Made to Stick
Encyclopedia
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die (ISBN 978-1-4000-6428-1) is a book by brothers Chip and Dan Heath published by Random House
in 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.
He then goes to mention examples like:
Simple: SouthWest Airlines
, whose motto is "THE low fare airline". If a steward proposed serving Salad Chicken in the Texas-Vegas route, thinking about the motto helps decided that this is not a good idea. Other example: Proverbs, which encapsulate wisdom in short sentences.
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.
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
in 2007. The book continues the idea of "stickiness" popularized by Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell, CM is a Canadian journalist, bestselling author, and speaker. He is currently based in New York City and has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996...
in The Tipping Point
The Tipping Point
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference is a book by Malcolm Gladwell, first published by Little Brown in 2000....
, 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
Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines Co. is an American low-cost airline based in Dallas, Texas. Southwest is the largest airline in the United States, based upon domestic passengers carried,...
, "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
He then goes to mention examples like:
Simple: SouthWest Airlines
Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines Co. is an American low-cost airline based in Dallas, Texas. Southwest is the largest airline in the United States, based upon domestic passengers carried,...
, whose motto is "THE low fare airline". If a steward proposed serving Salad Chicken in the Texas-Vegas route, thinking about the motto helps decided that this is not a good idea. Other example: Proverbs, which encapsulate wisdom in short sentences.
Chip Heath is a professor of organizational behavior at Graduate School of Business at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
. Dan Heath, a former researcher at Harvard, is a consultant and developer of innovative textbooks. They also write a regular feature for Fast Company
Fast Company (magazine)
Fast Company is a full-color business magazine that releases 10 issues per year and reports on topics including innovation, digital media, technology, change management, leadership, design, and social responsibility...
magazine.
See also
- MemeMemeA meme is "an idea, behaviour or style that spreads from person to person within a culture."A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena...
- Viral MarketingViral marketingViral marketing, viral advertising, or marketing buzz are buzzwords referring to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of viruses...
- The Tipping PointThe Tipping PointThe Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference is a book by Malcolm Gladwell, first published by Little Brown in 2000....
, by Malcolm GladwellMalcolm GladwellMalcolm Gladwell, CM is a Canadian journalist, bestselling author, and speaker. He is currently based in New York City and has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996...
, which popularized the concept of "stickiness." - A Whole New MindA Whole New MindA Whole New Mind: Why Right-brainers Will Rule the Future is a book by Daniel H. Pink, author of Free Agent Nation. A Whole New Mind posits that the future of global business belongs to the right-brainers.-Key concepts:...
, by Daniel H. PinkDaniel H. PinkDaniel H. Pink is an American author and journalist. From 1995 to 1997, he worked for Vice President Al Gore in the capacity of chief speechwriter, and before that as an aide to Secretary of Labor Robert Reich.- Personal history :...
, has emotive storytelling as a central theme in the "conceptual age."