Extremely boring book. Long long examples. Whole book is a simple idea that everybody knows. This book can be summarized in 10 pages.

This book is a must-read for marketing and/or advertising professionals. I'm new to my position as a marketing coordinator, and this book is actually on my required reading list for work. I'm so glad it is because I have some new insights into making an actual idea "stick."

I won't go into the details of the books SUCCESs checklist, but it is a handy guide to keep in mind when you're promoting a new product or idea for your company. Some of my favorite parts of the book were the discussions on how the "my kidneys were stolen!" urban legend came to be, the tale of the nurse who helped save the baby because she recognized a fatal condition before the doctors did, and the legend of Jared the Subway guy who lost hundreds of pounds by eating Subway sandwiches every day. All of the stories were meant to illustrate how vividly these ideas "stick" with us while others--such as boring checklists and bullet points--simply fade into the background.

If I could say that I took one thing away from this book, it'd be that you should always be looking for ideas and recognize them when they're presented to you. And if you can create a story from that idea, you'll capture more attention than by using your Curse of Knowledge to explain yourself. Ordinary people don't understand jargon, but they do understand tales, examples, and stories.

I bought the book before my presentation, I work in the cement industry= boring. After reading the book, I applied what I have learned, and they liked it, and it really made an impact

This delighful and insightful book has something for everyone. I was initially turned off by the gimmicky cover of this book, but after reading multiple great reviews, I decided to give it a try. The name of this book comes from Malcolm Gladwell's book, "The Tipping Point" (which I also enjoyed). I enjoyed and learned far more from this book than Gladwell's (it is not necessary to read Gladwell's book prior to this). The Heath brothers try to teach readers how to create (or more importantly spot) "sticky messages". The authors show us that sticky messages are not merely useful for advertisers, but can be important in many different situations we encounter in life. You will become a better communicator which can be useful in personal as well as professional situations.

There are lots of books out there that teach readers new concepts but what sets this one apart is that the authors try to keep it simple (as per their own recommendation) and come up with a system that readers can remember and apply years later. Their mnemonic for the six characteristics of a sticky message is SUCCESs:

Simple
Unexpected
Credible
Concrete
Emotion
Story

Interestingly, the other fantastic book that I read a while back that I continue to think about also had six components which I still remember. It was Cialdini's "Influence". The Heath brothers refer to Cialdini in their book.

I highly recommend this book. Besides its educational value, it will dazzle and entertain you.

"Made to Stick" is one of those rare books that just makes you look at everything you write in a fresh light. After reading it, I went and immediately rewrote several fundraising documents on which I had been working. The authors give you a method to cut through the muck and present your case in the most persuasive way. I'm going to have everyone in my department read it.

The authors try to identify what makes an idea "stick" and the learnings can be applied to most types of communication.

As a marketer, I didn't learn anything revolutionary new but it reminds you of what is important and I really like the checklist they came up with:

1. Simple
2. Unexpected
3. Concrete
4. Credible
5. Emotional
6. Story

The checklist comes to life by numerous examples in each category. For example, in the presidental campaign Ronald Reagan, instead of rambling of some economic stats, simply said: "ask yourself if you are better off today than 4 years ago". They recite a classic urban legend of the businessman who gets drugged and gets his kidney removed. They analyze this urban legend and it turns out it has all the ingredients that make something "stick".


The challenge in writing a book about sticky ideas is that it sets the readers' expectations very high about the book itself being written in a sticky way. In this respect, I think the authors are doing an OK job, but not great. At times, the book gets a bit slow (non-sticky!), but I would still recommend this book not only to marketers, but to anybody for whom communication is an important aspect of their work.

Insightful take on timely marketing influences you may not have considered, or maybe not as focused as this book does. Good read for marketers who need to compete and marketers who seek the 'edge' needed to win in an ever more demanding market.

I enjoyed reading this book. I enjoyed it so much I almost bought their 'argument' until I realized it was nothing but empty fluff and repackaged common sense, but avoids any in depth insights. Its like a book about how so succeed in business said 'work hard and be honest'. well that's good advice, but is that the whole story? Nor do they ever use an example of truly challenging idea (just politically correct, safe ones) that have broken boundaries and REALLY challenged the status quo.

the book is much like Malcolm Gladwell's book (whom the authors admire) - almost designed to bring the authors lucrative speaking fees from big corporations but avoiding anything really controversial or challenging. They just re-enforce ideas we're comfortable with.


I went to the books website and posted a couple of comments on some of the authors posts - nothing nasty or inflammatory - just challenging some of their ideas. The comments were quickly deleted. I suspect the same thing has happened here. So are the authors using the same tactics they advocate? Or other methods to spread their ideas? Like suppressing ones that challenge theirs?

This book is recommended reading for everyone who delivers presentations: it analyzes why certain stories "stick" in people's mind, and why others disappear, almost independent of the content: it's they way that they are told that matters.

- Keep them simple without creating silly sound bites
- Add unexpected twists to keep people interested
- Be specific and avoid fluffy hollow statements (Dilbert mission generator style)
- Be credible to get people to believe your idea
- Add emotion to make people care
- Tell stories

The book is written as a set of stories that are analyzed following the above framework. Sometimes this categorization can feel a bit forced (since most stories combine multiple elements), but generally it works well.

Framework or not, the stories inside the book are the real treasure. They are interesting and fun to read (many of them still stick in my head).

Besides the big idea of the book there are countless interesting bits of knowledge hidden in the stories. Some examples:

The brain stores stories in a "virtual 3D" space. Slightly absurd experiment: people read a sentence about a guy and a shirt slower when the shirt has just been taken off a few seconds ago. Your presentation structure and the structure used to absorb information is not the same

Being analytical, logical, thinking of numbers switches off your emotional mood: the mood in which you are most receptive to store information. Think about that when ordering slides

The curse of knowledge (actually this is a big idea in the book) prevents people from putting themselves in the shoes of an audience for which a concept that took you 3 years to understand might not sound as obvious as it seems to you

Another example of the curse of knowledge: when someone taps a song with his fingers on a table, he/she hears the entire performance including vocals, instruments, etc. A bystander just hears an irregular beat of taps...
70% of learning can happen by just imagining, anticipating, thinking about the task ahead of you (scientifically proven): rehearse, rehearse, rehearse your presentation.

Negative "don't", "avoid this", "don't fall in this trap"-type recommendations stick better than positive ones: people learn from mistakes. This goes a bit against my marketing theory in business school though.

This book shows again how important it is to decouple structures you use to solve/analyze a problem from the story you use to tell the solution. Scrap all your analysis, nuances, balanced insights you built up (sometimes over a long period of time) and start with a blank piece of paper to think about the best possible way to tell your message to your audience.

Made to Stick is a book about making yourself a better, more influential person. How you use that power is ultimately up to you (although I recommend using it for good) but there's no doubt this book is of more practical value than anything I've read in years.

How's that possible? Chip and Dan Heath have laid out a practical guide to a skill that acts as a force multiplier for all of your ideas. They've found six ways to make you a better communicator.

The Brothers Heath came from different directions in the study of what makes some ideas influential and memorable while others float in one ear and out the other, leaving nary a trace of their existence behind. They've come together to with a clear idea of six specific characteristics that make some ideas hard to resist and hard to forget.

The six characteristics are easy to remember (as they better be in a book about making your ideas stick), easy to use and will truly improve your ability to communicate your ideas to others in written or verbal form.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who could benefit from learning to communicate their ideas more influentially to others. That means all of us.

I admit I work in an industry that loves simplicity, concrete messaging, stories, and recall: advertising. Yet it is rare to see an agency practice on itself what it does so well for its clients.

The truth is that ideas are hard and communicating ideas is even harder. Even for professionals!

Made To Stick manages to combine the "why" with the "how" of successful communications. Like their column in Fast Company, the Heath's Duct Tape Book successfully communicates ideas. Lots of them.

A great business read, with real value for communicators, Made to Stick is a must read for agency/ideas people and a top 5 business book recommendation for all of my colleagues and partners.

A great source of inspiration for marketing professionals and anyone else who needs their message to stick. In their organized approach to sticky communication, the brothers Heath take their own advice in writing a Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, Story. Okay, it wasn't that emotional, but they didn't stop there.

This book is full of interesting, useful, and practical insights for any marketing professional. Five years or fifty, it's a must-read regardless of how long you've been in the industry. For the less experienced, Dan and Chip cover the basics with insightful twists and thought provoking examples. They take simple ideas, like proverbs, and break them down into easy to understand and, more importantly, reproducible thoughts.

For the seasoned professional, this book will make you take a step back, evaluate, and refocus your messages with questions like: "what's the core message?" and "are you a tapper?" This `simplicity' (as other's have called it) of the book is a great strength. Being in the business myself I find all too often messages drift from their core and become over complicated by organizations looking for their next award.

I live in the world of online and technology marketing so it is very important for me to make the most impact in the least amount of time. Studies show that I have less than 10 seconds, most times less, to make enough impact on a potential customer that they want to stick around. Made to Stick doesn't do it for you, but it does serve as a great inspiration and gives clear, simple guidelines to help you get it done.

Excellant book to read. Well written. Great lessons for learing to present that unique idea you want to stick customers' minds.

Service was good, delivered on time. BUT i thought i was saving by ordering on amazon when i realized that once the delivery charge was added, it actually doubled the price of the book...
To go from $8 to $16 price tag for shipping does not justify the process. Will be careful about that next time...

Made to Stick provides a simple guide for constructing messages that will engage your audience and endure in their memory. It offers strategies for creating meaningful messages that translate knowledge into action. The six principles of "sticky" ideas--Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility, Emotional, and Stories--are the kind of common sense strategies writers already know but don't always apply. Made to Stick is based on the idea that becoming a good writer is a matter of nurture, rather than nature, and aims to bridge the gap between theory and practice. The real impact of this book is in its many and varied examples of sticky ideas, ranging from urban legends and fables to the Jared/Subway advertisements and Truth anti-smoking campaigns. The sidebar activities in each chapter also give practical instruction on how to turn mediocre writing samples into sticky ones. Whether you're an experienced writer or a beginner, this book provides concrete criteria for evaluating and improving the effectiveness of your writing.
Simplicity -- To be sticky, an idea must be stripped down to its core, free from competing non-essential information.
Unexpectedness -- Surprise or suspense reveals to listeners the gaps in their knowledge and keeps them wanting more information.
Concretness -- Concepts that are tied to tangible examples or images, for example proverbs and fables, endure in our memory longer than the concepts alone.
Credibility -- If a new idea is outside of the audience's schema of what's true, the communicator needs to build authority for the idea.
Emotion -- Caring about an idea is what motivates the audience put information into action.
Stories -- Stories are an engaging way to pass on information, provide mental simulation, inspire, and dispel skepticism.

This book was sent to my home in less than three business days. I did not have to leave the comfort of my home!

I love reading books that I can't put down.
Business books don't usually fall in this category.
"Made to Stick" does.

Kudos to the authors for writing a book that is filled with great ideas - presented in ways that support the points they make. Made to Stick is "S"imply written, with a few "U"nexpected turns - to keep your interest, and plenty of "C"oncrete examples from "C"redible sources. Occasionally, it made me laugh ("E"motional)...and it is packed with memorable "S"tories that I will re-tell.
Great job, brothers Dan and Chip.
BTW:
Thanks for validating many of the practices I have been using throughout my career as a brand marketer.
:)

Alfredo Muccino
Chief Creative Officer
Liquid Agency | Brand Marketing
www.liquidagency.com

I really like the book. It is simple, easy to follow, and very pratical. The concepts are simple, but sometimes people just don't stop and think about how they are communicating things like the book shows in many example. The authors did a terrific job!

Overall, this was a good book; it provides the reader with important insight as to how important it is to create a message that is understood and remembered. It also gives you a step-by-step process on how to create these memorable messages. Make the message 1) simple 2) unexpected 3) concrete 4) credible 5) emotional and 6) a good story. This is one of the more important books on how to get your business message communicated, and it tells you how to do it.

The only reason that I didn't give this book a 5 star, is that the middle of the book was a real yawner - the book could have been just as effective (or more effective) at 200 pages.

This book is "Made to Stick." Literally. It successfully uses all of the principles the authors list in their book. It sticks and it is entertaining. Authors Chip and Dan Heath have succeeded where many others have failed miserably. I love it because it reads like a "How To" manual. They also use plenty of current, real world examples; examples of sticky ideas that worked and stories of others that tried and failed. The brothers make a great case for each of their elements of "stickiness" and once you recognize them, and how they work together, it's easy to apply them to any message or idea.

The essential elements of a sticky idea are:

1. Simplicity
2. Unexpectedness
3. Concreteness
4. Credibility
5. Emotions
6. Stories

The authors use these elements very effectively to make their point. And In my opinion this just adds more credibility to the book and their work. For example, in the chapter on stories, they talk about Subway's Jared campaign--quite a dramatic behind-the-scenes story besides being a near perfect example of storytelling in marketing.

It's interesting that one of the other reviewers noticed that Allison Fine's "MOMENTUM: igniting social change in the connected age," is receiving a "great deal more attention" Yes, "Made to Stick," is, and should, get more attention. Regardless of the content in the books, you have to sell the idea of opening it up and reading it first. Look at and compare the titles of the two books, author Fine's already made her book boring and hard to remember before you even crack the cover. She looses the potential reader with a title that is not concrete, not simple, not unexpected. "MOMENTUM: igniting social change in the connected age," is just long, boring and easy to forget. I mean no disrespect to Ms. Fine but she should read "Made to Stick," before she writes the title to her next book.

This book, "Made to Stick," was an excellent investment in time and money. I will use these elements of stickiness to evaluate all of my marketing messages, products and promotions.

This book tells you how to craft ideas that stick in your head like some alien worm borrowing through your brain laying eggs.

EUW!

That idea sticks on your head because it follows the book's recipe: a simple, unexpected (alien?), concrete (my brain? ARGH!), credible (ok, you probably WON'T meet any actual brain-borrowing aliens, but you understand the mechanical concept), emotional (ICK and EUW!) story adheres to your head better than any long, scholarly, erudite disquisition on the neurological basis on persistence memetic structures (zzzzzzzz!)

Read the book, find out how you can make brain worms too! It's fun and useful!

Wow! This book may well be your favorite book of the year. It's absolutely jam-packed with memorable pack-a-punch stories to liven up your weekly staff meetings.

After more than a dozen leaders raved about Made to Stick, I reluctantly succumbed. If it's that popular, I reasoned incorrectly, how good could it be? News flash: It's very good! So would you invest $16.50 to learn how to nurture your great ideas--so they'll succeed in the world? It's a bargain. Your team members will not stop talking about the book.

Commenting on the urban legend about kidney harvesting, the Heath brothers begin, "Good ideas often have a hard time succeeding in the world. Yet the ridiculous Kidney Heist tale keeps circulating, with no resources whatsoever to support it." Their insight is ingenious--and they've combined six big ingredients and cooked up a mouth-watering management stew.

Apologizing for the hokey acronym, SUCCESs, they deliver a checklist for creating a successful idea: Simple Unexpected Concrete Credentialed Emotional Story. Each chapter has an "Idea Clinic" with a six-point scorecard for evaluating Message 1 versus Message 2. And yikes--they take a couple of well-earned shots at nonprofit mediocrity.

In my book, Mastering The Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Non-profit, I mention that I'm a great believer in moving team members from "I don't know what I don't know" to "I know what I don't know." So the section on the gap theory in the "Unexpected" chapter sold me.

"Curiosity," says George Loewenstein, "happens when we feel a gap in our knowledge." The authors use two internal fundraising presentations as the clinic for this chapter. Their punch line, "To hold people's interest, we can use the gap theory of curiosity to our advantage. A little bit of mystery goes a long way." It's brilliant.

"To make a message stick," write the Heaths, "you've got to push it beyond common sense to uncommon sense." When you buy the book, read why the "Journalism 101" story rates Sticky Hall of Fame honors. The lesson learned is worth the price of the book times 1,000.

Finally, when President John F. Kennedy was ready to announce a big idea, which statement was stickier? A) "Our mission is to become the international leader in the space industry through maximum team-centered innovation and strategically targeted aerospace initiatives." Or...B) "We will put a man on the moon and return him safely by 1970."

This book will impact your boring mission statements, vision statements and BHAGs. The big question: how can we make them as sticky as the Kidney Heist story?

First, I must say the team that came up with the cover did a brilliant job. As a corporate director of human resources, I am continually engaged in sharing data with the field and also with my superiors. The techniques and tips in this book have been successfully deployed in my recent presentations. The improved feedback and real world observations prove that I am doing a better job at communicating our ideas.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that is engaged in a dynamic field such as human resources where the guide posts seem to move each week. When you have to get it right - EEOC, ADA, FMLA, etc., you want to ensure it sticks. Michael L. Gooch, SPHR - Author of Wingtips with Spurs

I found this book to be valuable to me as a school teacher. If the material I present doesn't "stick" with the students, then I haven't done my job. This book will help you do a better job!

Made to Stick is a great book designed to help you made your ideas more memorable. It is not designed to give you the power to come up with new ideas, but to make the most of what's available to you. The authors use a wide variety of examples of "sticky" and non "sticky" concepts to show you what works and what does not.

The epitome of their framework is the "Jared" marketing campaign that Subway used several years ago. This campaigned contained all of their features for a "sticky" idea: Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility, Emotion, and a Story. As you can see, they even tried to make their framework sticky by having it spell out SUCCES.

The book itself stays true to its word, in that the examples and framework they provide are sufficiently memorable that I feel the knowledge I have gained from reading this will "stick" with me for many years to come.

Highly recommended.

Chip and Dan Heath have written a priceless book, full of wisdom and great stories about what makes for effective teaching and leadership. It's not the razzle-dazzle of our teaching that makes a difference, they say, but whether we incorporate six key characteristics. I've been in the education business for almost 40 years and I learned a LOT from this book. Highly recommended!

The Heath brothers have created one of the best and most memorable contributions to true marketing creativity. They utilize off-the-beaten path stories and analogies to bring their concepts to life and help the reader visualize the benefits of sticky marketing. While some reviewers have said the book was hard to get through, I'd urge you to stick with the book to the end -- and start making a habit of reading the Heath brothers' column in Biz Week

The cover made this book seem like it would be dynamic, fun and engaging to read. I did not find that to be the case, so I never made it clear through the book. The content was interesting once I got through it. I think the reason I had a hard time with the reading was that the authors didn't move through the content in a concise way. Topics felt a bit drawn out. Still, the fundamental ideas here are valuable and worth knowing.

Enjoyed this book and will be keeping it in my collection for future reference. Emphasis on crisp messages and refinement of language to get down to the most effective and essential message.
More people should take this advice to constantly improve and refine their message until it is tight and sharp.

Well, I was impressed with the cover and the color of the book. Interestingly enough, the authors "made it (the contents) stick after a few chapters. The clinics while helpful could have been reduced. A little to academic for the common man ( I have my masters degree). My total assessment is still out with the jury at this point.

Really love this book - one of the best actionable business books I've read in a long while.

Hey this is a must have for any researcher who struggles to get their message out there. The why's of how things work in the skill of remembering process is amazing. I read the book twice and now have it as my bible!

I loved Made to Stick. The authors provide a formula based on research for making your message stand out and be remembered.

Author of Knockout PresentationsKnockout Presentations: How to Deliver Your Message with Power, Punch, and Pizzazz

The author explores the role each of the following has on sticky ideas. Simplicity, Emotions,Credibility, and Unexpectedness.

It's rare a book comes along with such specific applicability for business and life - for building brands and building relationships. Simply my favorite book in the past decade.

What is most appealing is that the authors used their own technics. Reading the book is a must because the many examples make the concepts more concrete, but the last chapter is a good quick reference.

I did not buy this book on Amazon because it was an impulse purchase (apparently consistent with my reading habits) and it keeps coming up in my recommendations. I am curious if doing a review will remove it from that list without treating is non-representative of what I read.

As a teacher I'm always looking for ideas that will help me make my presentations more memorable for my students. This book really brought home some ideas that I'd was vaguely aware of, but that never really bubbled up into my awareness. Not all the concepts were new, but were certainly presented in an interesting, even memorable, way.

If you're a teacher or a lecturer, you certainly should read this book. if you're a business leader, you no doubt should read this book. If know a lot about any anything, uhmmm..., of course you should read this book.
Anywone of us who starts to become an expert on any subject, naturally forgets how it felt when we knew nothing about it. And when we talk about this subject, we tend to forget the basic rules that make messages to stick.
The Heaths wrote a fantastic entertaining book. Anywone should read it.

The author does not practice what he preaches. The important point is to get to the "core" of your idea, simplify it enough so that the important message "sticks", and tell stories.

Here are his two best "sticking" examples, so you can save your money and time. When Bill Clinton ran for president he had several important points to make, James Carville helped reduce those points down to "It's the economy stupid" and it stuck. The other good example was Regan's line that got him elected "Are you better off today than you were 4 years ago?". These were "core" messages that worked.

The rest of the book did NOT stick. It was a mostly a slow, drawn out snooze-fest. Get anything by Seth Godin instead if you want marketing inspiration.

Teaching is my passion and I am always looking for ways to make my courses relevant, accessible, and fascinating. When I came across a review of "Made to Stick," I immediately recognized that the principles identified in the book could be adapted to my teaching. My courses will never be the same. From now on, even the most esoteric mathematical ideas and techniques will be presented using the principles expounded in "Made to Stick." The book should be required reading for anyone aiming for professional and personal success. Of all the skills we need in this world, communication is number one. "Made to Stick" shows us how to become convincing and fascinating communicators. Preparing my lectures is now fun again.

Cut right to the Core of your message following the formula for 'SUCCESs' = Simple, Unexpected, Credible, Concrete, Emotional, Stories. And you can't forget the formula because it is presented in a very 'sticky' way. Very enjoyable reading. I have already recommended this book to others. You WILL laugh and learn at the same time.

Made To Stick presents you with a template for making your communications be remembered by the listener. The advice is very practical and concrete, and easy to understand. I have already had the opportunity to apply the template presented in the book in order to improve presentations, and look forward to take advantage of this system many times more in the future. Note that this book does not teach communications skills, but rather which content to present to make it memorable.

I just finished reading Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. In this wonderful book on communicating ideas so that people will remember them the author has 6 principles:

* Simplicity - Find the core or your idea, don't bury the lead of your story
* Unexpectedness - Surprise will get people's attention
* Concreteness - Ideas that are concrete on more memorable than those that are abstract
* Credibility - Authorities or details can be used to increase credibility
* Emotions - People will remember what they care about
* Stories - Stories are useful to get people to act on an idea

I find that I examine communication ideas now through the lens of these principles. A friend pointed out a good example of these principles in an ad from the American Lung Association. Kids know that cigarettes are bad for them but how can you truly get that message across in a way that is in this case simple, unexpected, concrete and emotional. One third of the people who smoke will die from it. That's the statistic. How to communicate that? The American Lung Association made this ad that equated what it would be like if you had a one in three changes in dying by crossing the street. This is an idea that is made to stick.

Nutshell review - This is a really great book on marketing. Very well presented in an entertaining and easy to digest and learn from manner. Nice balance of explaining the ideas and concepts and case-studies for emphasis.

This book has significant value. Its obvious implication is in the field of advertising. However, it has much merit in the education arena. The book depicts 6 ways to make your ideas stick in people's heads. Educators are repeatedly researching ways to make their materials relevant and important enough to the students that they will remember the necessary information.

The more important educational use of the book deals with creating "vision" for your school district or school. School leaders are constantly attempting to bring all parties together to see one common vision. This book provides parameters to do just that.

*Simplicity: the idea must be stripped to its core, and the most important concepts should jump out. In the face of assessments, standardized tests, etc., educators need to be reminded what the school or district's number one goal is.
* Unexpectedness: the idea must destroy preconceived notions about something. This forces people to stop, think, and remember. Teachers and administrators need "wake-up" calls occasionally. A particular parent or student's behavior might jade their vision. Unexpectedness can help refocus staff.
* Concreteness: avoid statistics, use real-world analogies to help people understand complex ideas. Student in classrooms around the United States could benefit from "understanding subtraction" like Japan and Taiwan teaches in their classrooms.
* Credibility: if people don't trust you, they'll ignore you. In some cases, they will be openly hostile, which means they'll actively try to dispute your message. A school's relationship with their community plays a critical role in credibility. Schools without credibility have a much bigger struggle to create ideas that stick.
* Emotional: information makes people think, but emotion makes them act. Appeal to emotional needs, sometimes even way up on Maslow's hierarchy. Educators have not capitalized on this as much as they so obviously could in the classroom and with the community.
* Stories: Schools have ample opportunity to instill a more connected feeling with their students and community. They also have a very real place in learning. Brain research by Pat Wolfe and many others has confirmed story telling as a very successful way to establish long-term memories.

Are you a sales person, professional trainer, fund raiser or a public speaker? Do you find it difficult to plant your ideas in people's mind? Are you looking for effective ways to share your thoughts with others? This is the book to read.

The book explains 6 principles that make ideas to stick - Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Credibility, Concreteness, Emotions & Stories (SUCCESs).

When reading this book, you'll feel many a times "Ahaa... this is what I've been missing all these days". If you review some of the memorable speeches you've heard, you'll realize that these STICKY factors are present in them.

This book gives you techniques that you can use in your next speech or presentation.

This book has some good points, and it would have made a great article in something like "Reader's Digest." But a full-length book? Not so much. All of the ideas presented are s t r e t c h e d into too many pages. Then they become diluted, simple, and annoying.
But the cover is cool.

"Where's the beef?" is a line from a 20-year old Wendy's commercial. Those of us watching TV back then remember 80-something Clara Peller uttering those immortal words while staring at a giant bun and a miniature burger.

"So easy even a caveman could do it," will also likely survive for another 20 years. You can't forget the sensitive Neanderthal so upset about Geico's insult that he has lost his appetite.

What is it about these phrases and the accompanying mental images that make them so indelible?

Chip and Dan Heath explain brilliantly why `sticky' ideas escape the dustbin of history. Even better, they provide a framework that enables us to communicate more memorably:

"If you want to spread your ideas to other people, you should work within the confines of the rules that have allowed other ideas to succeed over time...Regardless of your level of `natural creativity'... a little focused effort can make almost any idea stickier [and] more likely to make a difference."

Six core concepts underlie the creation of sticky ideas that last--and form a sticky acronym: SUCCESs.

* Simple ideas: as in Southwest Airlines mission to be THE low-fare airline
* Unexpected ideas: "are more likely to stick because surprise makes us pay attention and think." Think Geico cavemen.
* Concrete ideas: this is why we can easily describe a watermelon vividly but might have trouble defining `truth.' A watermelon has loads of hooks in our memory, but the concept of truth has few.
* Credible ideas: here's the secret behind `where's the beef.' Simple observation showed that Wendy's burger was bigger.
* Emotional ideas: an army chef in Iraq runs a gourmet mess hall, where he and his staff are driven by his mission, "I am in charge of morale," to create an oasis in the desert for our troops.
* Stories: Think Jared and his Subway diet that burned off 245 pounds. A local franchise owner found Jared and fought for the sticky idea vs. a corporate alternative of "7 under 6," meaning 7 sandwiches less than 6 fat grams. No contest.

If you want to create sticky ideas that can make a positive difference for your organization, Made To Stick makes it possible.

Anyone trying to write a provocative story or trying to market an idea should read this book. I have heard other story-telling "experts" which have stated similar simple principles as the Heath brothers present here (though I'm not sure who has borrowed from whom). Read it, re-read it, and constantly review these principles and your writing/marketing will surely improve.

I just took a class at Stanford from Chip Heath - I have only read part of this book, but what I have read is excellent. What I can say is his class was incredible - I haven't enjoyed a class that much in a long time. Very eye opening.