Chip Heath
Stanford GSB professor who co-authored Made to Stick, Switch, and Decisive with brother Dan Heath, researching decision-making and communication
Chip Heath is a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business, who co-authored three business-changing bestsellers with his brother Dan Heath: Made to Stick (2007), Switch (2010), and Decisive (2013). His research focuses on why some ideas endure while others are forgotten, and how to make better decisions despite humans' natural cognitive biases. His work tightly integrates psychological research with business practice, providing practical frameworks for millions of managers and communicators worldwide.
Methodologies
- Sticky Message Design Checklist - Use the six SUCCESs principles to systematically check and improve any message that needs to be remembered
- Three-Step Change Method: Rider, Elephant, Path - Any change requires simultaneously addressing three dimensions: rational guidance, emotional motivation, and environmental obstacles
Key decisions and timeline
- Earns a BS in industrial engineering from Texas A&M
- Earns a PhD in psychology from Stanford
- Joins the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business
Beliefs and mental models
- Belief 1 - The quality of an idea itself does not determine its spread. Messages designed according to the SUCCESs principles (Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, Stories) can break through cognitive noise and leave lasting impressions in people's memories.
- Belief 2 - Human behavior is jointly determined by rational analysis and emotional drive. Successful change cannot rely only on logical persuasion (the Rider); it must also ignite emotional motivation (the Elephant) and clear obstacles from the path (Shape the Path).
- Belief 3 - Most decision failures are not due to insufficient decision-maker capacity, but because of systematic biases in the process (confirmation bias, short-term bias, overconfidence). Improving the decision process is more effective than changing decision-makers.
- Model 1
- Model 2
- Model 3