Getting Your Ideas to Stick
How To Gain and Sustain Attention in Order to Persuade
Is it odd that Syncopate Advisors, a firm committed to creative communication, recommends using a checklist when communicating a message? Actually, no. In a world where everyone seems to be clamoring for our attention, it's essential to gain and sustain interest in order to persuade others to our point of view? This is true for sales opportunities, job interviews, teaching, giving a speech, or influencing even mundane aspects of daily life.
In their bestselling book, Made To Stick, authors Chip and Dan Heath identify the six key traits of persuasion. They are:
1. Simplicity
2. Unexpectedness 3. Concreteness
4. Credibility
5. Emotions
6. Stories
Simply put, the more a message includes the above traits, the more likely that message is to be heard and remembered – and the more likely it will change the thinking and behaviors of others.
Consider "Simplicity" and the benefit of finding and effectively communicating a simple or core idea. It requires strict focus and becoming "masters of exclusion" of all but the idea's essence. Think proverbs – compact, profound, and memorable, like The Golden Rule – rather than merely short and (often) empty sound bites. Even points made that support the core idea can ultimately detract from it. Or to paraphrase Peggy Noonan, a former Reagan speechwriter, and longtime author and columnist: "If you say too many things, you don't say anything."
What is the core idea behind the "stickiness" principles of Made To Stick when communicating, regardless of audience or topic? Apply the first trait (find the core idea) and use the other 5 traits to deliver it in the most compelling way.
As an adjunct professor of Business Law in 1997, I attended the weeklong MIND Symposium at Harvard's Graduate School of Education. The program was led by Harvard psychologist, Howard Gardner, famous for developing what he termed "multiple intelligence theory." In a packed room, I asked Dr. Gardner about the effectiveness of trying to cover a wide range of material in a given college course. He agreed that students learn more when the professor stays focused on the essential theme (i.e., the core idea) underlying the course, even if it means not covering all of the assigned chapters in the texbook. He then added:
If you had one hour to teach your course, ask yourself what you would teach in that one hour. Then, teach the entire semester on that one hour.
Perhaps an exaggeration to make a point, but nonetheless simple, profound, and memorable ... and delivered in a compelling way.