseveralwaystodothis:(1)Useanantiauthority,(2) useconcretedetails,(3)usestatistics,(4)usesomethingcalled theSinatraTestand(5)usetestablecredentials. Antiauthority:Youcanuseadyingsmokertomakethepoint thatsmokingisn'tgoodforyou.Or,considerthescientistthat couldnotgetanyonetobelievehimthatbacteriawascausing ulcers:Heswallowedthebacteriahimselfanddemonstratedhis theorytobecorrect.Or,anonprofitthatclaimedtoturn homelesspeopleintousefulworkerswouldsendacararoundto pickupprospectivedonorsandemployersoftheirclients.The trick:Theirdriver,unbeknowntothedonorsuntillater,wasa formerhomelessperson. Details:Wedon'talwayshaveanexternalauthoritywhocan vouchforourmessage;mostofthetimeourmessageshaveto vouchforthemselves.Theymusthave"internalcredibility."A person'sknowledgeofdetailsisoftenagoodproxyforexpertise. Forexample,astudyrevealedthatpotentialjurorswheremore likelytograntcustodyinacasewheretheyhadlotsofdetails eventhoughirrelevantlikethetypeoftoothbrushachildused thanwhentheyhadscanty,butessentialdetails.Alessonfrom urbanlegendsisthatvividdetailsboostcredibility. Statistics:Thisisatimehonoredandstandardwaytomakea point,butneedstobeusedcorrectly.Statisticsarerarely meaningfulin andof Statistics I: Beyond War The nonprofit Beyond War noted that people themselves. Statisticswill, would stop a child from the running with scissors, but would shrug their shoulders when andshould, told there enough nuclear weapons to destroy almostalways millions of children. To make the statistics about beusedto nuclear weapons concrete they did the following: illustratea Beyond War would arrange "house parties" in which a group of friends and neighbors would relationship. assemble to hear about the dangers of nuclear It'smore importantfor weapons. The organizer from Beyond War always brought a steel pail and BBs. He would peopleto drop one in - it would make a distinct sound rememberthe and say it was the power of the bomb at relationship Hiroshima. He then described the devastation of this bomb. Then he'd drop 10 BBs into the thanthe bucket: This is the fire power of one U.S. or number.Use themasinput, Soviet nuclear submarine. Then he had attendees close their eyes: He poured 5,000 BBs notoutput. into the bucket saying it was today's arsenal of Don'tgomake nuclear weapons. (see p. 142-143 of the book for upyourmind why this works so well.) andthengo lookingforthe numberstosupportyourselfthat'saskingfortemptationand

fthesixtraitsof"stickiness"describedinthisbookbeing concreteistheeasiesttoacceptandimplement.(Thehardest islikelyfindingthecoremessage.)Thepowerofbeingconcreteis illustratedbythelongevityofAesop'sfables.Forsome2,500 yearstheyhaveresonatedandbeenrememberedbyhumankind. Theyareastrikingexampleofconcreteness.Forexample,the storyofthefoxandthegrapesendswithwiththefoxconcluding thatgrapesoutofhisreacharelikelysourhencethephrase "sourgrapes",which appearsinnearlyevery Two examples of being concrete language.Thisprovides (a) Movie popcorn contains 20 g fat; aconcreteimagewhich this is too abstract, say, instead contains more fat than a bacon-andlasts:Compare"sour eggs dinner, a Big Mac, and fries for grapes"tothe lunch and a steak dinner will all the conclusion"don'tbe trimmings - combined. (b) A simple suchabitterjerkwhen mixture of salts and sugar - oral youfail."Thelatterhas rehydration therapy (ORT) - in water can save lives in the developing world. nostayingpower:Itis Instead of giving facts and figures nakedfact.
promoter carries with him a packet of Somethingbecomes concretewhenitcanbe the power and whips it out to, say, a describedordetectedby group of Prime Ministers and says "Do you know that this costs less than a thehumansenses.A cup of tea and it can save hundreds of V8engineisconcrete; thousands of children's lives in your "highperformance"is country?" abstract.Concreteideas areeasytoremember. Experimentshaveshownthatpeoplerememberconcreteover abstractnouns:"bicycle"over"justice"or"personality."The kidneyheisturbanlegend,forexample,hastonsofdetailabout theillicitprocedure. about how many can be saved, its

Thisillustratesthatthe"curseofknowledge"isthemainenemy ofbeingconcrete.Themaindifferencebetweenanexpertand noviceistheabilityoftheexperttoseethingsabstractly.For

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trouble.Butifweusestatisticstohelpusmakeupourminds, we'llbeinagreatpositiontosharethepivotalnumberswith others,asintheBeyondWarexampleinthebox. TheSinatraTest:FrankSinatrasongNewYork,NewYorkhasa line"ifIcanmakeitthere,Icanmakeitanywhere."Theauthors suggestthissameideaappliestomakingideascredible.They advocatelookingfortheonetestcasethatmakeyouridea completelycredible.Forexample,ifyouhadthesecuritycontract forFortKnoxthenanysecurityideayouputforwardwouldbe credible.TheyusetheexampleofanIndianentrepreneurwho buildadeliverysystemlikeFedEx,butforIndia.Eventhoughhe guaranteedontimedeliverytheonlycompanytodosohe couldnotgetcontractsbecausethiswasn'tcredible,untilhe tackledamajorprobleminIndia:Piracyoffilms.Hegotthe contracttodeliverthese,whichhedidwithoutfail.Notehow muchmorepowerfulthiswasthen"98.84%ofourdeliveries arriveontime." TestableCredentials:Thischallengestheconsumerorreceiver oftheideatotestforthemselvestheidea.Theprimeexampleof thiswasthe"Where'stheBeef"commercialsinthe1980sfrom Wendy's.TheadssuggestedthatthehamburgersatWendy'swere largerthatotherchains,andthattheotherchainshadmorebun thanburger.Thiscouldbeandwas!verifiedbyanyfastfood consumer.AnotherexampleisRonaldReagan'squeryinthe1980 presidentialdebate"Areyoubetteroffthanyouwerefouryears ago?"
Statistics II: Soccer Teams Stephen Covey emphasizes hischaptertacklesthe teamwork in his writings. He once emotionalcomponentof tried to give the dry statistics: stickiness,butit'snotabout Only 37% of employees had a clear idea of their mission, only pushingpeople'semotional one in five was enthused etc. He buttons,likesomemovie got more impact when he mapped tearjerker.Rather,thegoal this onto a soccer team: "If a ofmakingmessage soccer team had this same make up only 4 out of 11 would know "emotional"istomake peoplecare.Feelingsinspire where their goal was ... etc."

getpasttheold,commononeswhichhavebecomedilutedin value.(Theauthorscallthis"semanticstretch"whenthe superlativesofonegenerationgroovey,awesome,cool,phat losepunch.)Aprimeexampleofovercomingatiredphrasewith newemotionalresonanceisthecaseof"sportsmanship."This termhadbecome Making youth care atiredphrase, Most teenagers believe cigarette smoking is whichacquired dangerous. There is no credibility problem with toomany the message, yet many take up smoking. You meaningsto need to make them care to take action. An become ingenious and effective set of ads where launched in the late 1998. They feature a semiemotionally truck that drove up to the headquarters of a powerful.For major tobacco company. Teenagers unloaded example,ithad "body bags" that represented the number of cometomean people killed a day by smoking. The ads "prizesgivento carefully directed their anger toward "The thosewholost Man": The evil corporation, the authority figure. thegame."An So, the ads tapping into anti-authority advocatefortrue resentment, the classic teenage emotion. Once teens smoked to rebel against The Man. This ad sportsmanship makes them rebel by not smoking. refocusedthe emotional appearoftheconceptbycallingit"honoringthegame."Ifpeople careaboutsports,thentheycareaboutthegame. SelfInterest:Anotherwaytomakepeoplecareaboutideasisto appealtotheirself interest.Acommon Appealing to higher levels of erroristoemphasize self-interest High school algebra teachers often featuresover get the question: Why do I have to benefits,e.g.,tell learn this stuff? The typical answer is peopleyouhavethe that it will get you into college, "bestseed",insteadof future math classes need this, etc. thatitwillgivethem One teacher said this instead: the"bestlawn", "Never. You will never need it. But then again why do you life whichiswhatthey dumbbells? You do it for the future: trulycareabout.In If you are attacked you can fight, or generalpeople carry your groceries, or life your sellinganidearesist grandchildren. Same with algebra: talkingaboutself You exercise your mental muscles, interest:Yetan which you will need your whole life it is a means to an end, not an end in appealwiththeword itself." Note the emotional appeal is "you"throughout, to a higher plane: Learning and selfinsteadofageneric actualization. Note, too, that it "people"isalways contains elements we've seen muchmore already: a) A surprise or unexpected successful. answer, and b) make brilliant use of
analogy.

Chapter 5: Emotional

peopletoact.Forpeopleto takeaction,theyhavetocare. Toillustratetheeffectofemotionversusreasonagroupstudied theeffectofsolicitingfundsforstarvingchildreninAfricawith twoappeals:Anappealbasedonstatisticsandonefocusingona singlenamedchild.Ofcourse,thelatterwon.Thesurprisingpart ofthestudywasthatanytimereasonwasevokedtheamountof givingdecreased.Forexampleiftheyusedboththestatisticsand theindividualchilditdecreased;andiftheyaskedapersontodo asimplecalculation,notrelatedtothecharity,eventhis decreasinggiving.Onceweputonouranalyticalhatwereactto emotionalappealsdifferently;theyhinderourabilitytofeel. Tomakepeoplecareaboutideaswegetthemtotakeofftheir AnalyticalHats:Wecreateempathyforspecificindividuals;orwe showhowourideasareassociatedwiththingsthatpeoplealready careabout,orweappealtotheirselfinterest,althoughwealso appealtotheiridentitiesnotonlytothepeopletheyareright now,butalsotothepeopletheywouldliketobe. ThePowerofAssociations:Themostbasicwaytomakepeople careistoformanassociationbetweensomethingtheydon'tcare aboutandsomethingtheydo.Weallnaturallypracticethetactic ofassociation.Thecautionhereistocreatenewassociationsthat

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elements.Therealdifficultistobesuretheyaresimpleenough. AppealingtoIdentify:Indefiningselfinterestitpaystonot focusnarrowlyonmoneyandothertangiblesoftenintangibles suchasselfesteemora senseofdutyforman Appealing to Identity Texas had a problem with roadside importantmotivator. garbage. Signs to "Please don't litter" or to Oftenpeoplemake "Pitch in" weren't working: They typical decisionnotina bubba didn't care. To make them care the rationalwaywrite state developed a campaign that used very downallalternatives "Texas" spokesmen - George Foreman, andlookatplusesand Stevie Ray Vaughan, Willie Nelson - to record ads that said "Mama, tell you minusesbutinstead baby's, don't mess with Texas", implying theymakethembased that tossing trash out the window of a onidentity.Theyask moving car violated the macho ethos of questionslike:Whoam Texas. I?Whatkindof situationisthis?And whatdopeoplelikemedointhistypeofsituation?Forexample, aselleronceofferedafreepopcornpoppertofiredepartmentsto considerhissafetyprogram;thisappealtogreedoffendedthe firemen. Chapter 6: Stories

keytomakinganideastickyistotellitasastory.Stories encourageakindofmentalsimulationorreenactmentonthe partofthelistenerthatburnstheideaintothemind.For example,aflightsimulatorismuchmoreeffectivethanflash cardsintrainingapilot.Thehardpartaboutusingastoryis creatingit.Thebestwaytouseastoryistoalwaysbeonthelook outforthem.Mostgoodstoriesarecollectedanddiscovered, ratherthanproduceddenovo.Forexample,Subway'spowerful storyofJared,amanwholost245poundsbyeatingatthe restaurantwasdiscovered.(Comparetheresonanceofhisstory withthetaglinetheyoriginallywantedtouse:6under7,i.e.,six sandwicheswithlessthansevengramsoffat.)Theauthorsshare thethreemajortypesofstoriestoolookfor. 1.TheChallengePlot:Thisistheclassicunderdog,ragsto riches,orsheerwillpowertriumphingoveradversity.Thekey elementoftheChallengeplotisthattheobstaclesseemdaunting totheprotagonists.E.g.,Subway'sJaredlosing245pounds. 2.TheConnectionPlot:Astoryaboutpeoplewhodevelopa relationshipthatbridgesagapracial,class,ethnic,religious, demographic,orotherwise.E.g.,theMeanJoeGreene commercialofthe1970swherehemakefriendswithascrawny youngwhitekid.Allconnectionplotsinspireusinsocialways. Theymakeuswanttohelpothers,butmoretolerantofothers, workwithothers,loveothers. 3.TheCreativityPlot:Thisinvolvessomeonemakingamental breakthrough,solvingalongstandingpuzzle,orattackinga probleminaninnovativeway. Here'showastoryhelpsridoneoftheCurseofKnowledge. Whenexplaininghowtosolveproblemssomeonemightsay"Keep thelinesofcommunicationopen."Theyarehearingintheirheads asongfilledwithpassionandemotion.They'rerememberingthe experiencethattaughtthemthoselessonsthestruggles,the politicalbattles,themissteps,thepain.Theyare"tapping"as describeinthefirstparagraphofthisdocument.Theyneedto sharethestoryoftheirtrials.Infact,storiesusuallyautomatically meetothercriteriaformakingideassticky:Theyarealmost alwaysconcrete,theyareoftenemotionalandhaveunexpected