Comment

Switch

How to Change Things When Change Is Hard
ksoles
Jul 19, 2014ksoles rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Why does change come so slowly and with such difficulty? Why do people struggle to lose weight even when armed with knowledge of how to do so? Why do most "problem kids" end up dropping out of school instead of benefiting from teacher intervention? And how does an employee even begin to reform a multi-million dollar corporation? In their witty and instructive "Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard," Chip and Dan Heath draw on the sciences of human behaviour to tackle such enigmatic questions. The Heath brothers believe that "willpower," "leadership" and other platonic solutions only see an individual or a group through temporary change. Our brains do not contain a single decision-making unit, they argue; instead, we have two systems: a rational one, analytical and slow to act ("The Rider") and an emotional one, impulsive and prone to form and follow habits ("The Elephant"). The Rider needs a series of rules to follow and The Elephant needs motivation i.e. an emotional rationale. Concrete information unifies the two systems. In their introduction, the authors identify three surprises about change: what looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity; what looks like laziness is often exhaustion and what looks like a people problem is often a situation problem. The solution to overcoming these misconceptions? Direct the rider, motivate the elephant and shape the path. "Switch" supports this thesis primarily through fascinating stories of people, companies and organizations that have successfully undertaken major realignments, sometimes against long odds. A charity drastically reduced childhood malnutrition in Vietnam, a retailer metamorphosed from underwhelming into a trendsetting national powerhouse and a teacher in Portland transformed his classroom by getting the most disruptive students to show up on time and sit in the front row. "Switch" doesn't announce any scientific breakthroughs. Appeals to emotion have long spurred action faster than have appeals to logic. But therein lies the book's genius: the Heaths clearly demonstrate the importance of bringing both The Rider and The Elephant on board for change and then explain why that still doesn't lead to success. More than we suspect, outside influences control our actions. Good intentions and a host of intelligence face certain defeat in the wrong setting. For any effort at change to count, you have to "shape the path." "Switch" has doubtlessly shaped a path that leads in a promising direction.