Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Why can people remember fairy tales, urban legends, rumors, and conspiracy theories for the rest of their lives – but not the facts of a speech, lecture, or presentation from fifteen minutes ago?

The brothers Chip and Dan Heath have investigated what criteria must be met for a message to stick in the memory of readers, viewers, or listeners – even if at the core of the message are dry facts, statistics, or even advertising.

They came up with the following six principles:

1. Simple – The message must be conveyed as simply as possible.
2. Unexpected – Unexpected twists should attract attention.
3. Concrete – Concrete messages and images ("We'll get a man to the moon and back to earth safely") beat abstract language ("We'll increase shareholder value").
4. Credible – Both the message and its sender must be credible.
5. Emotions – The message should evoke feelings.
6. Story – The message should be wrapped in a story.

According to the first letters, the authors call their principles the "SUCCESs formula".

In one chapter each, the six criteria are dealt with in detail and vividly. The authors present numerous before-and-after examples in which they analyze authentic texts and revise them according to the SUCCESs formula.

The book is instructive, entertaining, and easy to read. I recommend it to anyone who regularly gives presentations, who wants to win customers and partners for projects, who as a manager wants to inspire their employees, as a teacher their students or as a politician their voters – simply to anyone who wants to get their message across effectively.

🎧 Suitable as an audiobook? Yes.

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Genres

Marketing Storytelling Business Communication Persuasion