– Chip Heath and Dan Heath, Made to Stick
When Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon on July 20, 1969, it represented the culmination of an unwavering, decade-long effort that began with a bold vision and ended with an achievement considered to be one of the most important in human history, both scientifically and symbolically.
Eight years previously, President John F. Kennedy called upon the citizens of the United States to undertake a project of unparalleled scope and urged collaboration among all sectors of the U.S. economy. As Chip Heath and Dan Heath note in their book Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, President Kennedy created in Americans an element of “surprise” and an unexpected insight:
Kennedy’s timing, seemingly, couldn’t have been worse. The Soviets were beating the U.S. in the space race. Though an industrial powerhouse, the U.S. lacked...
