Made to Stick

2007, 304 pages, $24.97. Random House, New York.

Writers set a rigorous challenge for themselves when they write books about how to communicate well. The book itself must be a sound example of good communication, or the reader will discount it from page one. In the same vein, writing a book about how to effectively communicate ideas and make them stick sets the bar even higher: the book must be both well written and memorable. Made to Stick easily passes both of these tests.

2007, 304 pages, $24.97. Random House, New York.

Writers set a rigorous challenge for themselves when they write books about how to communicate well. The book itself must be asound example of good communication, or the reader will discount it from page one. In the same vein, writing a book about how to effectively communicate ideas and make them stick sets the bar even higher: the book must be both well written and memorable. Made to Stick easily passes both of these tests.

Written by brothers Dan Heath and Chip Heath, this book will be of interest to grantmakers who are looking for ways to help their grantees increase their sphere of influence, and to those who have an important research finding or study result and need to share the news as widely as possible. Inspired by Malcolm Gladwell's book, The Tipping Point, the authors use their experiences as an edu-cational publisher (Dan) and a professor at Stanford (Chip) to take the reader through some key principles of good communication and some exercises to improve the "stickiness" of ideas.

The book tackles the subject with both wit and clarity, making complex ideas about communication highly accessible. Looking at how ideas can make the leap from small groups to larger groups, the brothers Heath have developed six principles for improving the communication of messages and ideas:

Simplicity
Unexpectedness
Concreteness
Emotions
Stories

In detail and with some very carefully crafted exercises, the authors help readers analyze the content and characteristics of ideas, and find systematic ways to creatively design strategies for making ideas have the greatest impact. This is not a PR spin book; underly-ing the light-touch approach is a serious amount of academic thinking and experience, such as an understanding of schemas (maps or structures of knowledge stored in the long-term memory that help us interpret the world) and an explanation of the "Curse of Knowledge" (once we know something, it is hard to imagine what it is like not to know it.).

Made To Stick is also an entertaining general management book, sharing some intriguing academic work on how people sort infor-mation and make decisions. For example, the authors describe James March's work at Stanford in which he develops two models for decision making: one, decisions made based on a calculation of consequences (what's in it for me?) and, two, decisions made by matching choices with our identity (what do people like me choose?). Understanding larger cognitive patterns like these makes management and leadership more effective and rewarding in any business.

There are two particular messages in the book that will be of interest to funders. The first is that we often create a false choice between accuracy and accessibility when considering communication approaches. Messages should be both, but it takes work and intelligence to make them so. The second is that inclusiveness is an important value for the work we do, and the enemy of clear writing about that same work. We need to prioritize the messages we want people to understand and remember about our granting programs and about the lessons learned through our grantees' work.

Made To Stick demonstrates its core premise: told the right way, a story has great value and a long life.

Russell Willis Taylor is president and CEO of National Arts Strategies, which provides executive education for arts leaders and funders.