Quotes from Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Many armies fail because they put all their emphasis into creating a plan that becomes useless ten minutes into the battle

We can't unlearn what we already know and there are only two ways to beat the curse, the first is not to learn anything, the second is to transform our ideas.

There's no such thing as a passive audience.

Plans are useful in the sense that they're proof that planning has taken place. The planning process forces people to think through the right issues. Bus as for the plans themselves they just don't work on the battle field

Common sense is the enemy of sticky messages, if I already "get" what you're trying to tell me, why should I be obsessed about remembering it.

The more we reduce the amount of information in an idea, the stickier it will be.

You say 10 things, you say nothing.

As we gain information we are more likely to focus on what we don't know :" Someone who knows the state capitals of 17 of 50 states may be proud of her knowledge. But someone who knows 47 may think of herself as not knowing 3 capitals

You don't have to speak monosyllables to be simple. What we mean by simple is finding the core of the idea.

Stories should put knowledge into a frame work that is more lifelike.

Use statistics as input not output. Use them to make up your mind on an issue.Don't make up your mind and then go looking for the number to support yourself.

The company wants to sell you more shampoo, your friend doesn't, so she gets more trust points.

Knowledge curses us, if we find it hard to imagine what it was like not to know it. And it becomes difficult to share our knowledge with others because we can't readily re-create our listener's state of mind.

Mental simulation is not as good as actually doing something. But it's the next best thing. And the right kind of a story is a simulation.

The most basic way to get someone's attention is this: Break a pattern.

Anger prepares us to fight and fear prepares us to flee.

The first problem of communication is getting people's attention.

People tend to overuse any idea or concept that delivers an emotional kick.

Create a need for closure.

To get someone's attention break a pattern of thinking.

The Aha! experience is much more satisfying when it's preceded by the huh experience.