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Book Review of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
reviewed on + 63 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5


Recently, I went through my business book collection and did a major culling, as in many facets of business the rules have completely changed. Your books that discuss financing, investments, staffing, and pretty much anything to do with money, capital, and cash flow are irrelevant. Customer service books are useless - the "customer" is an entirely different creature than anything you were ever trained to encounter. Books about how major corporations were ailing and were turned around are interesting anecdotally, but not useful as applications (Disney, Nordstrom, IBM, etc.). Management books made anytime before Twitter existed are useless - management now is more about damage control, policing, and sensitivity than anything you were ever taught in business school. This book, however, is a stunning exception to the rule. I have read many, many books on advertising and marketing theory since the 1980's and have kept very few. This one is staying permanently on my bookshelf and I may refer to it from time to time. The book discusses how certain products, ideas, brands, people, processes, etc. gain traction and are enduring, versus ones that do not. It is highly useful no matter what type of business you are in, whether it is a service or a product. I recommend this book highly.