Made to Stick Follow-Up: The Stickiness Aptitude Test

I stumbled across the Stickiness Aptitude Test this morning while doing some follow-up research on the Heath brother's book Made to Stick. It was developed by Guy Kawaski and the folks at Electric Pulp. It's a little hokey but follow through to some of the 'unexpected' questions and I guarantee you'll take a moment to think about how you present your own ideas.

Example:

Hollywood script-writers and great science teachers keep us on the edge of our seats by identifying mysteries or gaps in our knowledge (Who murdered the rock star? What are the rings of Saturn made of?). In your last presentation you: # Used knowledge gaps to keep people wanting to hear your next point (+ 2 points) # Told people your next point and hoped they wanted to hear it (- 2 points)

Guy Kawaski interviewed the brothers early this year. Back in January he predicted that the book would join The Tipping Point and Built to Last as a must-read business book. Too soon to tell if his prediction will carry through but I can tell you that Dan Heath made a big impression on BIF-3 participants last week. (Great blog entries by Josh Catone and Lois Kelly summing up Dan's story.)

Although I'm sincerely done with the whole box analogy - inside, outside, wherever - Heath makes a strong case for why great ideas fail to take hold - namely, you've got to find the right words to communicate your story. My mother-in-law has become my B.S. filter. If I can't explain something to her in two sentences that makes her go "a-ha, I get it" then I'm not doing my job. Which is a perfect segue to something the Heath brothers talk about in their book about the Curse of Knowledge. From Guy's interview:

"And that brings us to the villain of our book: The Curse of Knowledge. Lots of research in economics and psychology shows that when we know something, it becomes hard for us to imagine not knowing it. As a result, we become lousy communicators. Think of a lawyer who can’t give you a straight, comprehensible answer to a legal question. His vast knowledge and experience renders him unable to fathom how little you know. So when he talks to you, he talks in abstractions that you can’t follow. And we’re all like the lawyer in our own domain of expertise. Here’s the great cruelty of the Curse of Knowledge: The better we get at generating great ideas—new insights and novel solutions—in our field of expertise, the more unnatural it becomes for us to communicate those ideas clearly. That’s why knowledge is a curse. But notice we said “unnatural,” not “impossible.” Experts just need to devote a little time to applying the basic principles of stickiness."

Dan Heath suggested companies hone their communication skills by boiling down their idea into the proverbial Hollywood pitch:

Jaws on a Spaceship = Alien
Die Hard on a bus = Speed
Blockbuster by mail = Netflix
Rolling Stone + Harvard Business Review = Fast Company*

The Fast Company example is really interesting because its co-founder Bill Taylor mentioned at BIF-3 that when he was launching the publication, no one involved wanted to use this analogy but consumers immediately responded to the idea. Big concepts can be found in a few words when they're well crafted and robust.

You may not want to have your stellar idea reduced to a 5-word pitch but psychologically speaking, context and relatability are key. So what is the Business Innovation Factory? We offer a real world experimentation lab for companies who want to explore and test better ways to deliver value. So how about this: R&D on Real People = Business Innovation Factory. Time to rally BIF community - am I making sense?

Posted October 18, 2007 10:39 AM by Chris Flanagan | Permalink