Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

Chapter 1 begins with a story about the military. Plans designed by generals often fail when put into practice due to unforeseen circumstances on the ground. To counteract this problem of logistics, the US Army established the Commander’s Intent (CI), a method of planning that focuses on finding a core idea that embodies each mission’s ultimate goal broadly enough that it can be put into action in various ways. Ideas must also have a core that is simple and concise. Finding this “single, most important thing” (27) is the first step to designing sticky ideas.

“Finding the Core at Southwest Airlines” demonstrates one well-designed Commander’s Intent. Southwest’s CEO defined the company’s CI as “THE low-fare airline” (29). This was abstract enough to encourage dynamism in the workplace while also clear enough to situate employees at all levels. A clear CI allows employees to make good decisions by prioritizing the core of the business.

The process of simplifying ideas to find their essence is similar to a strategy journalists use to avoid paying too much attention to details. “Burying the Lead” refers to journalists missing the central story by focusing on information of secondary importance. To avoid this mistake, journalists practice forced prioritization, or cutting out all details that are not “core” to the message.

In “If You Say Three Things, You Don’t Say Anything,” the authors use an example from Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign to illustrate how experts can cut out irrelevant details even in complicated environments. Frustrated with the disjointedness of Clinton’s campaign, political adviser James Carville came up with the simple phrase, “It’s the economy, stupid.” This message was so effective it became the root of Clinton’s campaign during a period of economic recession.

Simple, core messages also fight indecision and inaction. When presented with too many options or a message that is too complex, people tend to freeze. A study conducted by psychologists Amos Tversky and Eldar Shafir revealed that the mere existence of uncertainty can cause decision paralysis. To get around this, ideas should avoid being needlessly complex.

The following three subsections—“Names, Names, and Names,” “Sharing the Core,” and “Simple = Core + Compact”—rely on the story of the Daily Record, a local newspaper in Dunn, North Carolina, that has a penetration of over 100%. The Daily Record is popular in Dunn mostly due to its relentless coverage of local news, which founder Hoover Adams communicates to his employees with the core message of “Names, names, and names”: He jokes that he would hire more typesetters if his reporters could include more names and that he would not report an atomic bomb in the neighboring county unless some debris fell in the Daily Record’s local area. This concise Commander’s Intent and clear mode of delivery defeats any decision paralysis his employees may feel, which in turn contributes to the newspaper’s tremendous success.

“A Bird in the Hand” highlights proverbs as paragons of complex messages communicated using simple language. Proverbs stick because they are core, impactful, and meaningful. They show that stripping an idea down to its core components is not the same as oversimplifying. “Palm Pilot and the Visual Proverb” illustrates how compact ideas guide employees to make the right decisions, just as proverbs do in societies.

“Using What’s There” makes a new argument: People retain messages easier if they call upon pre-existing knowledge—schemas. The next three sections—“The Pomelo Schema,” “Complexity from Simplicity,” and “Schemas in Hollywood: High-concept Pitches”—explore the artful use of schemas. The best way to describe something foreign is to compare it to a preexisting schema of a familiar thing: Describing a pomelo’s color and size to an uninitiated audience is less impactful than describing the pomelo as a giant grapefruit. Using schemas can sometimes lead to inaccuracies: Electrons circling an atom’s nucleus might be easier to imagine if likened to the planets orbiting the sun, but they are actually quite dissimilar. However, there is often a greater need for accessibility over accuracy. Because sticky ideas guide people’s decisions, they should first aim to be understood. Movie pitches embody this maxim: Directors describe ideas by using schemas. For example, Alien was pitched as “Jaws on a spaceship” (58), allowing executives to imagine and anticipate the idea’s outcome.

Chapter 1 presents readers with the first “idea clinic,” an interactive section designed to allow readers to test for themselves the validity of the information provided in the book. The first clinic presents readers with two ways to deliver a caution against overexposure to the sun. The first is dry and descriptive while the second likens skin damage from the sun to getting older, a process that is cumulative and cannot be reversed. By finding the essence of the message and conveying it in a relatable manner, this version makes the same information much more memorable.