Prepare to feel more than just inspired; prepare to take action
Everybody knows that change is hard; just watch the local fitness club empty out every February, when resolutions fizzle and Biggest Loser wannabes start hitting the snooze button instead of the treadmill. Ask any public school principal who has to scold the latest discipline case, or corporate executives charged with transforming company culture. Change is either impossible or miserable — or both. Or is it?
According to Dan & Chip Heath, authors of Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, people are not as thick-skulled as they sometimes seem, and often, resistance is really not resistance at all. Relying on vivid case studies and cutting-edge psychological research, the authors describe a battle within the human brain that renders most change efforts DOA. The emotional side — the side that lusts after the latest Apple gadget — is the “elephant.” Meanwhile, the rational side — the side that opens a retirement account and vows to never waste money again — is a puny, wimpy “rider” perched precariously atop the beast. The power imbalance here is obvious and yet, when united, both rider and elephant possess innate strengths that are capable of bringing out the best in one another. Trouble is, most change efforts ignore one side or the other, spelling misery and failure from the start. How to harness the power of both?
Happily, the Heaths answer that question by taking a cue from their previous book, Made to Stick, about the power of stories. Instead of relying on yawn-inducing statistics, they tell richly moving narratives about people who inspired seemingly impossible changes in schools, hospitals, corporations, and even at home. Most remarkably, these people possessed no more power than the average eMusic member. If they can do it, anyone can.
Narrator Charles Kahlenberg’s deep, resonant voice indulges both elephant and rider, layering authority, empathy and sometimes humor into the stories. Prepare to feel more than just inspired; prepare to take action.