possibility…

Every once in a while you come across a book that is extraordinary—it offers new insight, has some credibility or research behind it, and provides practical “here’s how to do it” advice. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath (New York: Random House, 2007) is one of those books! I’d been hearing about it for the past year and finally made my way through the wait list at my public library. I’ve just read it twice and can hardly wait to get my own copy of the Heath’s brilliant (and I do mean brilliant—just look at that orange cover!) publication so I can add notes and comments in the margins.

So what do “sticky ideas” have to do with “reluctant self-marketers”—a label I use with empathy and a great deal of insider knowledge? Chip Heath, a professor of organizational behaviour at Stanford and Dan Heath, a former researcher at Harvard and now a consultant, use “story” to convey the secrets of successful and memorable communication. The Heaths write (p. 16), “As we pored over hundreds of sticky ideas, we saw, over and over, the same six principles at work.” They go on to describe the six principles with fascinating research, stories, and examples. The principles are: simplicity, unexpectedness, concreteness, credibility, emotions, and stories. The acronym for their recipe is SUCCESs. Made to Stick is one of the most useful resources I’ve found—for those of us who are reluctant self-marketers as well as for the rest of you. You can visit the website for articles, interviews and Chip and Dan Heath’s blog.