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Entries in made to stick (1)

Tuesday
Aug202013

Take a big bite of simplicity 

I took a BIG bite out of the Big Apple over the past two weeks in New York City at the International Forum of Visual Practitioners conference. 

One of the session leaders, Michelle Boos-Stone, referred to Dan and Chip Heath's great book 'Made to Stick : Why some ideas survive and others die' (also called 'Why some ideas take hold and others come unstuck'.)

Right up there, the number one thing that helps ideas stick is that they're  s-i-m-p-l-e. 

Dan and Chip Heath say:

"It's hard to make ideas stick in a noisy, unpredictable, chaotic environment. If we're to succeed, the first step is this: Be simple. Not simple in terms of "dumbing down" or "sound bites". You don't have to speak in monosyllables to be simple. What we mean by "simple" is finding the core of the idea. "Finding the core" means stripping an idea down to its most critical essence."

 

You might think you know that and do that. But I think we can all do it better. I was providing visual strategy support to a team conference recently where the leader was striving to get people onboard to new ways of working, three new priorities, some new processes, changes in organisational values and .... so much other 'stuff'. How could the team find their way through all of it to implement and lead on it? 

It would have been refreshing, more impactful and courageous for that leader to find the core in all of that noise. What was it that was truly the priority? Forcing prioritisation is powerful. "Message triage" is what Dan & Chip call it, from one of their case studies and stories in their book.

Look at something you're now trying to make stick. Find the core, strip it down, what's the real priority? What do you really need people to get a hold of? Communicate that bit.