Sticky Ideas

A course in the GSB, "How to Make Ideas Stick" has made a big impact on me. My friend Raghav Kapoor took it last year and told me not to miss it. Prof. Sutton also recommended that I take this course. Going by his last recommendation (Diversity), I had to take this course.

A most wonderful class this is! Challenges usually involve communicating ideas within 1 minute such that people are unable to forget it.

The professor, Chip Heath, is absolutely awesome in his depth of knowledge and the manner in which he leads the class.

Some examples..
The challenge: Come up with a way of convincing people to donate organs. You're at a basketball match and only have 1 minute. No visual aids are available but you do have a few volunteers.

Here's what I came up with:

Volunteer 1: The kidney is full of Nitrogen. Nitrogen is good for plants. I want the plants in my grave to flourish. Therefore I can't donate my kidney.

Volunteer 2: The heart is a great pump. Arizona is a desert land in need of water. I'd like to be buried in Arizona so my heart can pump water and help irrigate the Arizona desert. Therefore I can't donate my heart.

Volunteer 3: The lung is a great air purifier. I'd like the insects in my grave to have pure air. Therefore, I can't donate my lungs.

Volunteer 4: If none of these situations apply to you, call 1-800-ORGAN-DONOR today.

So what do you think?
What stunned me was that I struggled to come up with something for an hour. And then, I used the templates we studied in class and all kinds of ideas started coming in.

If you're here next autumn, I highly recommend this course. If you find any idea that you consider sticky, do let me know about it - I have now become a collector of sticky ideas.