Switch: How To Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath

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Quick Take: Excellent book on encouraging change. So many interesting examples. Longer Take: I just finished reading “Switch” by Chip and Dan Heath and thoroughly enjoyed it. Have you ever said, “I can’t change things, I’m not the boss.”? Or, “We can’t change that, we don’t have the money.”? I’ve certainly said both. If you have to, this book is for you. “Switch” teaches a specific process to implement change. It is predominantly targeted at change within an organization, but could just as easily be applied to life in general. The authors wrote this specifically for people with limited resources and little authority. No more excuses! I especially enjoyed the elephant and rider metaphor used throughout the book. Each one of us has an elephant and a rider in us. The rider is the rational part of our brain and the elephant is emotional. For real change to occur, you have to appeal to both. If you just appeal to the rider, you get a plan but no motivation. If you just appeal to the elephant, you have motivation but no direction. Real change requires convincing them both. This metaphor is then applied to each change principle throughout the book. My favourite part of any business book is the real-life examples. “Switch” does not disappoint in this area. Each chapter and concept includes several interesting examples. Most importantly, the examples made the change process seem achievable. If they can do it, so can I. Reading this as an entrepreneur, I guarantee you will find many useful strategies to help your business (e.g. Check out the “first 2 stamps free” example on page 126) Give this a read. Whether you're looking to implement change in your organization or not, you won’t regret it. Some of My Favourite Quotes: “Knowledge does not change behaviour.” “… ask the question ‘What’s working and how can we do more of it?’ Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Yet, in the real world, this obvious question is almost never asked.” “When you’re at the beginning, don’t obsess about the middle … Just look for a strong beginning and a strong ending and get moving.” “…behavior change happens in highly successful situations mostly by speaking to people’s feelings.” “Trying to fight inertia and indifference with analytical arguments is like tossing a fire extinguisher to someone who’s drowning. The solution doesn’t match the problem.” “…big changes come from a succession of small changes.” “Everything is hard before it is easy.” “We will struggle, we will fail, we will be knocked down – but throughout, we’ll get better, and we’ll succeed in the end. … people will persevere only if they perceive falling down as learning rather than failing.” Druid’s Top Entrepreneurship Lesson: Getting people to change (Employees = Change their behaviour / Customers = Buy a different product), is so much more than implementing the “carrot” or the “stick” (i.e. Reward or punishment). With a specific strategy, there are countless elements around the change that can be “massaged” to make change both palatable and easy (at least easier).

I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking at making changes in their lives, whether professional or personal. Switch (by same authors as Made to Stick) provides great tips and solutions presented at a user level and with a great framework. The authors first lay out the three big things: the Rider, the Elephant and the Path and describe what each of these are and provides examples so the reader can get it on his level and not some abstract thoughts. After the big introduction the authors broke the book up into parts concerning each one. The first then is about directing the Rider, the more of our conscious, self will side. To do this one should find the 'bright spots' by seeing how some things succeeded instead of what failed. Next one should script the critical moves by breaking stuff down to specific goals. Finally it's to point to the destination by giving Riders a clear view of where they're going. The second is about motivating the Elephant, more our unconscious and representative of all the inertia we have when wanting to change. Elephants are the more emotional and less logical side so the first step is finding the feeling (think those ASPCA commercials). Next one should shrink the change by making it more manageable (more on this later) and increasing the sense of accomplishment. Finally, it's about growing your people... Change will be easier if you expand the abilities and spirits of your people. The third is about shaping the Path. Within this it's about tweaking the environment (smokers know this about all the cues there are about smoking). Next it is building habits which are behaviors on autopilot and how to encourage habits. Finally one should rally the herd. Overall the book is very well written. The authors write in a very friendly style without being too personal... The couple times they do break from the books narrative to tell jokes, they work and actually made me laugh out loud. Their writing style helps the reader understand and so does the formatting, and maybe more so. While overall the book is 3 parts, there are chapters within those parts and then smaller bite sized sections. While also good for reading bit at time I have to imagine they used their own advice with it because it makes one feel more accomplished and thus wanting to read more. All their points are backed up with studies and not just opinions. Also for good measure they have independent 'Clinics' where they present a scenario and ask readers to work it out first. Therefore, overall this is a great book that I learned a lot from and have already started using both personally and in my job.

Une référence en la matière, un livre incontournable pour ceux qui se passionnent de dynamique du changement, de sociologie, de management ou de développement personnel. Les auteurs ont décrypté comment on peut faciliter le changement au sein d'un groupe de personne, c'est vraiment fascinant. Et surtout à la fin il y a un récapitulatif très pratique de leur méthode qui rend le tout très concret et facile à comprendre et à appliquer.

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