'Switch' Book Response

One of my Big Questions: How do you create meaningful change?

I recently read Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip & Dan Heath, which serves as a good starting point for understanding how and why effective change occurs. Using a huge variety of case studies, they break down change into three key steps, and explain practical strategies for achieving these steps.

Throughout the book, they weave a common thread of the battle of Elephant and Rider: our emotional and rational sides competing for control. Each has its own aptitudes and deficiencies and the Heath brothers make a solid argument for appealing to both sides. Here’s a quick outline of their ideas:

1. Direct the Rider: our long-term, rational thinker

• Find the Bright Spots – success in similar situations
• Give direction: script the critical moves – precise steps towards change
• Send a destination postcard – give an image of the goal

2. Motivate the Elephant: our impulsive, emotional thinker

• Find the Feeling – something dramatic and visible to prompt emotional response
• Shrink the Change – when the change is smaller, it seems more accomplishable, so we work harder
• Grow your people – Cultivate a sense of identity; Instill a growth mindset (Who I am is not set in stone.)

3. Shape the Path:

• Tweak the Environment – make the old behavior harder or the new one easier
• Build Habits – our Rider gets tired, habits allow for auto-pilot
• Rally the Herd – use the power of community identity (peer pressure)

While the Heath brothers point out that change has been initiated by people of vastly different backgrounds, they underplay the fact that all these people had the motivation and energy to get it going. Personally, I may see the need for change, but may not have that energy to take it on. I think this lack results in part from my temporary localities. The transition period requires some attention and reaffirmation of that Destination Postcard that someone moving once a year (that’s me) can’t do well to maintain. (All I can think is “excuses, excuses.”)

One final comment about the book: they discuss two types of decision making. The first is the classic cost/benefit based decision (exalted by economists). The second is decisions based on identity – 'I’ll do this because I’m the type of person who does this'. The distinction struck me because I realized many of the decisions I make are based in the second type and being presented with the idea helped my self understanding.

I recommend the read (though there is some slogging through repetition of the same ideas) for anyone interested in creating change, or just looking to read some inspirational stories. It's just as applicable for small personal change as large scale community change.