I arrive to work at Arke Systems this past Wednesday and I see a huge pile of magazines and a book on my desk. There’s a note from my boss, and it tells me to read the book by January 29th. Apparently, there’s going to be a class on it and they might send me. I know that anything my boss gives me to read is going to be a good one, so I immediately embrace the assignment.
The book is bright orange – certainly eye-catching. It’s a color that I would never brave myself to use in a painting, but still pleasant to see. It’s a “happy” color.
I read the introduction – and the first story it opens with is the infamous kidney-harvesting story. I had never heard of it before – and if you haven’t I won’t spoil it for you – but it’s shocking. You find out later that it’s almost entirely untrue, but you don’t know that to begin with. The Heath brothers then guide you on a journey on the fundamentals of sticky ideas. Why do we hold onto sticky ideas? What makes them sticky in the first place? What are you doing to make your ideas un-sticky?
They break it down into an acronym: SUCCES(s). Clever, right? It stands for: Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, and Story. Each chapter is dedicated to one of these central, sticky ideas. Within each chapter is a myriad of particularly sticky stories (and some failures). The Brothers Heath do an excellent job of exploring the different themes of sticky ideas. They also provide actual data and evidence of their findings, so if there’s ever any room for doubt, fear not. There’s method behind their madness.
I would seriously hate to spoil some of these stories for you, so I won’t, but the Concrete chapter is my absolute favorite. (Scroll down for a spoiler link to one of the stories they discuss). It left me floored with its contents. Completely changed how I view myself, my life’s work, my career, my art, and the goals I have. That’s what I call “powerful”. It’s mysterious how the catalyst works – the book itself is actually “sticky”. I remember every single story that the Heath brothers present which further proves their theories.
It also goes by quickly; I found myself having a hard time putting the book down. I know I’ve finished a good book when it feels like I’m leaving a friend.
So who would benefit from Made To Stick? Marketers, teachers, marketing technologists, journalists, writers, artists, leaders, executives of all levels, actors, moms, dads, students, comedians, scientists, innovators, managers, entrepreneurs, professional thinkers, and the list could just go on forever. To put it simply, anyone would benefit from this book.
I give it a 10/10, would highly recommend to a friend.
Spoiler Link: Chip and Dan Heath talk about Jane Elliott – a 3rd grade teacher who decides to do a prejudice exercise with her class that produced results they still remember to this day. In the book, the Brothers Heath go into detail about what makes this experiment so darn sticky! Why do the kids from the class still remember this experiment in their adult life? You can read more about the “Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes” experiment here, or by doing any generic Google search. As far as the details about stickiness, you’ll just have to buy the book!