Made to Stick

Made to Stick
Hardcover edition
Author Chip Heath & Dan Heath
Country United States
Language English
Subject Psychology
Publisher Random House
Publication date
 January 2, 2007
Media type Print, e-book
Pages 304 pp.
ISBN 1-4000-6428-7
OCLC 68786839
302/.13 22
LC Class HM1033 .H43 2007
Followed by Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die is a book by brothers Chip and Dan Heath published by Random House on January 2, 2007. The book continues the idea of "stickiness" popularized by Malcolm Gladwell in The Tipping Point, seeking to explain what makes an idea or concept memorable or interesting. A similar style to Gladwell's is used, with a number of stories and case studies followed by principles.

The stories range from urban legends, such as the "Kidney Heist" in the introduction; to business stories, as with the story of Southwest Airlines, "the low price airline"; to inspirational, personal stories such as that of Floyd Lee, a passionate mess hall manager. Each chapter includes a section entitled "Clinic", in which the principles of the chapter are applied to a specific case study or idea to demonstrate the principle's application.

Overview

The book's outline follows the acronym "SUCCES" (with the last s omitted). Each letter refers to a characteristic that can help make an idea "sticky":

  • Simple – find the core of any idea
  • Unexpected – grab people's attention by surprising them
  • Concrete – make sure an idea can be grasped and remembered later
  • Credible – give an idea believability
  • Emotional – help people see the importance of an idea
  • Stories – empower people to use an idea through narrative

The book then goes to mention examples like: Simple: Southwest Airlines, whose motto is "THE low fare airline".[1] If a steward proposed serving chicken salad in the Texas–Vegas route, thinking about that motto helps one decide that this is not a good idea. Other example: Proverbs, which encapsulate wisdom in short sentences. The book mentions many case studies of successful teachers and professionals around the world such as Diana Virgo of Loudoun Academy of Science as a mathematics teacher.

Authors

Chip Heath is a professor of organizational behavior at Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. Dan Heath, a former researcher at Harvard, is a consultant and developer of innovative textbooks. They also write a regular feature for Fast Company magazine.[2]

Reception

The novel was commercially successful, appearing on the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists, alongside a 24-month listing on BusinessWeek book listings.[3]

Writing in The Guardian, William Leith described it as a "smart, lively book" that is "fun to read" and will give readers "an insight into the power of bad ideas" as well as better ones.[4] In her review in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Judith Samuelson observed that "The Heath brothers have taught me that if anyone is going to 'get' my idea – need it, buy it, fund it, use it – I need to radically shorten my elevator pitch.[5] Writing in BookPages, Eliza McGraw wrote, "How do we make people care about our ideas?, the Heaths ask. We appeal to their self-interest, but we also appeal to their identities not only to the people they are right now but also to the people they would like to be."[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Summary of Made to Stick: Why some ideas survive and others die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath (Random House, 2007)". engineerguy.com. Retrieved 2014-01-29.
  2. ↑ Authors' profiles Archived 2008-03-10 at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ↑ Solomon, Micah (November 1, 2017). "How To Create More Of the Magical Moments That Transform Life And Business". Forbes. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
  4. ↑ Leith, William (February 24, 2007). "Sticking points: Chip and Dan Heath's Made to Stick shows us that if you want your message to be memorable, keep it simple, says William Leith". The Guardian. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
  5. ↑ Samuelson, Judith (Summer 2007). "Review: Made to Stick: Simplicity is the golden rule for getting messages across". Stanford Social Innovation Review. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
  6. ↑ McGraw, Eliza (February 2007). "Made to Stick: The keys to staying power". BookPage. Nashville.
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