Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

by Chip Heath

The most basic way to make people care is to form an association between something they don’t yet care about and something they do care about.

Some readers have said that at first they didn’t see any difference between the two appeals. The difference is subtle. But go back and count up the number of times the word “you” appears in each appeal.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow’s list of needs was incredibly insightful, but he was wrong

Subsequent research suggests that the hierarchical aspect of Maslow’s theory is bogus—people pursue all of these needs pretty much simultaneously. There’s no question that most starving men would rather eat than transcend, but there’s an awful lot of overlap in the middle.

We all like to get bonuses and to have job security and to feel like we fit in. But to focus on these needs exclusively robs us of the chance to tap more profound motivations.

For an idea to stick, for it to be useful and lasting, it’s got to make the audience: 1. Pay attention 2. Understand and remember it 3. Agree/Believe 4. Care 5. Be able to act on it

The Curse of Knowledge

The SUCCESs checklist, then, is an ideal tool for dealing with communication problems.