Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip HeathMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a book about how to communicate ideas effectively. As a former student of communication theory I found this book simple to read and understand, useful, entertaining, well-structured and well-substantiated by the relevant research. It was sort of "sticky" for me.
What makes an idea to become "sticky"? It should be:
- As simple as a proverb (“A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”)
- Having an unexpected angle as an interesting mystery to solve ("Who was this mysterious helper, after all?")
- As concrete as a goal articulated by JFK many decades ago ("...to put a man on the moon within the decade")
- Displaying credibility such as "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”
- Have an emotional appeal ("Now try look at this hospital with the eyes of an incoming patient")
- Be or include a story
I found the concept of the Curse of Knowledge very insightful: the more we study some subject, the less simple/concrete/emotional we tend to be. We forget what it means not to know the context of the subject. Very refreshing read for a manager, a teacher, a parent - any role where you'd need to convey some message to someone else.
