Designing SUCCESs
This
is the other game changing book I read by the brothers Chip and Dan Heath, Made
to Stick. Every artist, designer, teacher, advertiser, promotor, and person
that has an idea they want someone else to remember should read it. However,
until you have the time to sit down and enjoy it, here's my jungle cliff notes.
This was the original inspiration for my health seminar.
What is a sticky idea? To summarize a 300 page book, successful
ideas consistantly follow a pattern:
SIMPLE
UNEXPECTED
CONCRETE
CREDENTIALED
EMOTIONAL
STORY
But
first, you need a mission. You need to know where you are going. You need
something to grt you from square 1 to the finish line. But life is
unpredictable and you don't know what is going to happen in the middle.
Entonces, the commander's intent.
'No plan survives contact with the enemy,' some military guy said,
and so they use a COMMANDER'S INTENT, a 'crisp plain-talk statement specifying
the plan's goal, or the desired end state of an operation.' The difference?
'You
can lose the ability to execute the original plan, but you can never lose the
responsibility of executing the intent.' -Col. Tom Kolditz
Ex:
A battalion is commanded to take the enemy stronghold. If there's only 1 guy
left standing, he has to make a choice, he has to figure out what to do because
the original plan is no longer doable. But if the command is to eliminate as
many of the enemy in the stronghold as you can, there is no longer a question
of what to do when he is the last man standing. Keep attacking.
CI's
can be phrased as
'If
we do nothing else during tomorrow's mission, we must...'
'The
single most important thing we must do tomorrow is...'
Ok.
We know what the intent is. Now let's get them to remember it. Let's make the
idea a SUCCESs...
Simple means to find the
core and get rid of all excess. Even if it is good fluff, throw it out. If you
say 3 things you say nothing. It might be important, but that isn't good
enough. It has to be the MOST important. Don't start with something interesting
but irrelevant to grab attention, but make the core itself more interesting.
'A
designer knows he has acheived perfection not when there is nothing left to add
but when there is nothing left to take away,' -Antoine de Saint-Exupery
We
want ideas that are compact enough to be sticky but meaningful enough to make a
difference! Fight the temptation to do too much!!
Unexpected means to break a
pattern. Surprise is a biological function to jolt us to attention, an
emergency override when we encounter the unexpected, when our guessing machines
are broken. Make them commit to a prediction, break their guessing machine, and
then take them on the journey to help them fix it. Give them insight, not a
gimmick. Ex- This ice cream has fewer calories than this apple! Why? Because
the serving is half a spoonful of ice cream and a whole apple. That is lame, a
gimmick.
Ask
yourself, what is the central message, the core? What is counterintuitive about
that message? What are the unexpected implications of the core? Why isn't is
already happening naturally? Common sense is the enemy- expose what parts of
the idea are NOT common sense, but don't just regurgitate the facts. Say what
the facts MEAN.
Keeping
people's attention: Use mystery stucture. 'Gap theory curiosity', make them
NEED the facts you have. This means don't summarize the facts, make them care
about knowing something first. Then tell them. The structure over content:
present a puzzle, make a hypothesis, test it, and review results. Don't ask
yourself, 'What info do I need to convey?' instead, 'What questions do I want
my audience to ask?'
2
potential challenges: knowledge gap is an ABYSS. first set the context and give
them a backstory. Details make the scene. Tell them, 'Here is what you know,'
(and be sure to emphasize how much that is!) and then, 'Now here is what you
are missing!'
OR
they think they know everything, overconfidence. Make them commit to a
prediction, then break the guessing machine
FLIRT
rather than LECTURE with information!
Propose
a goal that is audacious and provacative, but not paralyzing.
Concretness: language is
abstract, but life is concrete. If you can imagine something with your senses
it is concrete. Ex- cook for 7 min rather than 'until it is a hearty
consistancy'. Novices perceive concrete details as concrete details, experts
perceive them as symbols of patterns and experiential insights. Find a
universal language, the 'curse of knowledge' hinders our ability to
communicate. Physical, tangible examples help relay ideas. Make a model! Get
into the home and life of your audience.
Credible. We are fighting an
uphill battle against a lifetime of personal learning and social relationships.
Different kinds of authorities: real people, ex- smokers for antismoking ads;
localized details, ex- women in pictures wearing parumas; celebs and pros when
you can get them; statistics, but use them to illustrate a relationship, it is
more important to remember the relationship than the number. Use stats to
create drama!
Emotional. Another powerhouse
like unexpected. 'If I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at the
one, I will.' -Mother Teresa
Why? The act of calculation hinders our
ability to feel, it is from a different part of the brain. Feelings inspire
action. Form an association between something they don't care about and
something they do. Spell out the benefit of the benefit, what is in it for you?
Visualize and imagine! Tangibility over magnitude that makes people care.
Maslows
Motivators-
Transcendence.
Help others realize potential.
Self
actualization. Realize our own potential, self fulfillment, peak experiences.
Aesthetic.
Order, beauty, balance.
Learning.
Know, understand, mentally connect.
Esteem.
Achieve, be comoetent, gain approval, independence, status.
Belonging.
Love, family, friends, affection.
Security.
Protection, safety, stability.
Physical.
Hunger, thirst, bodily comfort.
Take
it to a higher level. Ex- Army cook in Iraq, 'I am not just an army cook in
charge of food service. I am in charge of morale. Improving morale involves
creativity and experimentation and mastery. Serving food involves a ladle.'
Why
is the world a lesser or less rich place if your idea died out or didnt exist?
Use 3-5 'why's' to get to the emotional core. Get them to take off their
analytical hat, it kills feelings.
Stories are told and retold
because they contain wisdom, they put things into context, they illustrate
causal relationships and highlight unexpected and resourceful ways to problem
solve. They have 3 types of plots...
Challenge.
Underdog stories, willpower over adversity. They inspire ACTION.
Connection.
Relationships overcoming gaps. They inspire HELP, and LOVE.
Creativity.
Mental breakthrough, macguyver plot. They inspire DOING SOMETHING DIFFERENT.
A
springboard story of one of these lets people see how an existing problem might
change. If you make an argument, you invite them to argue back. If you tell a
story you engage them and ask them to participate with you.
Spot
stories and use them, don't invent them.
For
an idea to stick, the audience must...
1.
Pay Attention
2.
Understand and Remember
3.
Agree and/or Believe
4.
Care
5.
Be Able to Act on it
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