If you read Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point you’ll remember a concept he called ’stickiness,’ the quality of an idea or phenomenom to ’stick’ and become widespread in a culture or marketplace. Chip and Dan Heath have taken that concept and run with it in their book Made to Stick:Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. For those who need to get a point across and have it make a lasting impression they offer up valuable insight for developing effective skills.

I think it’s obvious that ’stickiness’ skills aren’t just useful in the workplace or church or academia but they are invaluable for parents. How do you make your kiddo listen and hear and remember and act on what you say? Especially, the important stuff. And in homeschooling.

The Heath brothers use an acronym, SUCCESs, to describe the traits common to the ’sticky’ ideas they have studied.

Simple
Unexpected
Concrete
Credible
Emotional
Stories

One of the concepts my husband and I have discussed extensively is the Curse of Knowledge. It’s a huge obstacle to effective communication. Different types of knowledge on a given subject affect the perspective of the the communicator and the listener. Businesspundit.com summarizes the Curse very well. It’s changing the way I think when I teach or speak in front of people.
Simply put, get the book; it’s a great read and should be available at your local library if you don’t want to purchase it. Can’t go wrong with a book that has duct tape on its cover.

Want to know more? The Heaths have a blog. Here are some reviews that go into greater detail, U.S. News & World Report and Time.

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