Top 5 Books for Communicators (and Business People) - #2

I know I've prefaced this book countdown by saying these books are must-reads for communicators and business people, but that mantra really holds through for these final two books.

A quick background - when I was younger, in middle school, my career goal was to be a sabermetrician. There's no listing for that position in the Department of Labor. Basically, it was a term coined by Bill James, to reflect interest in baseball statistics and new ways to interpret them.

So, in 9th grade, I was taking an independent study course, and my project was going to be to write a book about sabermetrics. I was unable to reach James, but I did find a willing mentor in Craig Wright, who was a contemporary of James; the main difference being that Wright was working for the Texas Rangers in that capacity.

One day, I asked him, "what courses do I need to focus on to become a sabermetrician?" And, he replied, without hesitating, "English." I was confused. I'd expected to hear something like statistics or algebra or calculus or accounting; why would English be important? I asked him if he'd heard my initial question, since his answer didn't seem to make sense. He said (and, I remember this as if it was yesterday - it may be the most meaningful comment I've ever heard in my life), "If you can't effectively communicate your findings, it's as good as never having done them in the first place."

So - communications matters to everyone - not just communicators. Smart business people know this.

Our #4 book, Made to Stick, is the top-rated writing-focused book on my list. While there are some books that are classics (like the great Elements of Style), this "writing" book is appropriate for all audiences.

And, in a definite change of pace from the rest of this list, the tips in this book are not dedicated to social media. Then again, good content is good content, regardless of the channel being used.

The authors (brothers Chip and Dan Heath) term content that is memorable as "sticky," and they list six factors that contribute to stickiness:

• Simplicity (it can't be too complex)
• Unexpectednes (if the audience sees it coming, it won't capture their attention)
• Concreteness (ideas must be explained in human actions to avoid being ambiguous and/or meaningless)
• Credibility (if the information is too unbelievable, it won't be sticky)
• Emotional (you need to connect with the audience)
• Stories (metaphors and anecdotes resonate far more than abstract concepts)

Each of these six factors includes ample examples of how content was made sticky. And, each of them is powerful (and realistic, more importantly - the reader completely believes creating sticky content is well within his grasp).

The book opens, inronically, with a story that is sticky while being completely untrue (but credible, so it qualifies as sticky). The story - the Kidney Heist - has been told time and again, and has preserved its stickiness by adhering to the six factors above (even though it's untrue). Such is the power of creating communication that is sticky.

There's not really a bad example in the book. I'm going to list two here that I have been lucky enough to remember to this day (but, by no means are these the only good examples -- the whole book is chock full of them).

1. (From the "Credible" section): The use of vivid details helps build credibility. An organization - Beyond War - wanted to address the following paradox: When we see a child running with scissors, we wince; but when we read newspaper articles about nuclear weapons, it provokes, at best, a moment of dismay.

To get their point across, the organization would arrange house parties where a representative would speak with guests. One common presentation would involve a metal bucket and BB pellets. At the appropriate point in the presentation, the speaker would take a metal BB out of his pocket and drop it in the empty bucket. "This is the Hiroshima bomb," he'd say, as the BB made a loud clatter. He'd then spend a few minutes describing the devastation of the bomb - the miles of flattened buildings, the tens of thousands killed instantly.

Then, he'd drop 10 BBs into the bucket. This clatter was louder and more chaotic. "This is the firepower of the missiles on one U.S. or Soviet nuclear submarine." Then, he'd ask the attendees to close their eyes. "This is the world's current arsenal of nuclear weapons," he'd say, as he poured 5,000 BBs into the bucket - one for every nuclear warhead in the world. The noise was startling and terrifying. The roar of the BBs went on and on, and then, there was always dead silence.

This is a great example of how to make something abstract more credible -- how to turn a statistic like 5,000 warheads into something meaningful. The demonstration added a sensory dimension to an otherwise abstract concept. It turned an abstract statistic into something sticky.

2. (From the "Unexpected" section): Nora Ephron, a famous screenwriter, started her career as a journalist. Her first day of journalism class in high school, she walked into the class with a sense of what a journalist does - they get the facts and report them. To get the facts, you track down the 5 Ws (who, what, when, where, why).

The teacher announced the first assignment. They would write the lead of a newspaper story for the school paper. The teacher reeled off the facts, "Kenneth Peters, principal of the high school, announced today that the entire high school faculty will travel to Sacramento next Thursday for a seminar on new teaching methods. Among the speakers will be anthropologist Margaret Mead, college professor Dr. Robert Maynard Hutchins and California governor Edmund "Pat" Brown."

The budding writers sat at their typewriters and pecked out their first leads. According to Ephron, she and most of the other students, produced leads that reordered the facts into one sentence, "Governor Pat Brown, Margaret Mead and Robert Maynard Hutchins will address the High School faculty Thursday in Sacramento ... blah, blah, blah."

The teacher collected the leads and scanned the rapidly. Then, he laid them aside and paused for a moment. Finally, he said, "The lead to the story is, 'There will be no school next Thursday!'"

There are two key points: 1) know your audience and 2) writing is more than just the 5 Ws; it also means figuring out the point and why it matters.

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This is - by far - the best book on communicating I've ever read. Each example is powerfully chosen and the concept of "stickiness" is spot-on. If you're responsible for communicating, this is the book for you. But, even if it isn't your primary responsibility, this is a book for everyone to read. There's just too much good information here for the book to be dismissed as a "communications" book.

Next up - the #1 book, and the one that truly revolutionized the world of communications.