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Guest Thinkers — February 22, 2011

Six tips to make ideas succeed

Dominic Basulto

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nIn their new bookMade to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, the Heath brothers — Chip Heath, anprofessor of organizational behavior at Stanford and Dan Heath, a consultant at DukenCorporate Education — isolate and elaborate on six principles for helpingnideas succeed. In other words, what makes an idea “sticky”?

Principle 1: Simplicity. How do we find the essential core of our ideas?

Principle 2:nUnexpectedness. How do we get our audience to pay attention to ournideas, and how do we maintain their interest when we need time to getnthe ideas across?

Principle 3: Concreteness. How do we make our ideas clear?

Principle 4: Credibility. How do we make people believe our ideas?

Principle 5: Emotions. How do we get people to care about our ideas?

Principle 6: Stories. How do we get people to act on our ideas?

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