Mark Twain once observed, “A lie can get halfway around the world
before the truth can even get its boots on.” His observation rings
true: Urban legends, conspiracy theories, and bogus public-health
scares circulate effortlessly. Meanwhile, people with important
ideas–business people, teachers, politicians, journalists, and others–
struggle to make their ideas “stick.”
Why do some ideas thrive while others die? And how do we improve the chances of worthy ideas? In
Made to Stick,
accomplished educators and idea collectors Chip and Dan Heath tackle
head-on these vexing questions. Inside, the brothers Heath reveal the
anatomy of ideas that stick and explain ways to make ideas stickier,
such as applying the “human scale principle,” using the “Velcro Theory
of Memory,” and creating “curiosity gaps.”
In this
indispensable guide, we discover that sticky messages of all kinds–from
the infamous “kidney theft ring” hoax to a coach’s lessons on
sportsmanship to a vision for a new product at Sony– draw their power
from the same six traits.
Made to Stick is a book that
will transform the way you communicate ideas. It’s a fast-paced tour of
success stories (and failures)– the Nobel Prize-winning scientist who
drank a glass of bacteria to prove a point about stomach ulcers; the
charities who make use of “the Mother Teresa Effect”; the
elementary-school teacher whose simulation actually prevented racial
prejudice. Provocative, eye-opening, and often surprisingly funny,
Made to Stick shows us the vital principles of winning ideas–and tells us how we can apply these rules to making our own messages stick.
