M A D E S T I C K t o Why Some Ideas Survive And others Die By Chip Heath and Dan Heath

STICKY  Sticky =  Understandable  Memorable  Effectiveness in changing thought or behavior

Urban Legends What Sticks Urban Legends  Let me tell you a story about a friend of a friend of mine  End of presentation.  Will you ever forget it?

The Kidney Heist Unexpected outcome Concrete details- ice-filled tub, tube from lower back Emotion fear, disgust and suspicion

The 6 Rules for SUCCESs  Simple - The core of your statement  Unexpected - Peoples curiosity  Concrete - An idea that is clear  Credible - Will people believe in your idea?  Emotional - Will people care about the idea?  Story - Get people to act via stories

SIMPLE  Simple isn’t about “dumbing down”, it’s about prioritizing  Commander’s Intent  Simple = core + compact:  Find the core  “It’s the economy stupid!”  THE low fare airline  A bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush  The Golden Rule: Do unto others …

Simple (Using a Schema)  Pictorial analogy  Pomelo / Grapefruit  Schemas enable profound simplicity  Schemas help us create complex messages from simple materials

Unexpected  Get attention: Surprise / Break the Pattern  The successful flight safety announcement  The all new Enclave  Buckle up ….Always

Unexpected  Hold attention: Interest  The pocketable radio  A man on the moon in this decade  Before your message can stick your audience has to want it

Concrete  Use sensory language  A man on the Moon  Help people understand and remember  Brown Eyes / Blue Eyes simulation to “cure” racial prejudice  Help people coordinate  Engineers vs Manufactures  Set common goals in tangible terms

Credible  External Credibility  Authority and antiauthority  Internal Credibility  “Dancing 73 year old”

Emotional  Make People Care  The Truth Anti Smoking Campaign  People care about people, not numbers  WIIFY  Appeal to Self Interest  Floyd Lee and his Iraq mess tent  “I’m in charge of morale”  Appeal to Identity  Understand how people make decisions based on identity

Stories  Get People to Act  Stories as simulation (Tell people how to act)  The day the heart monitor lied: how many nurses acted?  Stories as stimulation (Give people the energy to act)  Jared, the 425 pound fast food dieter

Stories Getting People to Act  How to Spot Inspiring Stories  Challenge  To overcome obstacles  Connection  To get along or reconnect  Creativity  To inspire a new way of thinking  A Springboard Story  Stephen Denning at the World Bank

What Sticks?  Nice guys finish last  Elementary my dear Watson  A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush  It’s the economy stupid  Where’s the beef?

SUCCESs  Simple  Single thought  Unexpected  Pay attention  Concrete  Understand and Remember  Credible  Believe and Agree  Emotional  Care  Stories  Act

LET’S STICK IT TO ‘EM BEWARE OF THE CURSE OF KNOWLEDGE!!

The Villain The Curse of Knowledge Lots of research in economics and psychology shows that when we know something, it becomes hard for us to imagine not knowing it. As a result, we become lousy communicators.

The Villain: The Curse of Knowledge  You know things that others don’t know and you can’t remember what it is not to know.  The Curse of Knowledge might be a barrier to successful negotiations, because it leads us to believe (falsely) that our “subtle” signals are being received correctly by the other party  TAPPERS and LISTENERS

The Great Cruelty of the Curse of Knowledge The better we get at generating great ideas, new insights and novel solutions, in our field of expertise, the more unnatural it becomes for us to communicate those ideas clearly. That’s why knowledge is a curse.

The Curse of Knowledge  People tend to think that having a great idea is enough, and they think the communication part will come naturally. We are in deep denial about the difficulty of getting a thought out of our own heads and into the heads of others.  It’s just not true that, “If you think it, it will stick.”

M A D E S T I C K t o Why Some Ideas Survive And others Die By Chip Heath and Dan Heath