Reading for November 12th

The first part of the “Sticky Advice” chapter in Made to Stick focuses on the importance of strategy and the three barriers that interfere with strategic communication. Sometime, employees need to remember their own strategies within their companies and put those ideas to work. The fact that the CEO of Cranium, Whit Alexander, developed ideas for a new game piece without thinking of the company’s very own strategy, CHIFF, could have cost him a major failure. Luckily, the manufacturers were able to communicate CHIFF to Alexander and point out why his ideas did not fit in with creating a product that is innovative, different, and appealing to an audience. By using the CHIFF strategy, the manufacturers were able to create a game piece that consumers could enjoy. Without this communication of strategy, Alexander could have been in big trouble.

However, communicating strategy doesn’t always seem so simple. The first barrier, the “curse of knowledge,” explains that sometimes people don’t dumb things down enough and simplify ideas so that everyone has a grasp of the true meaning. By using abstract phrases, such as “unlocking shareholder value” and “highest-quality producer,” you’re preventing employees and consumers from understanding your true meaning. Trader Joe’s simplifies marketing strategies by claiming that their main customer is the “unemployed college professor who drives a very, very used Volvo” (256). With this metaphor, we can understand that Trader Joe’s is a low-cost store that is affordable for the average customer. Putting strategic ideas in simpler terms is beneficial for the supplier, as well as the consumer.

The second barrier, Decision Paralysis explains the difficulties of choosing between multiple different options. It seems that the more choices that are made available, the more difficult it is to make a decision (259). To make decisions easier, rules are enforced because they eliminate the freedom of choice in some cases. The example they provide in this chapter is the rule of having a patient try all medications before having surgery. Instead of choosing surgery right away, which may be unnecessary, doctors have that rule to follow and will allow the patient to try to regain health through different medications instead of surgery, which is costly and timely.

The third barrier is a lack of common language, which sort of goes along with the first barrier. Going back to the example with the CEO of Cranium, their strategy known as CHIFF is simple and easily understood. The company must develop products that are “Clever, High-quality, Innovative, Friendly, and Fun” (254). It is much easier to find or dismiss a product that meets or does not meet these expectations rather than trying to fit it in the concept of creating a product that is “the number 1 provider of engaging tabletop entertainment” (262). Simplifying terms is beneficial to the company, while abstract criteria does nothing to drive the company forward because it isn’t easily understood which type of products should be created.