Made to Stick – Interpretation Chapter 1 & 2

The book offers six qualities that makes ideas sticky. The first two qualities mentioned in the book are:

a. Simple - Ideas should be simple and easy to communicate, easy to remember

b. Unexpected – Ideas should take the listener by surprise

Interpretation of chapter 1 – Simple

The goal is to keep your ideas simple and easy to understand. The chapter gives an overview of how to
decode/interpret the ideas. The process is to identify the “core”, meaning the central purpose and the
essence of idea. We need to reach the crux of the idea to identify the most important and crucial
component of the idea. You begin with the central theme of the idea and keep adding details as and
when required. In the beginning do not focus on details, it can be added later on to build a case
for/against the idea.

“Finding the core” also means that you weed out irrelevant components of the idea. Keep these
components in a different bucket, use it only if required. The idea is to exclude unwanted components
of the idea in order to focus on the most important ones. You should prioritize and rank the components
on the basis of importance so that the most important components are on top.

The second step to keeping your ideas simple is to “share the core” – You should be able to
communicate your idea in the most effective way. The core message of the idea should be compact and
relatable to the audience. It should imply priorities about how to implement the idea. You can do convey
your idea and the implementation process by assigning easy to remember names and abbreviations. You
can use metaphor and analogies to make your ideas more relatable. Examples help a lot in conveying
what you exactly plan to convey.

Interpretation of chapter 2 – Unexpected

The second chapter talks about how effective the “wow” factor works. When something unusual is
observed, interest levels go up. This is because routine is boring for most human minds. We are so used
to following a pattern that we end up thinking in the same pattern. When an idea is to be instilled into
someone’s mind, we need to break patterns. This is when the ideas will be remembered. It goes without
saying, that the unusual or uniqueness quotient should not be gimmicky. Storytelling helps when you
want to convey your idea, adding mysterious twists is what is going to make the reader excited and
eventually remember the crux of your idea. Another way to go about story telling is to break what the
reader expects. You can start with a predictable story for instance to begin with and then layer it with an
unexpected twist. The goal is to keep the audience engrossed, surprise them with your idea, with your
thoughts and with your message.

Submitted by – Hiral Soni | Div. - A 024