According to Chip and Dan, getting an idea across has two stages: the Answer stage and the Telling Others stage. In the Answer stage, you leverage your experience and expertise to arrive at the idea you want to communicate.
When you want to share your message in the Telling stage, your expertise gets in the way and you tend to communicate as if your audience were you.
It’s important for us to take the ideas and transform them using the following 6 principles.
SUCCES
Simple … Unexpected … Concrete … Credentialed … Emotional … Story
Principle 1. SimplicityKeep it simple and profound.
Chip and Dan write:
“We must relentlessly prioritize. Saying something short is not the mission — sound bites are not the ideal. Proverbs are the ideal. We must create ideas that are both simple and profound.
The Golden Rule is the ultimate model of simplicity: a one-sentence statement so profound that the individual could spend a lifetime learning to follow it.”
Some things to remember:
Principle 2. UnexpectednessSurprise your audience.
Chip and Dan write:
“We need to violate people’s expectations. We need to be counterintuitive. … But the surprise doesn’t last. For our idea to endure, we must generate interest and curiosity.
… We can engage people’s curiosity over a long period of time by systematically “opening gaps” in their knowledge — and then filling those gaps.”
Some things to remember:
Principle 3. ConcretenessUse concrete images.
Chip and Dan write:
“How do we make our ideas clear? We must explain our ideas in terms of human actions, in terms of sensory informational.
… In proverbs, abstract truths are often encoded in concrete language: “A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.”
Speaking concretely is the only way to ensure that our idea will mean the same thing to everyone in our audience.”
Some things to remember:
Principle 4. Credibility help people test your ideas for themselves.
Chip and Dan write:
“How do we make people believe our ideas? … Sticky ideas have to carry their own credentials. We need ways to help people test our ideas for themselves — a “try before you buy” philosophy for the world of ideas.”
Some things to remember:
Principle 5. EmotionsTap into emotions to convey your point. We’re wired to feel things for people, not abstractions.
Chip and Dan write:
“How do we get people to care about our ideas? We make them feel something. In the case of movie popcorn, we make them feel disgusted by its unhealthiness.
The statistics “37 grams” doesn’t elicit any emotions. Research shows that people are more likely to make a charitable gift to a single needy individual than to an entire impoverished region.
We are wired to feel things for people, not for abstractions.”
Some things to remember:
Principle 6. Stories Tell stories to get people to act on your ideas.
Chip and Dan write:
“How do we get people to act on our ideas? We tell stories. … Research shows that mentally rehearsing a situation helps us perform better when we encounter that situation in the physical environment.
Similarly, hearing stories acts as a kind of mental flight simulator, preparing us to respond more quickly and effectively.”
Some things to remember:
According to Chip and Dan, getting an idea across has two stages: the Answer stage and the Telling Others stage. In the Answer stage, you leverage your experience and expertise to arrive at the idea you want to communicate.
When you want to share your message in the Telling stage, your expertise gets in the way and you tend to communicate as if your audience were you.
It’s important for us to take the ideas and transform them using the following 6 principles.
SUCCES
Simple … Unexpected … Concrete … Credentialed … Emotional … Story
Principle 1. SimplicityKeep it simple and profound.
Chip and Dan write:
“We must relentlessly prioritize. Saying something short is not the mission — sound bites are not the ideal. Proverbs are the ideal. We must create ideas that are both simple and profound.
The Golden Rule is the ultimate model of simplicity: a one-sentence statement so profound that the individual could spend a lifetime learning to follow it.”
Some things to remember:
Principle 2. UnexpectednessSurprise your audience.
Chip and Dan write:
“We need to violate people’s expectations. We need to be counterintuitive. … But the surprise doesn’t last. For our idea to endure, we must generate interest and curiosity.
… We can engage people’s curiosity over a long period of time by systematically “opening gaps” in their knowledge — and then filling those gaps.”
Some things to remember:
Principle 3. ConcretenessUse concrete images.
Chip and Dan write:
“How do we make our ideas clear? We must explain our ideas in terms of human actions, in terms of sensory informational.
… In proverbs, abstract truths are often encoded in concrete language: “A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.”
Speaking concretely is the only way to ensure that our idea will mean the same thing to everyone in our audience.”
Some things to remember:
Principle 4. Credibility help people test your ideas for themselves.
Chip and Dan write:
“How do we make people believe our ideas? … Sticky ideas have to carry their own credentials. We need ways to help people test our ideas for themselves — a “try before you buy” philosophy for the world of ideas.”
Some things to remember:
Principle 5. EmotionsTap into emotions to convey your point. We’re wired to feel things for people, not abstractions.
Chip and Dan write:
“How do we get people to care about our ideas? We make them feel something. In the case of movie popcorn, we make them feel disgusted by its unhealthiness.
The statistics “37 grams” doesn’t elicit any emotions. Research shows that people are more likely to make a charitable gift to a single needy individual than to an entire impoverished region.
We are wired to feel things for people, not for abstractions.”
Some things to remember:
Principle 6. Stories Tell stories to get people to act on your ideas.
Chip and Dan write:
“How do we get people to act on our ideas? We tell stories. … Research shows that mentally rehearsing a situation helps us perform better when we encounter that situation in the physical environment.
Similarly, hearing stories acts as a kind of mental flight simulator, preparing us to respond more quickly and effectively.”