Chip Heath Made to Stick

Summary

このスクリプトは、ビジネス文脈でのメッセージの伝達の難しさと、アイデアが定着し、長期的な変化をもたらす方法について説明しています。話者は、シンプルで意外性のある具体的なアイデアがどのように人々の行動に影響を与えるかを例を挙げて説明し、伝統的なビジネスの抽象的なコミュニケーションとは対照的なアプローチを提案しています。また、ストーリーテリングの力と、それを通じて人々の行動を変える方法についても強調しています。

Takeaways

• 🗣️ 伝えたいメッセージが愛する人々に届くわけではない。ビジネスコンテキストでは、アイデアが理解され、長期にわたって存続し、行動や思考に変化をもたらす必要がある。
• 📈 売上の重要な決定は、プレゼンテーションが終了した瞬間やコールが終了した瞬間でなされるわけではない。情報は、人々が必要な時に記憶に残っている必要がある。
• 🚀 良いアイデアが常に「Sticky」（粘りのある）アイデアになるわけではない。しかし、John F Kennedyが1961年に提案した「月面探査」は、粘りのあるアイデアであり、多くの人々を10年間を超えて動員した。
• 📚 研究によると、粘りのあるアイデアはシンプルで、意外性があり、具体的なイメージを呼び起こし、信頼性があり、感情を引き起こし、物語の形式をとるものである。
• 🎬 シンプルなアイデアは、人々がそのアイデアに基づいて意思決定をすることができるようにする。例えば、映画「スピード」のシンプルなコンセプトは、意思決定を容易にする。
• 🤔 意外性は、人々がアイデアに注意を払うようにする。例えば、10%の脳しか使っていないという噂は、意外性があり、人々の興味を引きつける。
• 🎯 具体的なアイデアは、人々がイメージを形成できるものである。例えば、月面探査の成功は、人々が成功をイメージし、具体的な目標を描くことができた。
• 🔍 信頼性は、アイデアが信じられるようにする。例えば、若いカリスマ的な大統領が提案した月面探査は、信頼性があり、リソースを背後にある。
• 💖 感情を引き起こすアイデアは、人々の欲求や希望に訴える。月面探査は、新しいフロンティアに向かう欲求や、ソ連を競い抜く欲求を引き起こした。
• 📖 ストーリーは、アイデアを伝える力を持つ。例えば、Nordstromの顧客サービスの物語は、具体的な行動を示し、従業員に影響を与える。
• 🚫 知識の呪い（Curse of Knowledge）は、専門家が自分の知識を伝えることが困難になる現象である。これは、粘りのあるアイデアを創出する際の障壁となる。

Q & A

どのような要素がアイデアが「stick」する、つまり長期的に影響を与える力を持つために必要ないるのか？

アイデアが「stick」するためには、シンプルさ、意外性、具体性、信頼性、感情、そしてストーリーの6つの要素が必要である。

「You only use 10% of your brain」という都市伝説はなぜ広まったのか？

この都市伝説は、人々の注意を引き、驚くべき内容であるため広まった。それが真実であった場合、脳の損傷を恐れる必要がなくなる点が、人々の興味を引き続けた。

「Heart Attack Grill」というレストランはどのようにして市場から差別化されたのか？

「Heart Attack Grill」は、一般的ではないメニューアイテムや、健康的な食生活に反するコンセプトで市場から差別化された。彼らは、一般的に健康的な食事を求める現代のトレンドに逆らって、高カロリーのメニューを提供している。

「made to stick」の本のカバーに何が書かれているか？

「made to stick」の本のカバーには、DUCT TAPEが書かれている。これは、本のテーマである「stickiness」を象徴する言葉であり、DUCT TAPEが貼り付けられないことの逆説的なアイデアを示している。

「stick」するアイデアが成功するためには、どのようなプロセスが必要なのか？

「stick」するアイデアが成功するためには、シンプルさ、具体性、感情、ストーリーなどの要素をアイデアに組み込むことが必要である。これらの要素は、人々がアイデアを理解し、記憶し、行動に移すことを助ける。

「stick」するアイデアが持つ6つの要素を挙げてください。

「stick」するアイデアが持つ6つの要素は、シンプル（Simple）、意外性（Unexpected）、具体性（Concrete）、信頼性（Credible）、感情（Emotional）、ストーリー（Story）である。

「stick」するアイデアと「stick」しないアイデアの違いは何ですか？

「stick」するアイデアは、人々が長期的に記憶し、行動に影響を与える力を持つ。一方、「stick」しないアイデアは、短期的な印象しか与えず、人々が忘れてしまう。

「stick」するアイデアを作る際に、なぜ「シンプルさ」が重要であるのか？

「シンプルさ」は、人々がアイデアを理解し、記憶しやすくするために必要な要素である。複雑な情報をシンプルにすることで、人々がアイデアを捉え、行動に移すことができる。

「stick」するアイデアが持つ「ストーリー」の要素の役割は何ですか？

「ストーリー」の要素は、アイデアをより感情的で、具体的な形で伝えることで、人々がアイデアをより深く理解し、記憶するのを助ける。ストーリーは、人々の興味を引き、アイデアをより強力に伝える手段となる。

「stick」するアイデアを作る際に、どのようにして「具体性」を確保するのか？

「具体性」を確保するためには、抽象的な概念や言葉を避け、具体的なイメージや状況を用いてアイデアを説明することが重要である。これにより、人々がアイデアを視覚的にイメージし、記憶しやすくなります。

「stick」するアイデアが持つ「感情」の要素の重要性は何ですか？

「感情」の要素は、アイデアが人々の心に深く刻まれるようにする。感情を引き起こすアイデアは、人々の行動をより効果的に変える力を持つ。

Outlines

00:00

🗣️ 沟通的艺术与挑战

段落1讨论了在个人和商业环境中传达信息的复杂性。强调了让想法在人们心中留下印象的重要性，以及在关键时刻影响他们的思考和行为。通过销售和酒店管理的例子，说明了信息传递的挑战，以及如何让信息在正确的时间点产生影响。

05:01

💡 创意的粘性

段落2探讨了哪些想法能够持久并改变行为。通过比较都市传说和商业策略，作者提出了“粘性想法”的概念，并强调了简单、意外、具体、可信、情感化和故事化这六个特质。以肯尼迪总统的登月计划为例，展示了一个成功的想法如何具备这些特质。

10:02

📉 简化复杂性

段落3讨论了如何将复杂的想法简化，以便更容易传达和理解。通过好莱坞电影制作人的高概念推销技巧，说明了如何通过简化核心信息来吸引注意力。同时，提出了在商业环境中简化信息的重要性，以及如何通过具体的例子来实现这一目标。

15:03

😲 意外的力量

段落4强调了意外性在吸引注意力和让想法更具吸引力方面的作用。通过打破常规和提供意想不到的信息，可以有效地吸引听众的注意。举例说明了在酒店业和快餐业中如何通过打破常规来吸引顾客。

20:04

🎯 具体化的力量

段落5讨论了具体化在沟通中的重要性。通过具体的例子和故事，人们可以更好地理解和记住信息。举例说明了在商业和医疗领域中，如何通过具体化来提高信息的传达效果和行动的激发。

25:06

💖 情感与行动

段落6探讨了情感在激发行动中的作用。通过提供希望和积极情绪，可以更有效地激励人们。举例说明了在忠诚度计划和酒店业中，如何通过情感化的信息来提高顾客的参与度和忠诚度。

30:07

📖 故事的力量

段落7强调了故事在沟通中的重要性。故事可以作为大脑的飞行模拟器，帮助人们在心理上模拟和练习行动。通过讲述具体的故事，可以更有效地传达信息并激发行动。举例说明了在酒店业中，如何通过讲述员工的故事来提升服务质量。

35:09

🚀 克服知识的诅咒

段落8讨论了专家如何克服“知识的诅咒”，即难以理解非专家的视角。强调了在沟通中使用简单、具体和故事化的方法，可以帮助专家更好地与非专家沟通。通过实际例子，说明了如何通过这些方法来提高信息的传达效果。

40:10

🌟 粘性想法的传播

段落9总结了如何让想法具有粘性，即如何让想法在人们心中留下深刻印象并激发行动。通过回顾前面提到的六个原则，强调了简单、意外、具体、可信、情感化和故事化的重要性，并鼓励听众将这些原则应用于自己的沟通中。

45:12

🎉 实现想法的粘性

段落10强调了实现想法粘性的重要性，并鼓励听众将这些原则应用于实际工作中。通过回顾约翰·肯尼迪的登月计划，说明了即使没有个人魅力，也可以通过遵循这些原则来成功传达想法。

Keywords

💡メッセージの伝達

動画の主要テーマの一つは、愛する人やビジネスコンテキストでのアイデアやメッセージを効果的に伝えることです。これは、観聴者が特定の情報を受け取った後、それを理解し、長期にわたって記憶に残し、行動に反映させることを意味します。例えば、ホテルのマネージャーが客に伝えたい文化的な変化のメッセージは、部屋で見守るだけでは実現できません。

💡スティッキーアイデア (Sticky Idea)

スティッキーアイデアとは、観聴者に長く残り、行動に影響を与えるアイデアのことを指します。動画では、スティッキーアイデアがシンプルで、意外性、具体性、信頼性、感情、物語の形式で提示されることが示されています。例えば、約束された「月への人間の送り」というアイデアは、これらの要素を満たしており、多くの人々にとってスティッキーでありました。

💡シンプルさ (Simplicity)

シンプルさは、スティッキーアイデアの鍵となる要素の一つです。動画では、シンプルなアイデアは、複雑な情報をシンプルにすることで、人々がより効果的に理解し、行動に移すことができると説明されています。例えば、ホリウッドの映画「スピード」のハイコンセプトピッチは、シンプルなアイデアに基づいていていました。

💡意外性 (Unexpectedness)

意外性は、スティッキーアイデアが人々の注意を引き、興味を引き起こすために必要な要素です。動画では、人々が予想外のパターンに遭遇すると、それが注意を引き、アイデアをより覚えやすくすることを強調しています。例えば、10%の脳のみを使用しているという噂は、意外性のために広く流通しています。

💡具体性 (Concreteness)

具体性は、アイデアが視覚的にイメージできるようにすることで、スティッキーアイデアに不可欠な要素です。動画では、具体的なアイデアは、抽象的なアイデアよりも人々が行動に移すことが容易であると説明されています。例えば、Stanford大学の研究では、具体的なメッセージは、抽象的なメッセージよりも人々が行動に応じる可能性が高かったことが示されています。

💡信頼性 (Credibility)

信頼性は、アイデアが信じられることで、スティッキーアイデアに必要な要素です。動画では、信頼性は、アイデアが信頼できる情報源から来ることによって確立されると説明されています。例えば、約束された「月への人間の送り」は、信頼できる大統領によって提案され、多くの人々にとって信じられるアイデアでした。

💡感情 (Emotional)

感情は、スティッキーアイデアが人々の心に深く刻まれるようにするために必要な要素です。動画では、感情を引き出すアイデアは、人々の行動をより効果的に変えることができると強調されています。例えば、希望を提供するメッセージは、人々が行動に移るためのポジティブな感情を引き出します。

💡物語 (Stories)

物語は、スティッキーアイデアが人々の心に残り、行動に影響を与えるために重要な形式です。動画では、物語は、人々の脳を刺激し、アイデアをより効果的に伝えるための役割を果たすと説明されています。例えば、Nordstromの顧客サービスの物語は、具体的な行動を示し、従業員にどのように行動すべきかを示しています。

💡知識の呪い (Curse of Knowledge)

知識の呪いは、専門家が自分の専門知識を持ち越しているために、非専門家が理解できない抽象的な言葉や概念を使用することです。動画では、この現象がスティッキーアイデアの創造や伝達を妨げる可能性があると警告しています。例えば、IT技術者がコンピュータの問題を解決するために使用する専門用語は、一般の人には理解しにくいものです。

💡アクションの傾向 (Action Tendency)

アクションの傾向とは、スティッキーアイデアが人々の行動にどのように影響を与えるかを示すものです。動画では、具体的なアクションを示す物語は、従業員が特定の行動をとるためのガイドラインとして機能すると説明されています。例えば、ホテルのフロントでの「お客様に一杯を飲みながらお待ちください」という具体的なアクションは、従業員がどのように親切に接客するかを示しています。

Highlights

The importance of making ideas stick in a business context is emphasized, especially when the decision-making moment is not immediate.

The challenge of ensuring a message persists over time and influences behavior is discussed, particularly in sales and customer service roles.

The concept of 'sticky ideas' is introduced, which are ideas that persist, change behavior, and are remembered over time.

Urban legends and myths are used as examples of sticky ideas that spread without any formal promotion.

The story of John F. Kennedy's moon landing goal is highlighted as a successful sticky idea that inspired action across multiple organizations.

The six traits of sticky ideas are outlined: simplicity, unexpectedness, concreteness, credibility, emotional appeal, and storytelling.

The importance of simplicity in ideas is stressed, as too much complexity can lead to messages being forgotten or ignored.

Unexpected ideas capture attention, and the speaker suggests breaking patterns to create surprise.

Concrete ideas are more effective because they create a mental image and are easier to understand and remember.

Credibility is crucial for ideas to be accepted and acted upon, and it can be established through authority or evidence.

Emotional ideas resonate more with people and are more likely to influence behavior and decision-making.

Stories are a powerful form of communication that can make ideas more memorable and actionable.

The 'curse of knowledge' is identified as a barrier to effective communication, where experts struggle to convey ideas in a simple, understandable way.

The speaker encourages using the principles of success (SUCCESs) to create sticky ideas and overcome the curse of knowledge.

The importance of storytelling in business is emphasized, as it helps employees understand and internalize the desired behaviors and actions.

The speaker provides practical examples of how to apply the principles of sticky ideas in a hotel business context.

The speaker suggests that making ideas stick is not about personal charisma but about effectively communicating ideas using the right principles.

Transcripts

with the people that we love most we

don't always get the messages across

that we want to get them but it becomes

even more complicated when we start

thinking about in a business context the

requirements for an idea to stick in

that it's going to be understood when

people hear it that it's going to

persist over time and it's going to

change something about how they think or

how they act and so if you look for a

moment at the complications that we have

if you're the director of sales for your

organization it's rarely the case that

the critical customer decision is going

to be made the moment that the

PowerPoint presentation is done

the moment that the sales call is done

and so in order for your decision your

information to make a decision change

that decision you've got to be in a

position to have your message stick with

that person a week later a month later

at the critical time when they think

that's the time I need to schedule my

event at Embassy Suites if you're the

general manager of your hotel the

critical customer moment is never going

to happen when you're in the room when

you're looking over that person's

shoulder and so in order to make a

message stick about the cultural change

that you're trying to create at your

hotel that message better persist over

time and there's an even higher standard

in that in order for your ideas to make

a difference they have to cross

boundaries there are lots of important

ideas that you have and you talk about

within the context of your top

leadership team but they have to cross

the boundaries to the people at the

front line of your hotel that are

delivering the service and there's an

even bigger boundary that your ideas

have to cross between all of you inside

of your hotels and the customers our

clients on the outside now especially in

a recession environment I know that that

can be a depressing thought

but I'm not here to depress you and so I

want to convince you that it is possible

to make your ideas stick to make your

ideas make a difference to have them

persist over time and let's start with

some ideas some really kind of quirky

interesting ideas that have stuck here's

one how many of you have heard this idea

you only use 10% of your brain go ahead

and raise your hand let's take a market

share wow that looks like it has a

market share north of 95 percent in this

very distinguished audience and this is

a completely bogus ludicrous

idea right if this were true it would

certainly take the fear out of brain

injury you could lose a whole hemisphere

and not disturb your ability to do

Sudoku on the plane going home here's

another idea

I just ran across this one recently this

is a room key card and I understand that

you guys deal with the room or a false

rumor about the information that is

encoded on this have you guys run into

that some of you have so according to

this rumor you encode my credit card

information on the back of this key room

key why do you do that I mean I've also

heard variations of the rumor that you

encode my facebook passbook Facebook

password on the back of this this key

card right now that's a completely

ludicrous idea but it leads to some

changes in behavior on the part of your

customer so you get fewer of these

things back then you would have ormally

because people are trying to protect

their credit card information here's our

the third that I want to present to you

of an idea that is stuck and you want to

talk about an idea that changes behavior

this is one that changes behavior here

it is how many of you've heard a story

about a guy traveling on business

accepts the drink from an attractive

stranger and winds up in a bathtub full

of ice go ahead and raise your hand on

that it looks like that one has a

smaller market share about 30% in this

audience so I'm going to tell it to the

rest of you that haven't heard it if you

were on a college campus by the way the

market share of this idea would be north

of 80 percent all right so here's the

story man traveling on business walks

into a hotel bar one night accepts a

drink from an attractive stranger the

next thing he remembers he wakes up he's

disoriented he's groggy he's in pain

he's in a bathtub full of ice his body's

shivering and as his eyes come into

focus it's a little bit blurry but his

eyes come into focus and there's a note

on the front of the bathtub saying call

9-1-1 and there beside the bathtub is a

cell phone and so it reaches over and

grabs the cell phone holds it to his ear

dolls 9-1-1 and starts describing his

situation to the operator who is weirdly

unfazed by the strange turn of event

the operator says sir I want you to

reach back behind your back and see if

there's a tube protruding from your

lower back so the guy reaches back

gingerly and confirms that yes sure

enough there is a tube protruding from

his lower back the operator says sir I'm

sorry to say this but there's a gang of

organ thieves that has been operating in

our city and one of your kidneys has

been harvested but don't worry the

paramedics are on their way now that is

an utterly terrifying story and it's

completely untrue nobody has ever woken

up in a bathtub full of ice with one of

their kidneys missing but talk about an

idea that would change your behavior all

right think of the last think of the

last memo that you read at work think of

the last news story that you saw in the

media about a political program now

those ideas are pretty unlikely to

change your behavior six months from now

but I guarantee you that after hearing

that story one time if six months from

now a stranger at a bar sends you a

drink

you're gonna think twice and it's

especially ironic that that story is

rampant on college campuses these days

because I've heard versions of that

story and talk about something crosses

barriers I've heard versions of the

story in the United States and from

college students in Singapore and from

college students and France and that's a

tragedy because if there's one time in

your life when you should be accepting

drinks from attractive strangers it's

when you're in college

that's a good thing even it happens

never happened to me but it would have

been a good thing if it had alright now

I start with these silly dumb bogus

ideas because I want to point out that

there are ideas that circulate around in

the natural environment that don't have

a lot of the advantages that your ideas

have so I'm going to show you some of

the advantages of your ideas urban

legends don't have advertising programs

of any kind

there's no ad money behind the kidney

theft urban legend

they don't have newsletters they don't

have budgets and they don't have make a

difference videos which by the way is

great that's some of the best training

material that I've seen but they don't

have videos they don't have letters from

the general manager your ideas start out

with an advantage in your environment

but if we think about all of the good

ideas that we have in the world all the

good ideas that that we have in politics

floating around all the good ideas that

are floating around in your organization

those ideas don't always become sticky

ideas so what would a good sticky idea

about a true and Noble and useful idea

look like well John F Kennedy in 1961

proposed that our nation put a man on

the moon and return him safely within

the course of the decade now that was a

sticky idea talk about something that

crosses boundaries that organize the

efforts of thousands of people across

dozens of organizations public and

private for the better course of a

decade I grew up in Houston Texas my

father worked for IBM he did some of the

programming on the original Gemini

missions my dad didn't think of himself

as working for IBM he thought of himself

as helping put a man on the moon and

even better there was an accountant who

lived down the street from us he worked

for Rockwell International they make

parts of the Saturn 5 rocket bodies and

the accountant thought of himself as

helping put a man on the moon

now folks when you get the accountants

with your messages you know you're onto

something

that's remarkable and if you think about

that idea that was a true and Noble and

useful idea like the kinds that you guys

deal with on a day to day basis and that

idea John F Kennedy made his idea stick

and what I found in doing the research

for the book made to stick I worked with

my brother Dan he's 10 years younger so

I was a bit of a family bonding

experience and we looked at sticky ideas

from all kinds of domains of life

ranging from urban nations like the

kidney theft legend to corporate

strategies that affect the behavior of

frontline employees to marketing

campaigns that work to public health

messages that convinced junior high kids

not to start smoking and what we kept

seeing were the same traits coming up

over and over again and we wrote about

those in our book made to stick and I

put a picture up there of the cover of

our book because we think and I are

insanely proud of the duct tape on the

cover of our book we had long arguments

with our publishing house because they

wanted to put scotch tape or post-it

notes they kept coming over the cover

designs with those things and we had to

sit them down at one point and explain

look post-it notes are designed not to

stick that's the opposite of the kind of

ideas that we want and so what we found

in made to stick is that we found six

traits of sticky ideas they're simple

unexpected concrete credible emotional

and mini come in the form of stories and

the Scrabble players will note that

there's an acronym as success without

the final ass so those six traits kept

coming up over and over again and let's

talk through those briefly in the

context of a man on the moon in the

decade to give you a sense of what

they're like that was a simple idea I

could understand it as a kid growing up

in Houston Texas it was an unexpected

idea unexpected ideas get your attention

even in a crowded environment and john f

kennedy's idea was unexpected enough

that that it seemed like science fiction

at the time i mean the moon is a long

way up the air is thin how are you gonna

put a man on the moon and that rivets

your attention to an idea it was a

concrete idea concrete ideas or things

that you can picture in your mind the

produce of visual and john f kennedy's

idea everyone watching the space program

everyone involved in the space program

could picture success in exactly the

same way now that's a challenge for all

of us because we have lots of great

ideas in our organizations but it's not

always easy to say that people would

picture six

in exactly the same way it was a

credible idea with the success back up

for a second

credible idea coming out of the mouth of

a charismatic young president who was

willing to put resources behind it it

was an emotional idea it appealed to our

desire to reach the next frontier it

appealed to our desire to beat the

Soviet Union at the space race and it

was a story in miniature there was a

story about accepting a challenge taking

a journey and returning from so john f

kennedy's idea scores pretty much six

out of six on the success framework and

i don't want to argue that your idea has

to score six out of six but i do want to

suggest that your ideas are going to be

more successful if you have four of

these properties than if you have two of

these properties if you have two of

these properties that they have zero of

them so the process of making your

messages to your employees to your

customers to the people that you're

calling on in a sales call the process

of making your ideas sticky idea is a

process of building these ideas these

traits into your idea and so let's start

with the hardest one simplicity there's

a famous trial lawyer that's done

something unusual for all of us in the

business context he's collected data

about every message that he's ever put

out into the world so after every trial

he sends an associate to contact as many

jurors as possible and the research

associate interviews the juror and says

of all the arguments of all the facts

that were presented in the courtroom

which one influenced your decisions what

affected the jury's deliberations when

he went back to the jury room and what

this lawyer is found he says if I walk

into the courtroom and I have ten good

arguments even if every one of them

individually is a great blockbuster

argument by the time the jurors get back

to the jury room they don't remember

anything so he says something I think

this is really important he says if you

say ten things you say nothing now

that's a sobering message because we

have way more than ten things that we

want to say about the the current

economic climate and how we ought to all

be acting we have way more than ten

things that we want to say about our

brand and what makes us a great hotel

but simplicity is about a process of

prioritizing and simplicity is about

being as effective as you can be

and taking out the the second and the

third most important things and making

sure you don't say them until you say

the first most important thing now how

would you take a complex idea and get it

across fairly simply well here we can

take advice from Hollywood movie

producers because they have something

cut that called

high concept pitches and very often 100

million-dollar movies are pitched and

produced based on a very simple core

idea that captures the essence of a

movie now all of you have a lot of

experience with Hollywood so I'm going

to give you a little pop quiz here I'm

gonna give you a high concept pitch and

you're gonna tell me what movie is

associated with that high concept pitch

are you ready here it is

die hard on a bus speed pretty good

sorry and Keanu Reeves alright you're

doing the movie die hard on the bus

that's a fairly simple boiled down

condensed message but I want to suggest

that the test of a good simple idea is

can you make decisions based on that

idea can you take the right action so

here's a decision you might have to make

the finance person from the studio comes

to you and says we're in an economic

downturn we've got to make some cutbacks

I wanted to talk to you about this line

item for special effects that's a really

large line on can we cut down the

special effects budget for speed and you

say no we're doing die hard on the bus

okay what would die hard be without

explosions things blowing up right let's

talk catering catering we can talk about

here's the second decision that you

might want to make marketing person

comes to you and says we have to release

dates available for speed one is a

summer release date and the other is

this nice holiday season December

Christmas Hanukkah kind of release date

which do you choose

summer your marketing decision is made

for you right this is a summer movie you

want the kids to be out from school it's

not a warm family holiday season kind of

thing right final decision is an HR

decision because HR decisions are always

the toughest your HR person comes to you

in their head it's hanging down they say

I'm sorry I just got off the phone with

Bruce Willis's agent and Bruce is not

available to do the movie

and you commiserate first a few seconds

and then your HR person says but I think

I can get Keanu Reaves

and you say I hear some yeses they tend

to be higher pitched yeses than the the

nose in the crowd and and there we could

have an interesting discussion we could

have an interesting debate about whether

Keanu Reeves is the right leading man

for die hard on a bus and I think on the

positive side it can Teresa is a

good-looking guy I mean if he bucked up

a little bit then some weight lifting he

might be a good leading man but the

problem is every time he opens his mouth

he sounds like surfer dude California

which is not exactly the action-hero

thing and so and I think this is

actually how the discussion went for for

die-hard on the bus because what they'd

ended up doing is they ended up hiring

Keanu Reeves and riding out all of his

speaking lines so he could just look

good on screen and active and manly

right but he didn't have to talk during

the movie so that's the advantage of a

high concept pitch and that's the

advantage of the right kind of simple

ideas you can't always be in the room

when you're customers making the

decision when your employees are making

the decision but if you have the right

simple message they ought to be able to

make the decision for you they only give

you a couple of other examples of high

concept pitches just to show that this

is not just a Hollywood thing here's a

high concept pitch for a business

blockbuster by mail without late fees

Netflix right as a customer do you want

to be a part of that blockbuster I

always liked by mail sounds more

convenient and I hate the late fees and

in blockbuster that's a great idea for a

business final example and this is from

tourism this is the flag of Quebec City

in Canada and they've recently had a

little high concept pitch about why you

might want to visit Quebec City in

Canada and here it is we're like France

without the attitude

that's the advantage of a high concept

pitch your roll if you want to get your

ideas to stick is to find the core

essence find the simple message find

your high concept second principle of

sticky ideas is that they get our

attention they're unexpected unexpected

ideas surprises enough that it stops to

us in our tracks and makes us pay

attention to an unexpected idea you only

use 10% of your brain I can't think of

any reason that idea circulates and by

the way folklore is to trace that idea

as far back as a discussion of the 1924

World's Fair that's an idea that has

been circulating for over 80 years

without advertising dollars just because

it's surprising like wow I thought the

brain was more important than that well

if I could use 13 percent that would be

a 30 percent improvement all right so

there's an idea that circulates because

of surprise now how do you get your

ideas to be surprising well if there's a

simple recipe to get somebody's

attention to surprise somebody all you

have to do is to break a pattern let me

give you an example we all have patterns

in our mind for all kinds of things what

hotel stage ought to be like or we even

have patterns for what a diet should be

and so if I tell you a friend of mine is

on a diet what is my friend eating

lettuce salads and I mean here's here's

your picture of my friend's diet right

in that what's in your mind

and so it's lettuce salads carrots

unwashed maybe so that you get a few

nutrients in there and then I say no no

no my friends not on that diet my

friends on that diet you know that diet

Atkins diet there was a dr. Atkins there

is an ad conspan Lee Foundation but the

amazing thing about the agonist family

foundation is they never had to spend

money on advertising because word of

their diet circulated like an urban

legend and I guarantee you if you've

heard of the Atkins night the first time

you heard of it you heard you know it's

like cousin Bob lost 30 pounds eating

bunless bacon cheeseburgers in that

amazing it blows every concept that you

ever had it blows the pattern that you

use in your mind about a diet and that's

what made it an effective idea now let

me show you another domain and a lot of

you are in crowded markets but let me

show you a market that's even more

crowded

I don't know how many hotels there are

in your town but let me guarantee you

that there are many more places that

sell hamburgers in your town and so how

would you stand out in the hamburger

market well again let's try to break a

pattern and there's a place that the

first time I saw it I saw it on YouTube

from a Japanese film crew that had

visited this place in Tempe Arizona and

it's called the Heart Attack Grill now

if there's one pattern that comes to

your mind when you think about

hamburgers it's kind of all American

food but it's not necessarily nutritious

right and we're concerned more about

nutrition these days in our diets and

here is an organization that is

gleefully violating the pattern of you

know trying to become health more

health-conscious offering the you know

the grilled chicken sandwich isn't that

kind of stuff here's what you can order

if you go to the Heart Attack Grill a

triple bypass burger alright that's one

of the menu items that you might enjoy

let me show you a picture of the triple

bypass burger oh yeah

so that is one and a half pounds of meat

there is cheddar cheese on there for the

vegetarians in the crowd there are there

are tomatoes and onions right and in

real life this is what a true actually

this guy's got a quadruple bypass burger

I'm about to show you this is a picture

of a happy satisfied customer

now that's an unexpected story right you

can imagine if you go to the Heart

Attack Grill you're gonna talk about

that recently now I want to highlight

some things about this picture the first

is that is a ludicrous amount of food

I watched the the planet Earth Channel

and the Discovery Channel and I'm pretty

sure that that would last a Python for

about a month right second thing I wanna

highlight is the fries there's some very

special fries that you can get at the

Heart Attack Grill they're called

Flatliner fries they are fried in pure

pork lard and if you want the upgrade

option you can get your Flatliner fries

with brown gravy and chunks of

mozzarella cheese third thing I want to

highlight is that the waitresses are

dressed up as nurses to take care of you

in the Heart Attack Grill next question

is how do you get to your car after

you're thin

your triple bypass burger and the answer

is your waitress wheels you out in a

special wheelchair that they keep the

final thing and I say this to the end

I've actually covered up the label of

this drink this guy is drinking diet

coke which is the case of like why

bother but but luckily for brand

consistency reason this is the case of

bring your own beverage because the

Heart Attack Grill does not sell diet

beverages all right now isn't that a

remarkable story this is a this is a

hamburger place in Tempe Arizona that

gets international attention because

they have realized that there is a

pattern in the world that we have a

hamburger restaurants and they have

gleefully violated now how would that

apply to you how do you stand out in

your crowded market well I think you're

doing just in terms of your fundamental

brand essence you're doing a lot of

things right from the start all sweets I

mean isn't that a remarkable thing for

the same price I can have a sweet and

here's my favorite free breakfast my

family stays at Embassy Suites a lot we

spent a really wonderful vacation week

in Portland at your Embassy Suites there

and my daughter who's now six years old

every time we go to a hotel which

unfortunately you know is not always

Embassy Suites but sometimes we're

staying in a town where we can't have

one and she can't wait she bounced out

of bed in the morning says let's go down

to the breakfast buffet and we have to

break the news to her that that is not

common in every hotel right and so

that's remarkable what you what you are

doing at the core of your brand essence

is already unexpected enough that that's

serving you very well in your

marketplace but here are some things

that you may not have thought of and it

might not cost that much money but would

make you stand out as an experienced

business traveler let me tell you a

couple of hints that I have what if in

every Embassy Suites there was a garage

wall because one of the things that I

really miss about travelling is having

duct tape and wd-40 and needlenose

pliers because there's always something

squeaking on your wheels of your luggage

that you need to wd-40 and there's

always something that breaks that you

need duct tape for and there's always a

broken zipper or you're you know your

daughter's necklace comes apart you

really need those needlenose pliers

wouldn't it be nice if you just had that

as standard equipment and in Embassy

Suites when

that'd be a wonderful thing to talk

about I just walked in and got the

dougie d40 and fix it up and rolled out

right here's another one the kids treat

both my daughter's love going to the

dentist because they get Dora the

Explorer stickers right now I'm a dad

and I travel a lot and it's it's always

good having those reunions with the kids

when you come back home from a trip but

but I don't always have time to stop by

the store and bring a treat on at home

what if you just have the dentist treat

bowl and as a parent as a mom or a dad I

could reach in and grab something and

bring it back to give my kid a treat at

the end right I would be the best parent

ever if I had access to the dentist

treat bolt on every business trip you

can do that for your customers and it

wouldn't cost a lot of money but it

would be something that sets you apart

it's something that sets you apart at

the quality and the level of service

that you enjoy so here's the challenge

for you I don't care how you do it

but understand the pattern in your

industry and find a way to break that

pattern that's what's gonna make your

message stand down that's what's going

to be unexpected third principle sticky

ideas are concrete and what I mean there

is that they call up a picture in your

mind if there's a picture in your mind

it's concrete if it makes you hear

something if it makes you feel something

that ideas concrete is sensory is

tangible and urban legends have that

property that's why they circulate on

their own I still can't tell that kidney

theft urban legend without my body

wanting to start to shiver because that

bathtub full of ice right and when your

body's involved in it you know it's a

concrete idea but unfortunately most of

our ideas in business or anything other

than concrete we talk in abstractions

here's a business buzzword generator I

pulled off the internet and what you're

supposed to do is select a word from

each column to come up with your very

own business buzzword let's do it

together here topical one strategic

bottom one column to empowering topical

envision a strategic and powering vision

we need one of those for our

organization right let's do another one

reciprocal first column cost base second

column re-engineering column three

especially in a time of economic crisis

we need to do some of that reciprocal

cost base tree engineering

that's how we talk in business right and

that's a tragedy because there is not a

single image that came to your mind when

I put together those buzz words there is

not a single feeling that you had when I

put together those buzz words now what I

want to show you is that is that we're

not the only people that have this

problem in medicine if you've ever

talked to a doctor you know that they

have their own abstractions here's my

favorite from medicine idiopathic

cardiomyopathy cardiomyopathy means

there's something wrong with your heart

idiopathic means we have no idea why

yours isn't working right I could have

just said that right so every profession

every field has their own abstractions

and the problem with abstractions is

we're trying to get people to act

differently we're trying to get our

clients to act differently we're trying

to get our employees to act differently

and yet we're talking to them in this

abstract professional business kind of

jargon and we're not always connecting

let me show you the power of

concreteness to lead to action and I'm

going to tell you about a study that was

done at Stanford University and this

study pits a concrete message against a

serious targeting manipulation because

we talked about targeting law you talk

about targeting our customers we talk

about selecting the right employees that

are going to live up to the brand

promise of our hotels right and so what

they did in this situation is they're

targeting manipulation was they asked a

bunch of college students to nominate

the most kind and the least kind person

in their dorm now dorms have 60 to 150

people and so people are picking out the

single most generous most wonderful give

you the shirt off their back person out

of 60 to 150 college students because

they all know each other very well they

could parties together they study

together they eat together

the single most kind person and they

also had them pick out the single least

kind person the most preeminent

selfishly SPRO social future investment

banker person in the crowd right and so

we've got the most kind in the least

kind person and then we're gonna send

the most kind or the least kind person a

letter and there are two different forms

of the letter and it's about a food

drive we're bringing it raising canned

food for people that don't have enough

to eat and in one case and I'm calling

this the abstract letter but it's our

way more concrete than a lot of the

instructions that we give our employees

in our in our hotels but they say in the

abstract letter we're having a canned

food drive bring canned food for Monday

to Friday next week in the central plaza

of campus

it's a small plaza everybody knows where

it is but there's another letter and

people are randomly assigned to either

the the abstract letter or the concrete

letter and the concrete letter is just a

tad more concrete it says bring beans I

want you to think about your schedule

for next week think about the time where

you're going to be close to Tresidder

Plaza and pick a time that you're going

to be close by to bring your can of

beans so it was like three o'clock on

Wednesday when I get a calculus class

and I go get my mail that's what I'm

going to do it so I picked a time and

then finally they give a map of the

campus Plaza and they circle the

specific location of the food collection

booth it's right over by the post office

and so I've got a mental image of

exactly where it is in the campus Plaza

now the whole campus Plaza you could

walk around in two minutes it's not hard

to find but now I've got an image in my

mind of what's going on now what happens

is we're gonna go in and see how the

most kind in the least kind people

respond first to the abstract appeal and

here's the answer we're not doing too

well at raising food and people are

basically right about their fellow

students the most kind people eight

percent of them show up with a can of

food and zero percent of the least kind

but that's nothing to write home about

right and what's extraordinary already

is we've got a really strong targeting

manipulation these single most kind

these single least kind but it's not

seeming to drive that much change in

behavior now what happens with the

concrete letter response rates go up but

note that they go up for everyone and

here's the most remarkable thing I think

in the graph right 25 percent of the

least kind most selfish least pro-social

people in the dorm show up if you give

them a really concrete picture of what's

going on if you give them the map to the

event if you tell them to bring a can of

beans right and in fact you're three

times better off with the most selfish

person in the dorm then you are with the

budding young mother Teresa without a

map

now that's a remarkable thing because it

says that concreteness really matters

when it turns to giving getting people

to act and so I'm asking you what's the

map for your employees I really enjoy

going through some of the materials that

you guys have to give out to your

employees and the deal is I think an

incredibly well-written book but here's

here's a concern that came to my mind

because one of the things that you say

in the deal is act intuitively is that

concrete it sounds abstract it also

sounds hard to do right like X Ponte

knee asleep do something now right how

would I act how would I act intuitively

and here's the here's the paradox you

know what you mean as general managers

when you say act intuitively but you're

dealing with employees that don't have

the wealth of experience that you have

in the service business in the

hospitality business and so it's really

fundamentally important if you want to

change how people are acting to make

sure that that message is conveyed in

his concrete away as possible now let me

give you an example of what that might

look like

notice the smiles on the cover of this

pamphlet and that's one of the common

recurring themes and service businesses

is that you should smile at people I

mean it makes people feel good when you

smile with them now I think that's true

on average is a good piece of advice on

average but I have a suspicion that

smiles are not always the right

responses and maybe this is what you

mean by acting intuitively and so here's

an experiment that you can run with your

spouse sometime in the next few weeks

pick a day on which your spouse has had

an awful day the traffic has been bad

there are deadlines at work that there

behind the the kids that they were

trying to drop off we're fighting all

the way in and they walk in at the end

of the day and they are just beat I mean

it look like they've been beaten with a

stick up one side and down the other and

they walk in and they stare at you and I

want you here's the experiment I want

you to look at them and smile

and say welcome and I predict that they

may throw something at you in that

moment right so maybe what we mean when

we talk about acting intuitively is when

the traveller shows up and their flights

been delayed and they're here three

hours after the meeting that they should

have captured this afternoon and they've

got to get up very early in the morning

for the next meeting what that may mean

is acting intuitively is is empathizing

rather than smiling right now that's a

shocking unexpected statement for all of

us who are managing and service

businesses because we were our tendency

and I think it's right 90 percent of the

time is to tell our people to smile but

if you want to be really concrete about

acting intuitively maybe you want to

have a discussion with your people about

when are the situations when it's wrong

to smile and I think I just described an

experiment and you can run it for

yourself and verify where that may be

the wrong thing to do here's another one

be gracious

now that's an abstract statement but I

love down in the text below the next

step in that imagine that you're the

hostess of the party imagine that you're

the father of the bride imagine your mom

at Thanksgiving dinner now all of a

sudden images are coming into my mind

about what it means to be gracious and

so if you have a choice as a general

manager of talking to your people you're

gonna be tempted to lapse into code and

code is good as long as everybody

understands exactly what the code means

but instead of just saying be gracious

say think Mom at Thanksgiving party

think the host at the party right that's

the image that you have in mind and you

might want to even take it one step

further it's like you know here's an

even more concrete action steps like

saying to the customer at the front desk

why don't you go grab a drink at our

managers reception that's going on right

now

I'll bring your key over to you and now

all of a sudden the employee even the

most permanent limp LOI and luckily your

selection procedure is is good enough to

eliminate all those people in the dorms

at Stanford University the least kind

people you've taken care of that you

didn't hire them in the first place but

there's some range and service

tendencies among your employee and the

advantage of being concrete is that you

can take even the lowest person in your

old organization who's already pretty

good and by making their actions

concrete you can make sure that they

action in that critical situation your

role in order to change behavior is to

find the map sticky ideas are also

emotional and especially in a time of

economic downturn our tendency in

getting emotion is to is to talk about

the dangers that we all face and there's

a dumb phrase and the organizational

change literature that says that in

order to get employees to change you've

got to create a burning platform if you

want people to jump off of the platform

you set it on fire and then they'll jump

off into the you know the shark-infested

waters below right but you got to set

the platform on fire now there's a

problem with that is that people

negative emotions are good for

short-term problems if you've got a rock

in your shoe

it hurts and you'll take it out but in

order for the to be in it for the long

term and all of you are in it for the

long term your brand is in it for the

long term you've got to create something

different and the problem with negative

emotions and here's the classic negative

emotions from the public health domain

this is a smoker's long and there were a

lot of campaigns in public health in the

1950s where they would hold up a black

and long like that to smokers and say

this if you smoke a pack a day this is

what your lungs look like in ten years

and there are two things that you can do

if you're a smoker one is you can stop

smoking but that's really hard and the

other thing that you can do is to stop

watching my television commercials

alright and that's what happened is that

if you ramp up the negative emotions too

high you get people chugging down and

turning off so why not think some other

kinds of emotions why not think about

hope and how to create hope and your

messages let me give you an example of a

hopeful message this is a loyalty

program for a local car wash and some

researchers went in and revamped their

loyalty program and did an experiment

with it and so some people coming in for

their car wash got a card that was good

for a free car wash if you got eight

stamps on it and it was blank and all

you had to do is collect eight stamps in

your freek and on your card from car

washes and you'll earn the next car wash

the ninth car wash becomes free and

other people got a card that also had

spaces for eight stamps but it was

cleverly designed with ten spaces and

the first two

were filled in it's the same situation

you still gotta buy eight to get one

right but now all of a sudden there's a

sense of hope I'm making progress

already I already got two of my

Stansfield ed and now what's stunning in

the next three months nineteen percent

of the customers of this carwash managed

to get their eighth stamps in the eighth

step passbook and collect their night

stamp free but look at that market share

for the two stands filled in and you'll

almost double the number of loyal

customers that complete there are eight

car washes in three months by giving

them a head start I don't know if you

have loyalty programs here but you ought

to start stamping people's passbook

right making people feel like they're

already on their way that there's hope

in the future let me give you a study

that's remarkable

a study of hotel maids and some

researchers went in and they were

interested in health behaviors and diet

and exercise and they went into a group

of hotel maids and they asked them do

you exercise regularly and 67 percent of

maine's said I don't exercise regularly

and 33 percent said I never exercise at

all

now you all know what hotel maids do

during the day and if you fast-forward

through your film of a hotel maid's job

that is exercise and so getting 33% of

these folks to say I never exercise at

all and you can understand what they're

thinking because they're thinking

exercises where you dress in spandex and

so we got women in spandex and sweaty

men you know standing on treadmills and

going nowhere you know that's that's our

cultural picture of exercise right so

you understand what they mean but having

33% of maids say that I never get any

exercise is like having 33% of

late-night talk show hosts saying I

never get to meet anyone interesting

right it's like having rittany Speer say

I never get any attention on the

internet right it's just a ludicrous

statement and so what the researchers

did is they went in and they gave some

of the hotel maids to stamps on their

postcard

and so one group the Health Study says

some set hotels they went in and they

just followed them they worked as normal

they didn't say anything else they took

a bunch of measurements at the start and

they're gonna take some at the end but

another group that went in and they took

a bunch of measurements at the start and

they told them you know by the way your

work meets Center for Disease Control

guidelines for an active lifestyle

I mean changing bed linens is is forty

calories an hour scrubbing down tiles is

sixty calories an hour you know you have

an incredibly active lifestyle and now

what happens a month later the work is

normal group basically stays stable in

their weight but the other group loses

one point eight pounds now that's a

remarkable way to rate of weight loss

even really serious diets not the

starvation diets but really serious diet

so you lose about a pound a week so

they're half way on track to that just

by making a mental shift and thinking

about what they do on a daily basis as

exercise they got to stamps in their

postcard and if you want to be in the

same mental condition as maids then let

me tell you about a study that I just

read recently of exercise and we all

think the exercise you got to get

dressed up and you got to do it for

thirty minutes a time this group of

researchers had some people exercise for

30 minutes at a time three times a week

and they had other people exercise three

times a week but you take the 30 minutes

and you break it up into six five minute

chunks and at the end of a few months

the people that are exercising six times

a day for five minutes are doing just as

well cardiovascular everybody improves

but they're doing just as well as the

thirty minute of time people in that a

freeing thought I mean ever since I

heard about that study I enjoy my walk

in from the parking lot and in a

university I have to walk in really far

from the parking lot but now I'm doing

aerobic exercise I'm doing from my five

minutes a day this is one of my

five-minute increments and all I got to

do this five more and I'm an exerciser

you know washing dishes in the evening

becomes a competitive sport you know I'm

washing and I'm stacking in the

dishwasher and I'm washing if you think

about exercise as a series of activities

that's a different state and it makes

you feel more hopeful about the

possibility now you guys have messages

that you're trying to get across about

me

and engaging in caring and the advantage

that you have is you're already at the

top of the JD Powers rankings you're

already industry-leading and so whatever

you're trying to do there's an

incredibly helpful messages just do more

of what you're doing you've already got

six stamps on your ten stamp postcard

all right that's a hopeful message and

in a time of economic downturn that's a

really important message to get across

your role if you want people to change

is to strength that change make them

feel like they're already there make

them feel like they're already making

progress all right final principle is

that sticky ideas come in the form of

stories we're still telling Aesop's

fables twenty-five hundred years after

he's uplift the boy who cried wolf The

Tortoise and the hare

if ESOP had given Aesop's helpful hints

you know you remember that story about

the fox who couldn't reach the grapes

then therefore walks away and declares

them sour you know this word we get the

phrase sour grapes if he saw had given

Aesop's helpful hints don't be a bitter

jerk when you fail I'm not sure we'd

still be talking about ESOP 2500 years

later but he told stories and those

stories have lived on their cross

cultural boundaries they're told in

dozens of countries around the world now

if you look at serious professions that

have activity that they have to conduct

firefighters emergency room personnel

fighter pilots at the end of the day

what are they doing when they get

together for a drink after the exercise

what are they doing when they get

together in the locker room after a day

of the emergency room they're telling

stories to each other did you see that

patient did you hear about the patient

that I had and what's amazing about

listening to stories is stories operate

as little role plays for our brain we're

thinking as they tell us the story of

their patients like would I have made

the right call on that would I boarded

the right test would I have seen the

right cue that they saw and so here's

the thing that I learned about stories

is stories are not just entertainment

but in doing research from made to stick

what I learned is that stories are

serious ways of exercising our abilities

and here's a study it's a meta-analysis

as a study of studies in this study of

studies they studied 35 studies with

over 3,000 people with tasks ranging

from trombone playing to welding to

figures

dating and what they compared was one

group of people that were really

practicing the trombone are really

practicing figure skating are really

practicing welding and another group of

people that walked into a quiet room

folded their hands on their lap and

mentally practiced playing the trombone

or practiced welding and it may not

surprise you that mental practice is not

as good as real practice but here's the

remarkable thing mental practice is

two-thirds as good as real practice I

find that stunning well that's a study

of studies with over 3,000 subjects in

35 different kinds of tasks mental

practices two-thirds as good as a real

practice so the story in the emergency

room the story that the firefighter

tells their colleagues about the

situation the tricky situation they had

it's not as good as being there but it

may be 2/3 is good and so now think

about the stories that you tell and how

often infrequently you tell stories to

your employees about what good customer

service really looks like what being

gracious really looks like stories are

flight simulators for our brains and

don't think about the miss entertainment

don't think about them as icing on the

cake think about them as the action

tendency think about them as the flight

simulator that you're taking your

employees through Nordstrom is a great

organization is known for outstanding

customer service and the problem with

telling somebody that I stand for

outstanding customer service is that

deploys heard that all before when they

worked for Taco Bell in junior high

school in the summer they heard we as we

stand for ending customer service right

but they really didn't mean the same

kind of outstanding customer service and

so at Nordstrom they tell stories to

illustrate what outstanding really means

and they tell stories about they call

each other nor tease and so the tell

stories about the norty who Iron DES

shirt that a customer just bought

because the customer needed it for a

business meeting later on that day they

talk about a Nora tee who cheerfully

gift-wrapped a package that a customer

bought at Macy's they tell a story about

the Nora tee who on a cold day went out

and warmed up a customer's car so the

customer could finish shopping and those

are remarkable stories and here's my

favorite story the Nora tee who refunded

money for a set of tire chains that a

customer was dissatisfied by even though

Nordstrom's doesn't sell tire chains

now if you are a running Walmart this

would be a disastrous story to tell

right that's not the competitive

advantage of Walmart Walmart's all about

cheap but Nordstrom's is about

outstanding customer service and what's

remarkable about that story is it says

that even if the problem wasn't ours we

don't even sell tire chains

that's what outstanding customer service

means you refund their money and think

about the action tendency that's

associated with abstract phrases like

outstanding customer service is that

going to change anyone's action on the

margin is that going to make your

customer service representatives at the

front line respond differently probably

not now think about wrapping a package

for Macy's I can't get my packages

wrapped at most stores even when I buy

them they're much less buying a package

from a competitor warming up their car

that's remarkable we all I think that

customer service stops at the boundary

of our of our store of our retail

establishment customer service stops

when the person drives away from in the

car in the front of the hotel but at

Nordstrom service extends beyond that

refunding the money for the tire chains

even with five forms of identification

an original receipt it's difficult to

get an exchange at most stores but here

we're refunding money for a purchase

that the customer didn't even make with

us and we know it if you want your

employees to act differently the

challenge is to tell stories you want to

find your flight simulators alright

we've talked about six different

principles of making your messages stick

and none of these are hard to do and so

it's a little embarrassing you know I'm

standing here as a representative of

Stanford University talking about

research and the best I can come up with

is tell a story you know that seems like

a weak message but it turns out in doing

the research for this book that there's

a paradox in there that this isn't

rocket science it's not hard to do but

why don't we see more sticky ideas why

don't we see more brilliantly designed

ideas that just sear themselves into our

mind that change our actions on the

front line that change our customers

decision when they make it and the

answer is that there is a problem and

psychologists and behavioral economists

who've studied it call this problem the

curse of knowledge and what the research

says is that as we become more in

more expert in our domain one of the

things that happens is we it becomes

harder and harder for us to picture what

it's like not to have the expertise that

we have you all have years of experience

in the hospitality industry you have

years of experience at running a great

hotel right but as an expert it's gonna

become harder and harder for you to have

a conversation with somebody that

doesn't know what you know if you've

ever had a conversation with the IT

person about what's wrong with your

computer you've had that conversation

right you've been on the other side of

the curse of knowledge right that IT

person knows what is happening they have

the expertise to solve your problems but

they're talking in such an abstract

convoluted way that you're not quite

getting it if you've ever had a

conversation with a doctor or a lawyer

about anything you've been on the other

side of the curse of knowledge but let

me tell you it's not just fancy people

with fancy titles that have the curse of

knowledge pick an 11 year old boy and

ask him to describe his favorite video

game to you and you will be on the other

side of the curse of knowledge that 11

year old cannot fathom the depths of

your ignorance about that video game and

all of us all of us are like that 11

year old kid all of us are like the

doctor of the lawyer in our domain of

expertise and systematically that hurts

us in getting our messages across

because experts love complexity and

nuance experts are trying to say 10

things like the lawyer right experts

give instruction manuals in workshop

orientations that are saying the Dozen

things that are really important about

operating in our organization but what

everyone else needs is a simple message

a high concept pitch to help them make

the right decisions experts think in

abstract ways we use abstract language

idiopathic cardiomyopathy and when we're

talking to other experts that is really

useful it's short cuts discussions it

allows us to be really precise about our

meaning but the problem is when our

message has to cross a boundary we

better talk in a very concrete way so

when we're talking to the frontline

employee that doesn't have the years of

experience that we have let's talk about

you know giving the customer to go over

and have a drink at the reception and

bringing their card other than the

abstraction of being gracious talk to

them about playing your mom at

Thanksgiving dinner

instead of just saying be intuitive

right

and finally experts love requirements

experts love job descriptions expert

love long list but what everyone else

needs to see is that what service means

in our organization is this story let me

tell you a story and you notice how it

people's ears perk up and their interest

rivets when you start telling a story

that's your challenge as a general

manager so let's all admit that

communication is hard it is not natural

to make ideas stick it is not easy we

know it in our personal lives with our

spouses with our kids but even more

importantly in our business with the

dozens of people that you contact on a

daily basis making a message stick is

not easy but you can beat the curse of

knowledge and there's a very simple

recipe for that that's to think about

the principles of success I I think the

John F Kennedy story is a little bit

misleading and I love it so much because

I grew up with the space program and

that was such a meaningful mental

picture of that idea of putting the man

on the moon but you could easily be

misled in that story by thinking well

John F Kennedy he got his messages

across he was a good-looking guy he was

present in the United States he dressed

well he looked good his family looked

good right and if it takes John F

Kennedy level charisma to get an idea

across and then most of us are sunk

because we were not there yet but what I

know about that idea is that that was a

sticky idea because I never heard John F

Kennedy talk about it I heard my dad

talking to the accountant who lived down

the street about putting a man on the

moon and as a kid growing up I was

riveted by that story and I love my dad

and I like the accountant down the

street but neither one of them could

have been accused of being charismatic

individuals so charisma personal

charisma is not the requirement what is

the requirement is to make your ideas

sticky use the principles of success use

the notion of simplicity and

concreteness and credibility and telling

a story and you're going to take your

good ideas your worry ideas your

important ideas and you're gonna make

them charismatic ideas good luck going

back to your homes

going back to your workplaces and make

your ideas stick with others thank you