Authors:
Chip Heath – Stanford Graduate School of Business professor, specializing in organizational behavior.
Dan Heath – Duke University researcher and senior fellow at CASE, focused on social enterprise.The Heath brothers have co-authored multiple bestsellers blending psychology and practical strategies.
Key Insights:
This communication playbook decodes why certain ideas thrive using the SUCCESs framework:
Six Principles of Stickiness (SUCCESs):
Simple: Core message = "Commander’s Intent" (e.g., Southwest’s "THE low-fare airline")
Unexpected: Break patterns (Subway’s "Jared lost 245lbs eating subs")
Concrete: Avoid abstractions ("A man robbed a bank" vs. "crime rates rose 5%")
Credible: Use "anti-authorities" (a smoker warning about lung cancer)
Emotional: Appeal to identity ("Don’t mess with Texas" reduced littering by 72%)
Stories: Mental flight simulators (NASA’s "Apollo 13" problem-solving)
The Curse of Knowledge:
Experts forget how laypeople think → Simplify like a kindergartener
Brain Science: