SLA Leadership Summit 2007 - Keynote Speaker

A business traveler I know woke up in a bath tub filled with ice and noticed..... The only man made structure visible from space is...... You know what comes next for both of these (and many more) urban legends. But why? Why do these mis-statements and made-up stories stick in our minds while real facts and important, life and business saving messages elude us?

Chip Heath is a Professor of Organizational Behavior in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. His research examines why certain ideas-- ranging from urban legends to folk medical cures, from Chicken Soup for the Soul stories to business strategy myths?survive and prosper in the social marketplace of ideas. These "naturally sticky" ideas spread without external help in the form of marketing dollars, PR assistance, or the attention of leaders. A few years back Chip designed a course, now a popular elective at Stanford, that asked whether it would be possible to use the principles of naturally sticky ideas to design messages that would be more effective. That course, How to Make Ideas Stick, has now been taught to hundreds of students including managers, teachers, doctors, journalists, venture capitalists, product designers, and film producers.

Chip is the co-author (along with his brother, Dan) of a book titled Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. The book will be published by Random House in January 2007. Chip and his brother have taught and consulted on the topic of "making ideas stick" with audiences from Nissan, Chronicle Books, Ideo, and West Point, among others.

Chip's research has appeared in the Journal of Organizational Behavior, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Cognitive Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Journal of Consumer Behavior, Strategic Management Journal, Psychological Science, and the Journal of Risk and Uncertainty. Popular accounts of his research have appeared in Scientific American, the Financial Times, The Washington Post, Business Week, Psychology Today, and Vanity Fair. He has appeared on NPR and National Geographic specials.