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.
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
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". 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.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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