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

Guest Article by Zach Clark

How do we get parents to understand and embrace Christian education? How do we help them grasp what developing a biblical worldview means and why it matters? How do we inspire our staff to catch the vision of what is possible? How do we move more people to give and current donors to give more?

I recently read Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath and found it excellent. The authors, one of whom is an educator, outline the essential ingredients for making our ideas stick so that others both understand and act. These principles form the acronym SUCCESS:

S — Simple (a short, compact proverb)

U — Unexpected (break the expected pattern)

C — Concrete (use language connected to everyday life; avoid abstractions)

C — Credibility (appeal to authority and pass the Sinatra Test)

E — Emotions (people act only when they care)

S — Stories (a story provides the context that abstract prose cannot)

An easy way to remember these principles: put your ideas into a "Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credentialed, Emotional Story."

This sounds remarkably like the way Jesus taught.

Each chapter explores one of the principles outlined above. The book is informative, well written, and practical. I highly recommend it.