Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard

Chip Heath · Dan Heath

Feb 2010 · Sold by Crown Currency

About this ebook

Why is it so hard to make lasting changes in our companies, in our communities, and in our own lives?

The primary obstacle is a conflict that's built into our brains, say Chip and Dan Heath, authors of the critically acclaimed bestseller Made to Stick. Psychologists have discovered that our minds are ruled by two different systems - the rational mind and the emotional mind—that compete for control. The rational mind wants a great beach body; the emotional mind wants that Oreo cookie. The rational mind wants to change something at work; the emotional mind loves the comfort of the existing routine. This tension can doom a change effort - but if it is overcome, change can come quickly.

In Switch, the Heaths show how everyday people - employees and managers, parents and nurses - have united both minds and, as a result, achieved dramatic results:

• The lowly medical interns who managed to defeat an entrenched, decades-old medical practice that was endangering patients
• The home-organizing guru who developed a simple technique for overcoming the dread of housekeeping 
• The manager who transformed a lackadaisical customer-support team into service zealots by removing a standard tool of customer service 

In a compelling, story-driven narrative, the Heaths bring together decades of counterintuitive research in psychology, sociology, and other fields to shed new light on how we can effect transformative change. Switch shows that successful changes follow a pattern, a pattern you can use to make the changes that matter to you, whether your interest is in changing the world or changing your waistline.

Ratings and reviews

I really liked the Rider/Elephant/Path analogy, but I liked even more the amount of stories that help illustrate the point. This book is definitely a blueprint for making changes happen

I thought Made to Stick was one of the best nonfiction books I've ever read. Switch is better, if for no other reason than it's more broadly applicable. If you want to change something in your life or in the world around you (and who doesn't?), reading this book is a great place to start.

Excellent book! Using the analogy of riding an elephant, to create change you need to direct the rider, motivate the elephant, and shape the path. Lots of good, usable advice in the book. This is a must read for managers, teachers, supervisors, parents, and anyone else involved in change.

About the author

CHIP HEATH is a professor at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. He lives in Los Gatos, California. DAN HEATH is a senior fellow at Duke University's Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE). He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Heath brothers are the bestselling authors of Made to Stick and Switch. They write a regular column in Fast Company magazine, and have appeared on Today, NPR's Morning Edition, MSNBC, CNBC, and have been featured in Time, People and US News and World Report.