I’m reading Made to Stick by Chip & Dan Heath at the moment, on a strong recommendation from Michael O’Brien who heads up our R&D teams in Dublin. The premise of the book is to define an idea’s “stickiness” and explain why some ideas survive while others drift into obscurity like the Irish soccer team.
The book is written by two brothers: Chip Heath is a Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and Dan Heath is a co-founder of Thinkwell — so it’s no surprise that the book presents a nice combination of academic and business savvy. It’s also plastered across every Bay Area bookstore’s business section in an attention-seeking industrial orange hue, so I’ll give the publishers credit for knowing how to make this book stick!
The Heath brothers have employed a relentless anecdotal style, which works to good effect by making the book compelling to read almost immediately. In fact, my wife was so intrigued by the cover leaf description that the book disappeared on a business trip with her for an entire week! Now that the book has been returned to its rightful owner (ahem), I’ve reached the half way point and need to stop for a breather as the brain requires more time for reflection these days.
The subject of what makes an idea stick is interesting enough, but this is no theoretical exercise in pondering the intellectual qualities of certain ideas. In fact, the authors take great delight in discussing earthy examples of ideas that have thrived as urban legends (the classic kidney heist) or political one-liners (”it’s the economy, stupid” from Bill Clinton’s campaign).
They go even further by creating a checklist of six qualities that comprise a “sticky” idea — qualities that anyone can apply to their most precious or preposterous ideas:
- Simplicity
- Unexpectedness
- Concreteness
- Credibility
- Emotional
- Stories
I’m only about half-way through the book, but already it has got me thinking about why some of the most successful ideas in the past decade have really thrived beyond all expectations. The authors reference Southwest Airlines, whose determination to be “THE low fare airline” kept the company profitable for over 30 years. It’s a “core” idea that fits well into all 6 categories and has helped to guide the actions of Southwest employees for many years.
Compare that with Google’s carefully crafted mission statement ”to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”. I’d give Google high marks for simplicity, concreteness, and credibility but I don’t find it particularly unexpected, emotional, or storied. Certainly Google has been spectacularly successful on the strength of that core idea, nonetheless.
What characteristics distinguish Amazon’s online store, eBay’s web marketplace, or Facebook’s social network – do these giant web companies share a common creative bond? Each of these ideas was disruptive in its own right and it has transformed how people act, but how many of the Heath brothers’ six qualities can you apply to these innovations?
I don’t know the answers to be honest, but I do find it fascinating to explore what makes an idea really stick. Maybe I should just finish the book!
