When I saw here that Andy Stanley made his staff read this book and then covered it in a meeting, I thought that it would be something that I may benefit from. So I read it, and I’m glad I did.
The basic idea of this book was to find out what were the similarities among ideas that “stuck”, or was able to leave the people it was communicating to an unavoidable memory of it. They analyzed tons of ideas and placed it in book format. Here are a couple of quotes that I got from the book:
- We need to create ideas that are simple and profound
- What we mean by simple is finding the core of the idea
- The hard part is weeding out ideas that may be really important but jut aren’t the most important
- Concrete language helps people, especially novices, understand new concepts. Abstraction is the luxury of the expert. If you’ve got to teach an idea to a room full of people, and you aren’t certain what they know, concreteness is the only safe language.
- Vivid details boosts credibility
- The story’s power, then, is twofold: It provides simulation (knowledge about how to act) and inspiration (motivation to act).
- Once we know something, we find it hard to imagine what it was like not to know it
- …visualizations focus on the events themselves – the process, rather than the outcomes. No on has ever been cured of a phobia by imagining how happy they’ll be when it’s gone.
This was the book I was looking for when it came to the subject of effective communication. There were lot a great principle that I see can benefit not just my professional life, but my personal life as well. I will admit that I need to read through it one more time, because it can become a “long read.” Just reading back at the things I’ve highlighted tells me that I took too much time reading the book, but I am looking forward to it and not dreading it.