j A o J e N n A

Caro's Adventures in Moldova!

Friday, May 18, 2007

making it stick

Chip Heath spoke yesterday at the Stanford d.school's CIA-KGB class. Amazing how simple ideas heard together or heard in a new framework all of a sudden can become profound. It is easy for some to question books / concepts like Made to Stick or Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point and wonder if they can really take these principles and create a tipping point or a sticky idea ... it seems easier to formulate hypothesis via ex post analysis -- particularly given circumstantial noise and deviation; however, I really think Prof Heath is onto something with his book.

He introduced three of his six key principles for "sticky ideas" to our class:
- Simple
- Concrete
- Stories

As we think about ReelImpact, clearly the challenge is how to communicate to a passive or even uninterested audience that business is creating good -- to pull them in through the story -- the human interest of the lives being changed and dire circumstances being mitigated. To do this in a concise, disciplined, sticky way will certainly be challenging. But I really like the mental model that Made to Stick lays out and hopefully it will help point us in the right direction.

I particularly like "simple" ... all good ideas should immediately resonate -- often with an existing emotional connection. For instance, despite our name "ReelImpact: Capturing the Power of Business to Create Social Value", what has resonated most with people is when we say, "we're doing the Inconvenient Truth for Social Business". Immediately they get it ... media, documentary, changing perceptions / raising awareness, connecting to emotional concerns.

Yet ultimately the success of our message will be in the power of the story we can tell. Us telling a story and us enabling others to tell their story. The amazing thing is how many stories are out there -- how many people have something to say and are not sure how to say it.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

JB,

I am fascinated by what you're doing and anxious to see it develop.

so, did you like Made to Stick or not?

A couple of items I feel might add some traction:

by another of Stanford's former professors, Jim Collins:

Good to Great and the Social Sectors; why business thinking is not the answer. its a 38 page monograph written to accompany G to G.

another stimulating paper was delivered by Dr James Hunter of University of Virginia, "To change the world." The first time through, it comes across as largely philosophical; however I am finding, especially with his overlapping of different forms of capital---cultural capital overlapping with economic capital and/or political capital--that this is part of the practical reality we are attempting to do with our overlapping strategy and partnerships. He does narrow the elite position tightly, and I feel that there are influential people in every strata of society, even among those you are seeing to benefit the most.
When I read Ho, about Ho Chi Minh, it gave me a better understanding of why people will give their lives, to what seems to many as a worhtless system of life, almost without question. it was the influence of Ho and his enormous cultural capital with the potential for economic capital and political capital.

You can find it online or if you wish to read, i can send to you.