Made to stick
From earlier notes:
Success for stickiness: (1) Simplicity (proverbs, exclude all possible) (2) Unexpectedness (open gaps in knowledge) (3) Concreteness (imagery, specifics) (4) Credible (5) Emotional appeal (people not abstractions) (6) Stories. The villain — the curse of knowledge.
Simple
- Commanders intent. Single objective that’s the north star to align everyone’s focus. Can’t have multiple. Must exclude all but most critical
- About getting to the core, not dumbing down. Southwest as “the low fair airline”
- Don’t bury the lede
- Share the core relentlessly and concretely. “Names, names and names” as priority for local paper
- Compact expression goes a long way. Proverbs and analogies/metaphors.
Unexpectedness
- Best way to get attention is to break a pattern
- Stories that break precious schema and common sense
- Eg Nordstrom stories of wrapping Macy’s items or refunding snow chains is so unusual it redefines what good customer service is
- Create gaps in knowledge (similar to click bait headlines) that ppl want to fill
- Set up mysteries to hold interest
Concreteness - able to visualize and make sense to a novice for whom abstractions make no sense