Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

In journalism, burying the lead is the act of getting lost in details to the point of forgetting to highlight the main idea of a story. In Made to Stick, this problem occurs when a message is lost due to complexities that obscure its core.

In the US Army, the Commander’s Intent (CI) is a broadly defined core objective for any mission, designed to help all levels of command coordinate toward a single goal. Made to Stick uses the CI as shorthand for the act of finding a core message that enables various paths toward a single, common goal.

The core is the essence of an idea after all elements not crucial to the message have been eliminated. Simplifying an idea to its core allows people to understand it quickly and easily.

Coined by Chip and Dan Heath, this term designates a common problem: Experts are often unable to understand the perspective of people who lack their knowledge. This can “curse” experts into presenting ideas in incomprehensible or uninteresting ways, even when their ideas are objectively important. This then reduces the stickiness of their communication about the topic.

Someone presented with too many choices or uncertainties is often lost in the decision-making process and unable to act. A needlessly complicated message can also create decision paralysis: For example, an unclear business goal might make employees confused about how to act. Ideas that stick always have a “core” principle that defeats decision paralysis.

“Gap theory” argues that people are naturally curious when there is a gap in their knowledge—triggering their curiosity can engage long-term interest. Messages that stick are designed to point out gaps in knowledge before closing them.

Also called the Mother Teresa effect, this theory claims that people are more likely to help individuals rather than abstract causes. In other words, focusing on statistics or the larger picture will not achieve the same result as framing the same problem in individual terms.

Schemas are banks of previous knowledge that help people anticipate a future outcome. They are essential to decision-making because they guide people’s actions and reasoning. Great ideas must include an element of surprise that challenges people’s schemas, encouraging them to pay attention and retain information.

The Sinatra Test is a measure of credibility. To pass this test, a single example of success must be so great that it establishes an individual or group’s authority in the entire domain. The authors summarize it with a line from one of Frank Sinatra’s songs: “If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere” (151).