Made to Stick

Last summer I read the best selling book, Made to Stick:  Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, by Chip and Dan Heath.  It was not until after I read Drew McLellan's piece in the Des Moines Business Record about the book that I decided it would be a great book to require my marketing students to read.

While the book is researched based, it is easy to read and to understand.  The book is filled with interesting examples of how to apply the six principles compacted into the acronym SUCCESs:  simplicity, unexpectedness, concreteness, credibility, emotions, and stories.  As I reread the book with my students, I realized this book is just as much about leadership as it is about marketing. 

Even though many of the applications are marketing oriented, making ideas "stick" is just as significant for leaders.  Anyone who is in a position of influence (teachers, coaches, lawyers, parents), should read this book.  When we say something to someone, we probably want them to remember.  Learning how to make your ideas stick, should be important to all of us.