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The cover of Made to Stick

Made to Stick

Chip Heath, Dan Heath, 2007

Chip and Dan Heath show why urban legends outlast carefully argued messages, and set out six principles that make any idea easier to understand, remember and act on.

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8 parts, about 21 minutes to read.

Why read it

  • Names six traits of ideas that stick, from simplicity to stories, and shows each through memorable cases
  • Gives a working checklist for turning abstract memos, pitches and lessons into messages people remember and act on
  • Pins the real obstacle on the curse of knowledge, using experiments such as the song tapping study

Who it is for

  • Teachers who want lessons to outlast the exam
  • Managers whose strategy memos keep getting ignored
  • Marketers and fundraisers writing for skeptical audiences

What the summary covers

  1. Introduction: What Sticks?2 min
  2. Simple3 min
  3. Unexpected3 min
  4. Concrete3 min
  5. Credible3 min
  6. Emotional3 min
  7. Stories3 min
  8. Epilogue: What Sticks1 min

Recommended by

  • Guy KawasakiAuthor and former chief evangelist of Apple
    It will join The Tipping Point and Built to Last as a must-read for business people.

About the authors

  • Chip HeathAmerican academic and professor of organizational behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business
    • Born on July 19, 1963
    • Earned a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from Texas A&M University and a PhD in psychology from Stanford
    • Taught at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and at Duke's Fuqua School of Business before joining Stanford
    • His research asks what makes ideas succeed in the social marketplace of ideas and how people can design messages to make them stick
    • Designed a popular Stanford elective, How to Make Ideas Stick, that applied the principles of naturally sticky ideas to message design
    • Now the Thrive Foundation for Youth Professor of Organizational Behavior, Emeritus, at Stanford Graduate School of Business
  • Dan HeathAmerican author and fellow at Duke University's CASE center
    • Holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from the Plan II Honors Program at the University of Texas at Austin
    • Worked as a researcher and case writer for Harvard Business School
    • Cofounded Thinkwell, a publishing company for reinvented college textbooks, in 1997
    • At the CASE center at Duke he founded the Change Academy, a program meant to boost the impact of social sector leaders
    • He and Chip wrote a column for Fast Company magazine from 2007 to 2011
    • His books have been translated into 35 languages and have sold over 4 million copies worldwide
    • Released his first solo book, Upstream, in 2020

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