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Book road · 12 Stations · 12 days · Career & Business › Communication

Made to Stick: Make Your Ideas Survive One Hearing

Someone whose ideas survive a single hearing: you find the core, say it concretely, and check what people actually repeat back instead of trusting the nods.

This won't make a weak idea strong, and it won't teach you rhetorical tricks. It puts Chip and Dan Heath's Made to Stick to work on one real message: an update, a pitch, a policy. Every Station changes something you will actually say or send. The test is plain: what do people repeat back the next day? You'll learn to ask, and to listen to the answer.

Finding the core of a messageExplaining with concrete examples and analogiesOpening with surprise and curiosityMaking claims credibleMaking people care through stories and self-interestTesting a message for stickiness
Play Station 1 — free, ~5 min, no sign-up →

The road, station by station

0 of 12

  1. 01The curse of knowledge

    ~4 min

    from Made to Stick

    Today’s Station — start →

  2. 02Write the one sentence that survives the plan

    locked

    from Made to Stick

  3. 03Borrow a schema: explain it with what they already know

    locked

    from Made to Stick

  4. Milestone

    Your Commander's Intent, tested on a colleague

    Write a one-sentence Commander's Intent for a real project. Say it once to a colleague, with no slides and no follow-up. Then ask them to tell you the core and what they would do first without you. If they can't, the sentence needs more work. That says nothing about the colleague.

  5. 04Break the Pattern Your Audience Expects

    locked

    from Made to Stick

  6. 05Open with a gap they want closed

    locked

    from Made to Stick

  7. 06Give them something they can picture

    locked

    from Made to Stick

  8. 07Give readers proof they can check

    locked

    from Made to Stick

  9. 08Find the One Case That Ends the Argument

    locked

    from Made to Stick

  10. Milestone

    A real message, rebuilt and sent

    Take a real email, pitch or briefing and rewrite it so it does three things. It opens with a surprise you can explain afterwards. It carries one concrete image. It rests on a single Sinatra-test proof instead of a pile of weaker evidence. Then send it or present it for real.

  11. 09One person first, then the numbers

    locked

    from Made to Stick

  12. 10What's in it for them: rewrite around the listener's gain

    locked

    from Made to Stick

  13. 11Find the story you already have, then give it a plot

    locked

    from Made to Stick

  14. 12Run the Checklist, Then Listen for the Echo

    locked

    from Made to Stick

  15. Milestone

    The next-day check

    Deliver a message you have run through the full SUCCESs checklist to a real audience. A day later, ask two or three listeners what they remember, in their own words. Compare their answers with the core you intended. Whatever gap you find is the starting point for your next revision.

Start Station 1 — free →