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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.
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September 11th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
scary too how we can take a clearly stated principle or command of Jesus and smudge it to the point of confusion with our sticky little fingers. I’d like to see communicators make the words of Jesus more about Him than them. Thanks for the tip on the book. As a Middle School teacher by day, youth pastor by night, it sounds like a valuable read.
February 2nd, 2009 at 8:30 pm
I believe that the clarity needed to get ideas to stick comes from a process of an honest assessment of things, a getting real about ourselves, a coming to the cross for forgiveness laying ourselves open to God’s agenda and then in brokenness focusing on the dream that God has planted in our hearts. It’s the clutter of our minds that clutters our communication. When God is behind the idea, it’s amazing how doors open and resources come out of nowhere.