6 Principles of Sticky Ideas
- Simplicity: Isolate your core message and convey it succinctly.
- Unexpectedness: Surprise and intrigue with leaps of thought.
- Concreteness: Make it real and recognizable.
- Credibility: Use details that symbolize and support your core idea.
- Emotions: Evoke feelings about what matters.
- Stories: Connect the dots with proverb-like arcs.
How many times have you read a company's mission statement only to recognize the gobbledy-gook of corporate-speak slathered over a good idea that is meant to inspire people?
In many companies, I have been struck by what I saw on their walls. I saw offers to taste products in development, literature about the company's focus on diversity in the work force, pictures of global leaders meant to inspire and slogans meant to lead.
I wondered about how sincere these messages came across. They were placed in all good intention. But when you are having reductions in head count, watching products stuck in the middle of a market share battle that rivaled the World War One Battle of the Somme for casualties and futility and fielding more calls on the Employee Assistance Social Work Program than the switchboard can handle, you have to wonder about the best way of escaping the entropy of the maelstrom.
Great thoughts come easy.
Great expressions are tougher.
Implementation can be tougher still.
Taking those thoughts and making them sticky can go a look way to nailing the task to your wall of accomplishment.
