In My Hands Today…

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die – Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Mark Twain once observed, “A lie can get halfway around the world before the truth can even get its boots on.” His observation rings true: Urban legends, conspiracy theories, and bogus news stories circulate effortlessly. Meanwhile, people with important ideas–entrepreneurs, teachers, politicians, and journalists–struggle to make them “stick.”

In Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath reveal the anatomy of ideas that stick and explain ways to make ideas stickier, such as applying the human scale principle, using the Velcro Theory of Memory, and creating curiosity gaps. Along the way, we discover that sticky messages of all kinds–from the infamous “kidney theft ring” hoax to a coach’s lessons on sportsmanship to a vision for a new product at Sony–draw their power from the same six traits.

Made to Stick will transform the way you communicate. It’s a fast-paced tour of success stories (and failures): the Nobel Prize-winning scientist who drank a glass of bacteria to prove a point about stomach ulcers; the charities who make use of the Mother Teresa Effect; the elementary-school teacher whose simulation actually prevented racial prejudice.

In My Hands Today…

Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen – Dan Heath

Most of us spend our days handling a deluge of pressing issues. We’re so accustomed to managing emergencies as they strike that we often don’t stop to think about how we could prevent crises before they happen. Why stop at treating the symptoms when you could develop a cure? How many daily headaches do we tolerate because we’ve forgotten to fix them?

Whether it’s time management, supply chain logistics, or healthcare decisions, all over the world, persistent problems cost time, money, and lives. Upstream explains how to target the source of the problem rather than just reacting to it as it happens and introduces you to the thinkers who are chipping away at everyday frustrations and deep-rooted issues. One travel company saved 25 million customer phone calls every year by adding a simple step to its booking system. An insurance business, determined to help YMCAs across the country lower their number of accidental drownings to zero, has saved an untold number of lives. The LAPD track down more accurate addresses for suspects by buying access to the delivery data from local pizza shops. The CDC realized they could anticipate flu outbreaks by tracking thermometer sales in local pharmacies.

Drawing on hundreds of interviews, as well as his own innovative behavior research, New York Times bestselling author Dan Heath delivers practical solutions for preventing problems rather than simply reacting to them—revolutionizing how we approach professional and personal goals in our daily lives.