I saw a galley for Made To Stick the next month and I fell in love with it. This book is about how ideas stick with people. Dan and Chip have studied urban myths, public health scares, parables, and political speeches to see what these ideas have in common. What they found were six concepts:

1. Simplicity
2. Unexpectedness
3. Concreteness
4. Credibility
5. Emotions
6. Stories

Dan and Chip say a big problem is The Curse of Knowledge - if people think they already know something, then there is no incentive to pay attention to your idea. For example, many of you think you don't need to read this book.

One answer they say is to create curiosity gaps. Their sub-title is a curiosity gap, "Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die".

Let me give you another one - "What do Fortune 500 executives and PTA presidents have in common?" The answer is they are both selling ideas to their organizations and Made To Stick can help both improve the chances their ideas will stick. I know it isn't the strongest curiosity gap (you probably came up with many things they have in common), but the point I was trying to make is that a diverse set of people can benefit from this book.

***

At the beginning of Made To Stick, there is a story about Israeli researchers who wanted to see if there were common elements to successful advertising campaigns. They found successful ads were easily sorted and fell into one of six categories. Other ads from the same magazines where these award winners appeared could not be sorted the same way.

The researchers felt they were onto something. They took the six categories, turned them into concepts, and develop a course. The researchers wanted to see if the concepts could be taught. A random group of people were brought to the lab and split into three groups. The group were given varying levels of training and asked to produce ads for fictitious products. The group given the most training with the six concepts scored 50% better on their ads with creative directors than the other groups.

My point and the Heath brothers' point is that it is possible for a framework or recipe to improve what you do. They have got a pretty good one for making ideas stick. For all the authors, publishers, agents, publicists, and sales folks out there, this is required reading. For everyone else, Made To Stick is my first must-read for 2007.

Here are my six favorite books of 2006:

*The Origin of Wealth by Eric Beinhocker

This is my favorite book of the year and you will not have seen me talk about it anywhere on the site. How is that possible? It is a hard book to talk about in 100 words. Beinhocker has taken all of the literature on complexity theory and put it into one book. The information is accessible and the research explained through extended stories. More importantly, Origin of Wealth is written for a business audience. What many are going to find daunting is the book is 512 pages. My solution: take three books off your night stand and replace them with Origin of Wealth.

What I Learned: The complex nature of the universe makes it impossible to predict. What makes it worse is that our brains are not wired to see the complexity in the world and we often make poor decisions because of it. The only thing you can do to survive is keep trying new things (and understand that most will fail). I know that sounds obvious, but are you doing it?!

*The Number by Lee Eisenberg

The book was released with high hopes from Free Press and the book never meet the expectations of the publisher. Adrian Zackheim, the publisher at Portfolio, said that people don't want to read about how they are not going to have enough money when they retire. I agree with him. Eisenberg takes you on a emotional roaster coaster ride through what it is going to take to deal with the second half of your life. It has been a long time as since I have been that depressed from reading a book. My reaction came from his vivid storytelling and the stark realities he forced me to face.

What I Learned: The magnitude of your number is driven by future lifestyle. People struggle is how they are going to spend their post-workforce years. Your life needs purpose and meaning whether you are 38 or 88. Calculate accordingly.

*The Ultimate Question by Fred Reichheld

Fred has been talking about customer loyalty for years. I remember when The One Number You Need to Grow ran in Harvard Business Review in 2003. Kate says it was a part of her coursework. I felt Net Promoter Scores (NPS) finally put some numbers to the power of word of mouth. Companies like GE and American Express have created corporate initiatives while others question if NPS really predicts corporate growth [WSJ - sub. needed].

What I Learned: In one question, I could find out the most important thing I need to know about my customers - would they recommend me to friend. This is not the sort of thing that can be corrupted. 800ceoread adopted the NPS philosophy when the book came out and believe wholeheartedly its effectiveness. We found out (and continue to find out) what matters to our customers. All you have to do it ask.

*The Change Function by Pip Coburn

Pip advises the investment community on technology. For him, technology is not about earnings per share and software release dates. It is about whether people will adopt it. It is about change. The book is a quick read with great examples. If you are in IT and you want to know why the functional groups around you are implementing their own solutions, this book is for you.

What I Learned: All you have to think about is whether the crisis greater than the pain of adoption. If the answer is no then nobody is going to buy. And this applies to all sorts of change like moving from PC to Mac or lowering your cholesterol. Simple, but powerful.

*Purpose by Nikos Mourkogiannis

I wrote my love letter to this book yesterday.

*D.I.Y. (Design It Yourself) by Ellen Lupton (editor)

I saw this book showing up on a number of design websites in the last year, and it piqued my interest. The book gives you some thoughts on the craft of design, but the cool part is Ellen and her students showing you how to make stuff. D.I.Y has instructions on how to make t-shirts, books, business cards, wall-graphics and more. Knowing what is possible help you be more creative.

What I Learned: You can make it yourself. You don't need to go to the store and choose the least worst. I made a batch of t-shirts for a side project that turned out great. My annual Christmas CD turned out wicked cool with some pre-silkscreened CDRs and slick jewel cases. I am already plotting my D.I.Y. projects for next year.

******

I was going to stop there, but I think there are some others titles that our dear readers need to make sure they considered. Consider these my honorable mentions.

-Firecracker Category (everyone needs a little inspiration):

Small Is The New Big by Seth Godin (best of his short writings)
Radical Edge by Steve Farber (another killer business novella)
Mavericks At Work by Bill Taylor and Polly LaBarre (the energy of Fast Company returns)

-The Company Books (read about the companies shaping how business is done):

The Wal-Mart Effect by Charles Fishman (best book on the company. Period.)
The Elegant Solution: Toyota's Formula for Mastering Innovation by Matthew May (spent time inside to find out what makes them tick)

-Thinking Cap Category (time to start thinking differently):

More Than You Know by Michael Mauboussin (this one is really about making better decisions)
One Great Insight Is Worth A Thousand Good Ideas by Phil Dunesberry (describes and illustrates the power of insights)
Are You Ready To Succeed? by Srikumar Rao (self-help for business people)
Undercover Economist by Tim Harford (economics are all around you, Tim show you where)
Questions of Character by Joe Badaracco (uses fiction to teach lessons in leadership)

-Nuts and Bolts Category (things to help run the organization better)

Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense by Jeff Pfeffer and Bob Sutton (based your decisions on evidence, not conjecture)
The Prepared Mind of A Leader by Bill Welter and Jean Egmon (matches my view of leadership)
Setting The Table by Danny Meyer (the NYC resturanteer share his brand of managing)
12: The Elements of Great Managing by Rodd Wagner and James Harter (ten million Gallup interviews can't be wrong)

Jack and I made a trip to San Francisco in September to visit publishers and authors. I had been reading Nikos Mourkogiannis' Purpose: The Starting Point of Great Companies, but this was my first real chance to get into it. I was blown away. On the train ride into the city, I started reading Jack part of the book. It hit us both like a lightning bolt - the purpose for 800ceoread.

***

What is different about Purpose is it is thoughtful and deliberate. You don't find that much in business books. Nikos slowly constructs his arguments and takes you along on his journey to understand the power of purpose. He is quick to say not all companies have a purpose nor do they need to, but the bridge between good companies and great companies is purpose. Purpose is a bedrock principle that once engaged drives everything a company does and once a company starts living by a purpose, deviation from it risks everything.

Nikos' thesis is four types of purpose matter for the business/competitive world. There are the discoverers who thrive finding the new. There are the helpers who are believe the world is a better place when those around them are happy. The strivers believe in excellence above all else. Heroes are the larger than life companies change the course of history, for better or worse.

After laying out his framework, Nikos keeps expanding on the idea of purpose. He spends an entire chapter describing what purpose is not. He believes purpose is often misunderstood and leaders substitute vision and values for purpose. Nikos illustrates of power of purpose with profiles of Tom Watson, Sam Walton, Warren Buffet, and Henry Ford. These leaders defined their companies by the same purpose which drove them personally. Nikos ends the book talking about how purpose affects all aspects of the corporation ranging from innovation to competitive advantage to morale.

***
The thing that clicked for Jack and I was the idea of being helpful - that was the purpose of 800ceoread. We started talking about everything through that lens. We could see how we had made good and bad hiring decisions. We could see where we were doing well with customers and where we could clearly improve. We started to talk about our business development ideas and discussed which ones were truly helpful for authors, publishers, individuals, and organizations.

Purpose has changed how we look at our business. I would call that a must-read.

----------------------
Past Must-Reads:

• Spring 2006 - Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths & Total Nonsense by Pfeffer and Sutton (my review)
• Fall 2005 - Then We Set His Hair On Fire by Phil Dusenberry (my review)
• Spring 2005 - A Whole New Mind by Dan Pink (my review)

Hard Facts is really the prequel to their 2000 book The Knowing Doing Gap. In their first book, they laid out a great case for why companies can't get anything done. They also said the information everyone has is pretty much the same, and the only difference left is what you do with that information (you can read my recent review and another from Diego Rodriguez).

Their new book takes on the Knowing side of the equation. Jeff and Bob say that executives are too often sucked into the company profiles reported in the business media. The common wisdom reported can often not be repeated. They suggest using a fact based approach to decision making. If you think you are already using hard data to run your company, answer a couple of these questions:

• Are Great Leaders In Control of Their Companies?
• Do The Best Organizations Have The Best People?
• Do Financial Incentives Drive Company Performance?

What I found were subtlies and nuances in their book. Management is a craft and there are no easy answers. If you are looking for easy answers and bold takeaways, do not read this book. This is about critical thinking and taking time to understand the effects your decisions will have on your organization.

Here is a nice primer on Hard Facts from U.S. News and World Report, ahead of our podcast with Jeff and Bob. We will have that up today or tomorrow.

Past Must Reads:

• Then We Set His Hair On Fire by Phil Dusenberry
• A Whole New Mind by Dan Pink
• Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

If you pick up one book this fall, it should be Then We Set His Hair On Fire. I raved about it earlier this month, and still haven't found anything else that caught my attention like this book. It reminds us of Who Says Elephants Can't Dance by Lou Gerstner. Spending a career at BBDO, Phil Dusenberry has spent time with all the big brands. He knows the brand stories behind GE, FedEx, and Pepsi. He talks about the power of finding great insights about your company and its products. On top of it all, it has been written in a wonderful narrative.

Here are the 8cr favorites from the book:

• Jack
• Tom
• Todd

Here are some others who have had something to say about the book:

• USA Today - Grab a refreshing glimpse of how advertising works
• Fortune - He Brought Good Ads to Life
• Wall Street Journal - The View from Madison Avenue

I think A Whole New Mind by Dan Pink is the second.

Pink proposes that the world is changing. We are moving from a left-brained, analytical society to a right-brained conceptual one. His piece in Wired two months ago lays out the the factors that are going to lead to this shift - Abundence, Asia, and Automation.

From there, he lays out the six senses you need to explore and develop to succeed in the Conceptual Age:

• Design
• Story
• Symphony
• Empathy
• Play
• Meaning

In each sense chapter, he has great stories on why each of these is important. What is even better is that every chapter ends with a portfolio of activities to improve that particular sense. We will be sampling these activities on the Excerpts blog.

This is one of those books that talks about where the world is going. It is very much like Free Agent Nation in that respect. This is a book you are going to be nodding your head as you read. You are already seeing signs of what Dan is talking about. For some, I think it is going to be really exciting book and another book that gives people permission to pursue the life they want to lead. I think it is that powerful.