Don't Take It To the Dance Unless You Dress It Up

For thousands of years, we have used the power of stories to give our children instructions on morality. So painless is this process that children of a certain age practically beg for us to read them these stories at bedtime. Tellingly, children who are a bit brass beg us to stop lecturing them when they've done something wrong. What is it that makes the story so much more palatable than the lecture?

To a bright-eyed five-year-old, the story of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf," is far more effective at teaching the personal and public value of telling the truth than an actual ethical treatise on the virtues of honesty. The story is entertainment. The lecture is education, and education is boring to a five-year old.

As it turns out, there is a scientific explanation for why stories are so much more effective.

Stories
As Chip and Dan Heath explain in Made to Stick, the power that stories have over us is not a phenomenon limited to children. Moral lectures and attributes that need to be memorized by rote tend to fall on deaf ears. By contrast, stories can both tell us how to act and motivate us to take the correct action -- without the lecture.

Relevant stories tend to stick with us because in hearing one, we mentally put ourselves in the position of the protagonist. Stories give us "mental practice" in dealing with similar scenarios. They are, in essence, virtual simulations.

Remarkably, studies cited in Made to Stick showed that "mental practice alone produced about two thirds of the benefits of actual physical practice." This revelation is of great benefit to accordion players who have irritable roommates. With power like that, world peace can't be far behind.

A Word of Caution
I was very pleased for the opportunity to read and review Chip and Dan Heath's excellent book. I can honestly say that it has changed the way I look at communication and education, which is high praise coming from a natural skeptic. I am now a believer in the potential effectiveness of the tools, which is why everyone -- marketers and nonmarketers alike -- needs to read this book.

Since there is no guarantee the tools described here will be used for the benefit of objectively good things, it's important to recognize when a friend, marketer, teacher, scientist, or politician is using them. That way, you will at least be a little skeptical the next time someone tries to yank your chain.

If you're looking to promote something good or beneficial, you would serve your cause well to use the SUCCESs checklist taught in Made to Stick.

1. Simplicity
2. Unexpectedness
3. Concreteness
4. Credibility
5. Emotional
6. Stories

If you intend to promote or advance something bad, please skip this book and just pick up Aesop's Fables. That guy rocks. - Cam Beck

Comments

[Ramanathan]

Hi Joe,

Your review kindled my interest and am thinking of buying it, though it is not available in India yet.

Small correction:

Please correct the URLs links to items 3.Concreteness and 4.Credibility.

Both are pointing to the same URL.

/Ram

[CK]

FYI: Cam...I don't have the above commenter's email but you might let him know that an eBook is immediately available. Just go to: www.ebooks.com and type in the title!