dispatches from the new world of work

Cool Friend: Dan Heath

New Cool Friend Dan Heath is the coauthor, with his brother, Chip, of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. Together, they also write an ideas column for Fast Company magazine. But one of Dan's favorite accomplishments is that he once won a New Yorker cartoon caption contest. How cool is that? Begin to find out what makes ideas live on in the minds of your audience by reading his Cool Friends interview here, or learn more at www.madetostick.com. Or, buy the book. I'd say this one would appeal to Tom just because of the duct tape in the cover design.

Cathy Mosca posted this on 03/02/07.

Comments

Based on the Heath Bros. 6 criteria (Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility, Emotions, Stories), TP's ideas are here to stay ....

Posted by Mike L at March 4, 2007 3:11 AM

What a fun interview - I enjoyed reading it...

A simple example of the power of stickiness of an idea in the face of evidence to the contrary is the record of US Presidents... The candidate gets one clear idea out there on say Foreign Policy... He gets elected... People stick to the notion that their President is the strongest advocate for that idea in the nation... Guess what he is not... Example George W Bush v Al Gore... Bush was an "isolationist" on Foreign Policy... It was a simple idea, it was unexpected, it was concrete, it was credible, it was emotionally appealing, and it had stories to support it... It became sticky... It proved to be false....

A friend of mine is a brilliant political science theorist - he worked out this predictive theory in the 1980s...

The stickiness of the candidate's idea is why the President can pursue policies that are the exact opposite of what people expect from him.... The stickiness of the idea(s) get these Presidents a second term... Most however would not get a third term... Those without sticky ideas, like Jimmy Carter and George Bush Snr, only get one term....

This happens in business too...... The CEO with the "sticky idea" gets many terms but those without them get only one (or less)....

Richard

Posted by Richard Lipscombe at March 5, 2007 6:31 AM