Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath

"First I dream my painting, then I paint my dream."~Vincent Van Gogh

"Truth often suffers more by the heat of its defenders than from the arguments of its opposers."~William Penn

"We have to believe in free will. We've got no other choice."~Isaac Bashevis Singer

Our (postponed) August meeting focuses on the interesting question of "what makes ideas stick?" Vickie Echols acts as tour guide to some of the research, theories, and practices of those who are pioneers in the psychology that surrounds that question.

In "Made To Stick," authors Heath and Heath have amassed an impressive array of stories, examples and exercises for enhancing the ability to create and/or discover ideas that at their core are hard to forget. Ideas that, because of the way in which they are presented are, for lack of a better word, "Sticky."

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What is your favorite urban legend?” Why do you think it was sticky?

2. The next three questions are exercises that use one of the author’s principles of SUCCESs. After sharing ideas - we will talk about how the principle applies.

2a. Think about our typical schemas of familiar events, and then figure out how to subvert it. Example: A picnic. Our schema includes: Fried chicken, wine & cheese, crackers, potato salad, picnic baskets, sitting on a red-and-white-checkered picnic blanket, fear of ants, fear of rain, etc. Ideas for violating our picnic schema: A picnic where you eat ants. A picnic in the rain. An indoor picnic. A picnic where you sit inside a giant basket. Etc. Suggestions: doctor’s waiting room, a trial in court, grocery shopping, book club.   Choose a typical schema - then describe ideas for violating it.

2b. You have been visited by a space alien who is from a race of people who can’t understand abstractions. They can only understand things they can observe directly (whether in person or via video). What concrete images would you could show them to help explain to the alien what is meant by one of the following terms: Democracy, Silly, or Honor. Either show, describe or act out your image of one term.

2c. Come to group with a story that someone has told you—a friend, a parent. Does it act as a flight simulator? If so, what actions does it help you, or other people take?

3. Is this book sticky? What do you take away from the book? What will you do differently knowing what you know now?

4. The authors give nod to, The Tipping Point, citing its middle section, called “The Stickiness Factor,” as the source of that perfect word they were looking for to describe the attribute they were researching. They state, Made to Stick complements Gladwell’s book in the sense that it identifies “the traits that make ideas sticky, a subject that was beyond the scope of Gladwell’s book.” If you have read the The Tipping Point, or (June’s selection) Malcolmb Galdwell’s, The Outliers, how would you compare it with Made to Stick?