Just finished reading Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. I have to say, the whole book sticks with me. It’s not tuned to be a business book, but when I tried to read it with a business mindset I realized how much it could have been applied to business. Of course, it could just as well be applied to personal experiences or any other aspects of life. I started reading it looking for the answer to “how do I come up with a great business idea and make it stick with people?”. I’ve found the answer in this book. I know that understanding and admiring these notions is one thing, utilizing and applying them is a different story, but at least now I felt that I’ve expanded my perspectives and don’t feel as misguided as before.
The Heath brothers talked about SUCCESs:
- Simple
- Unexpected
- Concrete
- Credible
- Emotional
- Stories
There are few concepts that stick with me more than the others, such as being “simple”, being “concrete”, the “curse of knowledge”, and finally the “stories” part. After reading the book I almost felt like I won’t be lost any more as I’ve found a great tool to help me. Not saying that this is it and that I for sure need to improve in many other ways, but it just makes me feel like I’ve got an additional set of arsenal than others. I am in the process of writing up this new business plan, and while writing it I will constantly review to see if my paragraphs are too abstract, to see how I can relate to the potential customers in my marketing strategy, and to find a way to better represent the sales forecast numbers so that my readers will understand and be impressed to give a green light to the thing.
I hope I am not violating the copyright by listing out the essential contents of the book here. In any case, you really need to read this book yourself. I highly recommend it. In fact, me personally probably will read it one more time just to jog down some key points and quotes. It’s absolutely brilliant! Here are just a few quotes:
Ultimately, the test of our success as idea creators isn’t whether people mimic our exact words, it’s whether we achieve our goals.
It’s crucial to realize that creation, period, is unnecessary. Why? Because the world will always produce more great ideas than any single individual, even the most creative one.
Any of us, with the right insight and the right message, can make an idea stick.
