Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

 

 

Create your own review

I work in advertising and I have never before read a book that so elegantly describes what we aspire to do when we create ads - we circumvent people's guessing DNA. After reading this book I was inspired to change the way I presented a creative concept to a client. Instead of walking through the benefits of the creative - design, style, simplicity, etc.. I walked in the room and did the unexpected - I told them their organization wasn't progressive enough to embrace our concept (which, by the way, was the gist of the creative). In effect, I circumvented their guessing DNA and got their attention, which is what the ads were designed to do. The presentation went off without a hitch and the client loved the idea. This book also served notice to our team to find the most poignant meaning in the facts (great example featuring Nora Ephron in journalism school).

This is a fantastic book for any executive who ever thinks she will ever inspire her workforce by issuing a statement that reeks of corporate-speak (i.e. managing the cost infrastructure to ensure profitability through multiple verticals, etc..), instead of keeping things simple - not dumbing down, but simple. Take it from a guy whose livelihood relies on keeping things simple - it's the most difficult thing to do.

Great read.

Jake, a young entrepreneurial friend of mine in the IT industry , was not seeing the results he expected from numerous and inventive marketing strategies. He had tried online, print and direct marketing with marginal results. His business wasn't faltering but wasn't soaring either. So after a slew of marketing books he came across this one- and it was all I was hearing about from him until I read it myself and the light bulb clicked.

Just like you were interested in Jake's story other people like stories, they want to relate to you and your product but if they can't they will find a company that they can relate to.

Chip and Dan Heath give great examples every chapter on how to improve your "Stickiness" with simple strategies. The most important being their coined,
"SUCCES" acronym:

S simple - don't lose your core message in a lot of pomp and circumstance
U unexpected - make your idea jump out and grab people's attention
C concrete - keep it easy to grasp vs. mind boggling statistics or huge numbers
C credible - is your idea believable?
E emotional - people react to emotion and it creates an empathetic bond
S stories - story telling is an age old form of communication

I have been able to use "Made To Stick" concepts in my business with great results. I used to feel that stories in real estate investing wouldn't interest anyone but I knew from the book that stories were useful, if not crucial, in creating and growing a business. Now by using my customer's concrete feedback blended with their credible testimonials and sprinkled with a little emotion I am able transmit their core experience (what they got out of working with us an how it translated to their bottom line) to reach a greater audience.

Danielle Millar, Glenn Simon Inc.

This is the best book about communications I've read since I discovered Stephen Denning's work on telling business stories. I highly recommend Made to Stick to all those who want to get their messages across in business more effectively.

Imagine if people remembered what you had to say and acted on it. Wouldn't that be great? What if people not only remembered and acted, but told hundreds of others who also acted and told? Now you're really getting somewhere!

Brothers Chip (an educational consultant and publisher) and Dan (a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford Business School) Heath combine to develop Malcolm Gladwell's point about "stickiness" in The Tipping Point. To help you understand what they have in mind, the book opens with the hoary urban tale of the man who ends up in a bathtub packed with ice missing his kidney after accepting a drink from a beautiful woman. That story, while untrue, has virtually universal awareness. Many other untrue stories do, too, especially those about what someone found in a fast food meal.

The brothers Heath put memorable and quickly forgotten information side-by-side to make the case for six factors (in combination) making the difference between what's memorable and what isn't. The six factors are:

1. Simplicity (any idea over one is too many)

2. Unexpectedness (a surprise grabs our attention)

3. Concreteness (the more dimensions of details the more hooks our minds use to create a memory)

4. Credibility (even untrue stories don't stick unless there's a hint of truth, such as beware of what's too good to be true in the urban legend that opens the book)

5. Incite Emotions in Listeners (we remember emotional experiences much more than anything else; we care more about individuals than groups; and we care about things that reflect our identities)

6. Combine Messages in Stories (information is more memorable and meaningful in a story form . . . like the urban legend that opens the book)

Before commenting on the book further, I have a confession to make. This book has special meaning for me. I was one of the first people to employ and popularize the term "Maximize Shareholder Value" by making that the title of my consulting firm's annual report (Mitchell and Company) over 25 years ago when we began our practice in stock-price improvement. That term has become almost ubiquitous in CEO and CFO suites, but hasn't gone very far beyond the discussions of corporate leaders, investment bankers and institutional investors and analysts.

The authors use that term in the book as an example of a communication that hasn't stuck broadly. And they are right. Having watched that term over the years go into all kinds of unexpected places and be quoted by people who had no idea how to do it long ago convinced me of the wisdom of telling people what to do . . . not just what the objective is.

The authors make this point beautifully in citing Southwest Airline's goal of being "THE low-fare airline." If something conflicts with being a good low-fare airline at Southwest, it's obvious to everybody not to do it.

You'll probably find that some of the examples and lessons strike you right in the middle of the forehead, too. That's good. That's how we learn. I went back to a new manuscript I'm writing now and wrote a whole new beginning to better reflect the lessons in Made to Stick. I've also recommended the book already to about a dozen of my graduate business students. So clearly Made to Stick is sticking with me.

If you find yourself skipping rapidly through the book, be sure to slow down and pay attention on pages 247-249 where the authors take common communications problems and recommend what to do about them (such as how to get people to pay attention to your message). That's the most valuable part of the book. It integrates the individual points very effectively and succinctly.

I also liked the reference guide on pages 252-257 that outlines the book's contents. You won't need to take notes with this reference guide in place.

So why should you pay attention? The authors demonstrate with an exercise that people who know and use these principles are more successful in communicating through advertisements than those who are talented in making advertisements but don't know these principles. Without more such experiments, it's hard to know how broad the principle is . . . but I'm willing to assume that they have a point here.

No book is perfect: How could this one have been even better? Unlike Stephen Denning's wonderful books on storytelling, this book is more about the principles than how to apply the principles. I hope the authors will come back with many how-to books and workbooks.

I would also like to commend the book's cover designer for doing such a good job of simulating a piece of duct tape on the dust jacket. That feature adds to the stickiness of this book.

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 17 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

 

5.0 out of 5 stars "Excellent tool for a variety of trades"
I thoroughly enjoyed reading "Made to Stick", and I find that the ideas and tools presented by the two authors are useful for a number of different professions, whether it be... Read more

Published 5 months ago by Octavian_F

5.0 out of 5 stars You will enjoy reading this book.
Made to Stick not only re-affirmed many best practices of effective communication, but there is so much more information and knowledge in this book. Read more

Published 8 months ago by Steve Johnston

4.0 out of 5 stars The Curse of Knowledge is the biggest takeaway
The Heath bros. have written a comprehensive book on how ideas should be crafted to ensure they stick. Read more

Published 10 months ago by SBuckle

5.0 out of 5 stars A useful and entertaining book about ideas that last
And you can use this book to figure out how to make ideas stay in people's heads, and even motivate them. Read more

Published 13 months ago by Rodge

4.0 out of 5 stars Reluctant
I read this book somewhat reluctantly, but found it to have good value and will be recommending it to others.

Published 21 months ago by Jump

4.0 out of 5 stars If you work in advertising, read this book!
If you work in advertising, read this book! This is one of the few books out there that effectively explains what many in the advertising industry knew on an intuitive level, but... Read more

Published on Sep 23 2009 by Mary Charleson

3.0 out of 5 stars Intereting ideas
Sometimes the best ideas are the simplest and Made to Stick probably won't tell you anything you didn't already know - at least intuitively. Read more

Published on Sep 16 2009 by Susan

5.0 out of 5 stars Overturns Many Communication Habits
Despite great feedback and evaluations from my students and clients, every now and then I'll be asked a question that totally baffles me. Read more

Published on Jun 29 2009 by Gil Broza

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Valuable Read
If you're getting into marketing and you want to understand how to make your messages and products "stick" better, this book is the one for you! Read more

Published on April 25 2009 by Dobes Vandermeer

2.0 out of 5 stars I did not like it
I read several business books and i did not like this one. I was disapointed and would not recommend it. Read more

Published on Dec 26 2008 by M. Tremblay

Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

› See all 17 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

Search Listmania!