Made To Stick

Chip and Dan Heath examine the reasons behind the success of some advertising messages.
BY RICHARD PACHTER


 

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. Chip and Dan Heath. Random House. 291 pages.

Why do some ideas stick? Many of us have heard and then repeated stories that may have possessed some immediate believability but were later refuted or contradicted by facts.

A few weeks ago, for example, author Seth Godin featured a brief riff on his blog about the supposed failure of Chevrolet's Nova automobile in Latin America due to the ''fact'' the its name means ''doesn't go'' in Spanish and buyers stayed away as a result. With my facility in that language mostly limited to dining selections, I'd always believed the story, but Godin, citing the reliable rumor debunker www.snopes.com said it ain't so. But I'd been willing to believe it because it made "sense.''

URBAN LEGENDS
Another story, featured in this new book by the Heath Brothers (not the jazz musicians, alas) involves a man, seduced and abandoned, who then awakens in an ice-filled bathtub. He calls the police, who ask him if there's a tube protruding from his back. He answers in the affirmative and is told that he's been victimized by an organ thief who has made off with his kidneys.

Never happened.

Yet the story is still repeated. Other fables, like Al Gore supposedly claiming to have invented the Internet — which he never said — are also repeated because, well, they ''stick,'' meaning they meet several standards that cause us to accept them as if they were the truth.

According to the Heaths, there are six key qualities that make an idea stick: simplicity, unexpectedness, concreteness, credibility, emotion and story.

Simplicity is obvious; if it's a complicated thing, it's too easy to misunderstand or forget. Unexpectedness is no surprise either; sharp copywriters know that the best way to get a point across is to catch people when they least expect it. Writer and advertising executive Roy Williams likes to point to a part of the brain, ''Broca's area.'' Apparently when ideas are presented in an unexpected way, they get past our defenses through there.

Ditto with emotion. The Heaths use the Lone Star State's successful ''Don't Mess With Texas'' anti-littering campaign as an example of using emotion to promote acceptance of unappealing or unexciting ideas.

Stories are a powerful means of communicating ideas, too, as they contain a variety of symbols, images and values presented in ways that resonate with different cultural groups possessing similar values.

REAL-LIFE EXAMPLES
In addition to the discussion of their six keys, the Heaths present quite a few examples to illustrate them. But that's not all; they provide a number of successful templates that they say can be populated with specific ideas. It's not an entirely plug-and-play proposition; some assembly is required, as well as making sure that all the pieces ''fit'' and make sense.

Their tone throughout is very low key and positive, but the content is pretty powerful. I've heard and read much of this stuff before, but by placing it all into this pleasant and persuasive context, a lot of the familiar ideas seem to have a bit more authority and persuasiveness.

What do you know? They stick!

Originally published in The Miami Herald

Good business: Some companies actually do the right thing

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi looks at a more caring form of entrepreneurship


Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Penguin. 244 pages.


BY RICHARD PACHTER

The dichotomy is real.

On one hand, business has gotten lean and mean: costs cut, suppliers squeezed, employees seen as mere commodities.

On the other, people demand increased accountability, greater choices, less artifice, more humanity

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a professor, author and business consultant, examines these conflicts and contradictions in this interesting and easily digested volume. He explores these issues and the back story of how we got where we are and what it portends..

He writes: "For the past century or so, business leaders have made credible claims to the effect that allowing for the operation of a free market, unfettered by social and political regulations, would improve the quality of life for everyone. As a result, our mental model of how the world works has become one in which production and consumption, the twin poles of economics, are the benchmarks of prosperity and well-being.

"Any fraction of a percent drop in consumption becomes a flag of distress that sends investors scurrying for shelter. After the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001, one of the most often-heard responses from political and business leaders was: `Go out, and buy. Don't let the enemy threaten your way of life.'

"While this worldview offers an easy solution and is convenient for those who benefit from it at the higher levels of the supply hierarchy, is a way of life that has consumption as its highest aim really that rewarding?

"Yet, however dispiriting the historical record may seem to be, human nature is not, in fact, based on greed alone. In every historical period, there have been individuals who care for more than their own profit, who find fulfillment in dedicating themselves to the advancement of the common good. The struggle between selfishness and altruism has run throughout history like periods of sunlight and shade on a summer afternoon.''


HUMANISM AND PROFIT
Csikszentmihalyi looks at several companies that have embraced more humanistic and less mercenary paths — without sacrificing profitability.

Patagonia, the maker of rugged apparel, began as an extension of founder Yvon Chouinard's love of the outdoors and mountain climbing. He developed equipment for himself that caught on among fellow climbers, and the company took off.

But then, upon realizing that his innovative gear was responsible for increasing the scarring and pitting of his beloved mountains, he developed new techniques and equipment that left the land unharmed.

The company evolved into a manufacturer of outdoor clothing, and Chouinard's high standards required his clothing to be the best and toughest available. But when he realized that the cotton used in its manufacture was grown with the aid of petroleum-based pesticides that left polluted pools in the cotton fields, he spearheaded the use of organically raised fibers.

The tale of Patagonia and Chouinard is one of several used by Csikszentmihalyi to illustrate ''flow,'' defined in this case as the natural integration of sound business practices with intelligent, sensitive and sensible behavior.

CAUSE TO LOSE ONESELF
He also uses the term to define the state of being wherein one almost loses oneself in the act of doing something.

Depending on individual values and experiences, each reader will come away with something a little different from this book, underscoring the author's notion of society.

Originally published in The Miami Herald

Eulogy for Ray

February 24, 2010; Boca Raton, Florida

First of all, thank you for being here. The love and support from family and friends is the thing that’s keeping us going during this unimaginably horrible time.

Darlene, Sarah and Ben, and Peter as well as my mother Lee, my in-laws Ruth and Tobe, Aunt Wendy, Uncle Steve and Aunt Miriam deeply, deeply appreciate it.

I’ve personally gotten unbelievable and amazing love from people I’ve known all my life… for years, months … and even from someone I just became friends with a few short weeks ago. Beloved aunts. Dear cousins. Friends. Colleagues. Friends I barely knew or never saw in person or met once. Fellow parents and allies in the fight.

Beautiful. A blessing. Amazing! Visits. Calls. E-mail. Facebook: Facebook has been great!

Jews. Christians. Buddhists. Moslems. Atheists. Whatever. Love. Powerful love. Thank you. Thank you. I love you too.

So let’s talk about Ray, my youngest child. My baby. My little boy.

If you knew him at all, you know how charming he is. Is, not was. I’m still charmed by him. We all are.

A charming Pachter? Is that an oxymoron? Darlene is very charming of course and Sarah is a pageant queen. Ben and I have a somewhat more casual relationship with charm and tact, though we do try.

But Ray: you could drop him into a crowd of strangers and within a few minutes, they’d be his pals. Right? That’s Ray. And it was sincere.

Ray was named for my paternal grandfather, Ralph: Raphael Ralph Pachter. RRP. Ray is Raymond Raphael Pachter. RRP. Boy, those two together, had they known each other, would have been dangerous. Two peas in a pod, as Darlene likes to say. RRP times two.

Ray’s quite a character: Deep: when my father died, he’d ask me for months where Grampa Howie was and about the nature of death. An infant Woody Allen, I thought. Now, in about an hour — give or take — his mortal remains will rest just a few yards from Grampa Howie’s.

Ray loved music, as do Sarah and Ben. Ray thanked me a bunch times for turning him on to the Beatles and the Beach Boys. Was (Not Was). Miles Davis. Horace Silver…. And for taking him and Ben to see The Who a few years back. Ben says Ray’s favorite album was The Who’s Quadrophenia and I’m not surprised.

Ray loved music and he loved his family. And he was quite adept at using the Jedi Mind Trick on Darlene. The Force is strong in that one.

Every one of us in his family and among his friends can talk about how charmed we were and are by his ready laugh, big smile and words of love. In fact, the last thing he said to me was “Love ya, Daddy.”

Love ya, Ray.

He cared deeply about his family and when he returned to live with us in late October, there was a new appreciation from him of us. He started to compliment my cooking and devoured things that he previously wouldn’t have even touched. Fish. Even spaghetti, which he hated to eat because it was so unmanageable to him.

But Ray’s own cooking and eating habits would have made Elvis Presley blush. Greasy fried eggs and waffles and bacon and lox and bagels and strawberries and syrup and cheese and crackers and bananas and raisin bran. With lots of salt, pepper and garlic powder. Slathered in butter and/or cream cheese. This was one meal, by the way. Elvis would have told him it was a little unhealthy… thank you very much.

Ray also loved cars and once took an unscheduled ride in Darlene’s Camry one afternoon when we were away… a few years ago. That was exciting. He also owned a couple of vehicles that we didn’t quite know about, but that’s another story for another day.

Ray was loved… is loved by many people. I only wish that Ray took that love seriously.

I know. Shoulda woulda coulda but if he felt the love from us maybe it would have kept him from the people who didn’t value him for who he was, and might have helped him make better choices.

Shoulda woulda coulda. Right. I know. Forget it.

It’s unreal to think that we won’t see Ray again. That’s really the hardest thing for me.

He told me last week that he wanted to spend more time with me; how he missed me when he was up north. I told him that I was here and just say when and I’ll make the time.

I still haven’t watched the DVD of Inglourious Basterds because he said he wanted to watch it with me… so I held off.

But we all must remember Ray as he was, as he is: A charming, lovable and loving boy. A music lover, a musician.

Ray is a song that plays forever in our hearts and minds for as long as we live.

With loud drums! Shredding guitars! Powerful bass!

I think Ray would really like that.

Love ya! Love ya! Love ya!

–Richard Pachter

The mind is a terrible thing to waste.

Brain power and economics come together in an in-depth look at where we could be headed in the wake of the information age.



A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age. Daniel H. Pink. Riverhead Books. 272 pages.

BY RICHARD PACHTER

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, especially when the mind is concerned.

Daniel Pink, a former speechwriter and prolific writer, identifies Asia, abundance and automation as the key forces driving societal changes. Asia, for its cheap workforce and its demands as a growing market; abundance, since we are living in an age of unprecedented plenty; and automation, because most every repetitive commercial task will soon be performed by machines, if it isn't already.

How each of these forces affects us, individually and as a society, is what this book is about — at first.

Pink writes: "We are moving from an economy and a society built on the logical, linear, computer-like capabilities of the Information Age to an economy and a society built on the inventive, empathic, big picture capabilities of what's rising in its place, the Conceptual Age.''

100% BRAIN
His notion is that the right side of the brain — the artistic half, if you will — can and should be better integrated with the left half — the more logical and rational portion. By doing so, we will be able to deal with the changes in our economy once Asia's dominance really kicks in and whatever economic advantages we possess become far less potent, if not nonexistent.

But Pink is not a grim prophet of doom. He uses the coming changes as a springboard for exploring the nature of personal fulfillment, success and humanity. It's not a touchy-feely self-help manual that he has constructed. But many of his ideas and approaches are wise, compassionate and supportive of a variety of personal and professional endeavors.

It's a pleasant and surprisingly entertaining little trip as he explores the workings of the brain, celebrates the proliferation and democratization of Target's designer products and learns to draw and play games, all as a means of illustrating ways we can think and live in a better, more meaningful and productive manner.

I reviewed Pink's previous effort, Free Agent Nation in July 2001, and though I found it to be well-written and provocative, I was completely unprepared for the breadth and depth of this new book. It's not that I thought that Pink was incapable of such an audacious and powerful work; he seems to be one of those people who excel at many things.

What surprised me about this book is how Pink realized that to empower individuals, it's necessary to really understand and act upon the powerful socioeconomic forces that shape the world economy.

OUR STRENGTHS
Unlike many of the recent xenophobic screeds that rail against the evils of outsourcing, Pink has figured out several paths that individuals and society can pursue that play to our strengths. The transition will not necessarily be an easy one, but the full engagement of both types of thinking — left- and right-directed — is wholly consistent with many of the qualities that embody traditional American ingenuity and empathy.

So if Pink is correct, we're almost there. All it may take is for individuals and institutions to recognize this reality by using the tools we already possess. And that may well require A Whole New Mind.

Originally published on Monday, May 9, 2005 in The Miami Herald

Customer service key to building business

Put as much energy into retaining customers as acquiring them and you will profit.

Flip the Funnel: How to Use Existing Customers to Gain New Ones. Joseph Jaffe. Wiley, 286 pages.

BY RICHARD PACHTER

It's bizarre and baffling to me that companies expend so much time, money and energy on customer acquisition and then follow it up with crappy service after the sale.

Think about it: Advertising, marketing and sales department are all geared toward convincing prospects to buy the company's products and services. But after asking for the order and getting it, the customer — especially if it's a consumer and not a business — is often ignored. Worse, they're frequently forced to deal with incompetent, unhelpful or ignorant people several continents away when they have a problem.

There's nothing inherently wrong with outsourcing customer service to India or South America, for example: I've had exceptional service, in fact, from friendly and well informed people in those places. But I've had also awful ones, too.

Every interaction with a customer holds the potential to not only serve their needs, but turn them into evangelists and advocates for your company and continued sources of sales and revenue. So why is this not obvious to every enterprise?

Joseph Jaffe wonders the same thing. In this new book, he looks at every aspect of the client experience, including, obviously, "customer service" interactions. But he goes well beyond that, too. Engaging people is the challenge. Your product is secondary. After all, they're not buying what you're selling; they're buying a solution to a problem or a fulfillment of a need.

But the big challenge, he writes, is to grab their interest: "Getting people to care these days is like climbing Mount Everest. People today are skeptical, jaded, cynical and wary — and increasingly so, due to the hardships and hangover of the recession. And those are the good ones! The rest are apathetic, uninterested, indifferent, and detached. Most messages don't make it through the multiple layers of consumers' near-impenetrable defenses, and the ones that do are greeted with either a pitchfork or a pillow. It's a catch-22 of dire proportions."

How do you do that? That's the problem: there's no cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all answer. But the good news is that there are plenty of tools to extend the human experience to address the unique requirements of each customer. But first, according to Jaffe, companies have to look at these things in a positive, proactive manner and devote the necessary resources to ongoing efforts. And then they have to make sure that they not only accommodate needs, but also delight everyone they touch.

Jaffe cites companies like Nike, Comcast and others that flipped the funnel by building their business through customer retention. Prime example is Zappos, which was so impressive in its customer relation-building that Amazon acquired the company lock, stock and sandals.

In addition to case studies (good and bad), Jaffe looks at social media (naturally!) and provides steps for companies to take in implementing the flipped funnel for fun and, of course profit.

Much of what Jaffe advocates seems self-evident, but too many companies are oblivious to the obvious, so if you are seeking a true competitive advantage, this is an excellent place to start.

Originally published in The Miami Herald

Letterman-Leno Super Bowl promo spot

Is that all there is? No.

A conversation with Linchpin author Seth Godin

BY RICHARD PACHTER

Q: How did you write this book? I follow your blog at http://sethgodin.typepad.com, and have read most of what you've posted and published during the last decade, but most everything herein seems new — at least to me. Given your schedule of blogging and other work, where and how did you write this?

A: We have so much time, all of us. We don't have to spend hours tilling the fields or 12 hours in the factory; we don't have to walk three hours just to get water. We have time for TV and time for a restaurant and time to update Facebook. Making time to write isn't a challenge for me. I could write a book every month if I felt like it would help move the needle for people.

I think the hard partisn't finding time; the hard part is deciding that we're worthy. The hard part is overcoming the fear of actually making something happen. Fortunately for me, when it comes to writing, I'm fearless.

I write on my laptop. I write in moleskin notebooks. I write on post-its. For this book, I stopped at the Muji store in Newark airport and bought their biggest-size Japanese notebook. Bigger than usual, because I wanted bigger ideas than usual. And then I bought some special pens, pens just for writing this book. If I opened the big book and took out the big pen, then, it was to write something big.

And I just wrote. A lot. And fast.

I ended up deleting more than half the stuff I wrote. Words I loved, like little members of the family, but words that weren't going to help advance my argument. Sometimes writing less is worth more.

Q: You seem frustrated. Your tone isn't angry, bitter or snarky but... disappointed. Are you?

A: Very disappointed. Disappointed that we're close to blowing it. We've taken so much from the system and from the land, and for what? To buy a bigger house? What a waste. I'm disappointed that we built a system where we've worked so hard to cull the creatives, to dampen the outspoken ideas, to maximize efficiency. And then we smugly call it a dream, when it's not what it could be.

I walk into a museum or a concert hall or a kindergarten or a Fast Company advance or TED or read your column and then I feel better. Better because we haven't extinguished the opportunity, just diminished it. I'm working overtime to pour a little gas on the embers.

Q: All of your books focus on individuals as well as businesses, but this one is directed at employees more than anyone else. Why them?

A: I hear a lot of people talking about the system or their boss . . about how they're not allowed or permitted to do work that matters. A lot of my books have focused on strategy and mechanics and the fundamental shifts in the marketing dynamic, but I've come to see that this is really a grass-roots problem. If you've been brainwashed into believing that the system wants you to be a certain way, it's going to be hard for you to do the work you're capable of. So I'm trying to call people out and help them see that there has never been another time, certainly not in our lifetimes, where individual initiative is easier or better rewarded.

Q: I read a lot of books, yet of those in your bibliography, I've only read a few, which is very exciting to me! But the fact is, most people I talk to say they don't read -- books, newspapers, Kindle whatevuh. Is this aliteracy a problem, in your opinion?

A: A bigger problem than nonliteracy is noncuriosity. Reading is a great way to feed your curiosity, but it's not the only way. I want our kids (and my peers) to get better and more comfortable at asking, "Why does it work that way?'' and "How can I change it?'' The more you read, the more likely you are to ask (and answer) those questions. We've never had more words to choose from, never had them more easily available, and never had so few people who could read, not do so.

We fought for the right to have this choice and this leverage, and I hope we don't blow it. Can you imagine how much it cost to build and deliver the Internet? Why? So we could watch Paris Hilton videos on demand?

Q: Why did you essentially bypass the MSM [main-stream media] and newspapers by not sending review copies of Linchpin? Was this a cost-cutting decision or what, not making ARCs [advance review copies] and sending hundreds out? Or was there another reason, after all, you're generally pretty well reviewed!

A: Here's the thing, Richard: The MSM is mistreating big thinking book reviewers by firing them, cutting their column inches or yes, going out of business. The few reviewers who are left have a long line out the door of authors waiting for attention. Add to that the status quo mind-set of most MSM papers . . . I just didn't see the point of enduring snarky feedback from someone with a lot of fear of change and a lot of leverage. So I made the decision to write a book reviewers might not like, but one that my readers might embrace and share. And my publisher backed my decision of going directly to my newly empowered readers, the ones with blogs and twitter accounts and passion -- and giving them the same respect and attention we previously paid to traditional reviewers.

It's faster, cheaper and a lot scarier. Scarier because you can't tailor the message to a particular reviewer and because it hadn't been done before and because there's a lot of people at once. But one thing I learned from writing this book is that often, scarier is exactly what you should do.

Q: And, of course, your next book is...? (Ha!)

A: Truth: I haven't written a page, not even a word, of a new book since I handed this book in. I'm empty, at least right now. I gave this every single drop I had.

Q: Bonus points: Linchpin, to me, fits quite neatly between Daniel Pink's last book, A Whole New Mind, and his new one, Drive. Agree, disagree or what?

A: Just to be compared to Dan is an honor.

You have to write a book about a year before it comes out, so figuring out what's next is a challenge. If Dan and I are in sync, that helps me sleep better.

Originally published in The Miami Herald