Made to Stick

Skill Shelf

Chip Heath &
Dan Heath

Published 2007

Domain Strength

Spirit★★★★★1/5

Skill★★★★★5/5

Strategy★★★★★2/5

Virtues It Develops

Cardinal VirtueWisdom

Sub-virtueDiscernment

Sub-virtueUnderstanding

Best for

Pastors, teachers, team leads, anyone who casts vision

Read time

A few evenings (~336 pages)

Edition

Expanded edition

Chip and Dan Heath explain why some ideas are forgotten by lunch while others last for years, and they give leaders six principles for messages people remember.

1. Simple. Find the core of your idea and cut everything else.
2. Unexpected. Break a pattern to earn attention, then open a curiosity gap.
3. Concrete. Use details people can see and picture.
4. Credible. Help people believe with vivid details they can test.
5. Emotional. Make people care with one person, not a statistic.
6. Stories. Tell stories that show people how to act.

Developing Virtues with the Skill

Practiced well, these principles shape the virtue of wisdom by training a leader to hear a message the way listeners do. Finding the core of an idea calls for discernment: separating the essential from the merely good and leaving the rest unsaid. Escaping the Curse of Knowledge builds understanding: looking beneath your own expertise to see the situation as it really is for the people you serve.

Try This Week

Before your next talk, meeting, or email, write your main point in one sentence a newcomer would understand. Cut anything that doesn’t serve it. Then add one concrete example people can picture.

Chip Heath & Dan Heath · Communication · 2007

Made to Stick

Six traits shared by ideas that people understand, remember, and act on. The core insight: sticky ideas are designed, not born, and the biggest obstacle is what you already know.

1. SSimple
2. UUnexpected
3. CConcrete
4. CCredible
5. EEmotional
6. SStories
7. s 

Principle 1 · S

Simple

“What is the one thing that matters most?”

What It Means

• Find the core, then strip away the rest
• Short and deep, not dumbed down

Try These

• State a one-sentence Commander’s Intent
• Lean on what they know: “It’s like…”

Watch Out

• Burying the point under good minor points
• Three priorities means no priority

Principle 2 · U

Unexpected

“What will surprise them and make them curious?”

What It Means

• Break a pattern to win attention
• Open a curiosity gap to keep it

Try These

• Name what is counterintuitive about your idea
• Pose the mystery before the answer

Watch Out

• Gimmicks unrelated to the core
• Answering before anyone wonders

Principle 3 · C

Concrete

“Can they picture it?”

What It Means

• Sensory details, real people, specific things
• More mental “hooks” help ideas stick

Try These

• Swap jargon for one vivid example
• Tie goals to something people can see

Watch Out

• Speaking in an expert’s abstractions
• Mission statements no one can picture

Principle 4 · C

Credible

“Why should they believe it?”

What It Means

• Belief can come from inside the idea
• Let people test the claim themselves

Try These

• Use a telling detail from a real case
• Put numbers on a human scale

Watch Out

• Piling on statistics
• Leaning only on outside authority

Principle 5 · E

Emotional

“Why should they care?”

What It Means

• People care about people, not averages
• Connect to identity and real self-interest

Try These

• Show one person instead of a statistic
• Ask what they would do in your shoes

Watch Out

• Numbers alone numb the heart
• Worn-out appeals people tune out

Principle 6 · S

Stories

“How will they act on it?”

What It Means

• Stories work as mental rehearsal
• They supply both know-how and motivation

Try These

• Spot Challenge, Connection, Creativity plots
• Collect stories already happening around you

Watch Out

• A story without a clear point
• Inventing when real stories exist

How it fits together

The villain: the Curse of Knowledge

Once you know something, you can’t easily imagine not knowing it. Experts drift into abstraction; the six principles pull the message back to the listener.

A checklist, not a formula

Few great ideas use all six. Find the core first (Simple), then add whichever principles the message is missing.

Try this week

Find the core

Before your next meeting, write your main point in one sentence a newcomer would get.

Make them care

Replace one statistic in your next talk with the story of one person.

Beat the curse

Explain your idea to someone outside your team. Note where they get lost.

Source: Heath, C., & Heath, D. (2007). Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. Random House. Shown: the expanded edition, which adds a “Sticky Advice” chapter; the six principles are unchanged. Placemat summary paraphrased; not affiliated with the authors.