How to Get Your Ideas and School Philosophy to Stick with Parents and Donors

How do we get parents to understand and buy into Christian education? How do we get them to understand what developing a biblical worldview means and why it is important? How do we get our staff to catch the vision of what is possible? How do we get more people to give and donors to give more?

I recently read the book Made to Stick, which I found to be excellent. The authors, one of whom is an educator, outline the essential ingredients for getting our ideas to stick with others so that they both understand and care/act. These principles are:

• S--Simple (Short compact proverb)
• U--Unexpected (Break the expected pattern)
• C--Concrete (Put the message in language connected to everyday life, avoid abstractions)
• C--Credibility (Appeal to authority and passing the Sinatra Test)
• E--Emotions (People will only act if they care)
• S--Stories (A story is powerful because it provides the context missing from abstract prose)

An easy way to remember these principles is to put them into this sentence: Put your ideas into a "Simple Unexpected Concrete Credentialed Emotional Story."

This sounds a lot like the way Jesus taught.

Each of the chapters explores each of the principles outlined above. I found the book to be very informative, well written, and practical. I highly recommend it.