Change Agents: Are You Sticky?

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Even the major roadblock to crafting a sticky message, which the Heaths dub (hokey alert!) the Curse of Knowledge, is explained as a sociopsychological phenomenon. This is the thing that makes a CEO talk about "maximizing shareholder value"--a phrase that may make sense to someone immersed in the logic and parlance of business but not to rank-and-file employees. The Heath brothers recount an experiment in which one group was asked to tap out songs for another group to guess the title. There was no music, just knocking on a table. Listeners correctly named about 2.5% of the songs--but the tappers predicted they'd get about half right. When you hear a tune in your head, it's tough to put yourself in the position of a person who doesn't. To a large extent, the framework the Heaths lay out is a step-by-step guide for getting around that Curse, a how-to for anyone with good ideas who wants to captivate an audience, whether they want to lose weight or not.