A Man on the Moon

One of the best books I’ve read recently is Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath.  The Heaths are brothers; Dan is a former researcher at Harvard Business School and Chip is a professor at the Business School of Stanford University (my alma mater so I’m probably a bit biased).  The goal of Made to Stick is to help readers—like me—know how to get their ideas to stick when you’re communicating them to others.

I think every leader should read this book.  But in case you don’t get a chance to read the whole book, I’ll share a few of its highlights in this and the next blog.

One of the principles I can’t shake is that of concrete communication.  The Heaths cite John F. Kennedy’s 1961 call to “put a man on the moon and return him safely by the end of the decade.”   Kennedy’s image was concrete; you could literally see a man on the moon in your mind.

The Heaths write, “Had John F. Kennedy been a CEO, he would have said, ‘Our mission is to become the international leader in the space industry through maximum team-centered innovation and strategically targeted aerospace initiatives’” (page 21).

Huh?

No one would remember that.  No vivid picture of what JFK was talking about would come from the second version.

Similarly, I recently saw an interview with Bill Gates in which he shared his initial vision of having a computer on every desk in America.  Another concrete image.  Another visual that you couldn’t shake.

What are you and I trying to do with teenagers?  Do we have a way to communicate it to friends, donors, church and community members, parents, and the kids themselves?  Do we have a dream that leaves a lasting, unshakeable visual image in those who hear it?

I kinda do for FYI.  But I won’t take the time to explain it here, which means it’s probably still not simple and concrete enough.  I guess I have some more work to do.

©2008 Fuller Youth Institute