Start reading Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard on your Kindle in under a minute. Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.

Deliver to your Kindle or other device

 
 
 

Try it free

Sample the beginning of this book for free

Deliver to your Kindle or other device

Read books on your computer or other mobile devices with our FREE Kindle Reading Apps.
Sorry, this item is not available in
Image not available for
Color:
Image not available

To view this video download Flash Player

 

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard [Kindle Edition]

Chip Heath , Dan Heath
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (357 customer reviews)

Print List Price: $26.00
Kindle Price: $14.99 includes free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
You Save: $11.01 (42%)
Sold by: Random House Digital, Inc.
This price was set by the publisher

Whispersync for Voice

Now you can switch back and forth between reading the Kindle book and listening to the Audible audiobook. Learn more

Add the professional narration of Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard for a reduced price of $12.99 after you buy this Kindle book.

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition --  
Hardcover $17.85  
Paperback --  
Audio, CD, Audiobook, Unabridged $22.42  
Unknown Binding --  
Audible Audio Edition, Unabridged $20.95 or Free with Audible 30-day free trial
Shop the new tech.book(store)
New! Introducing the tech.book(store), a hub for Software Developers and Architects, Networking Administrators, TPMs, and other technology professionals to find highly-rated and highly-relevant career resources. Shop books on programming and big data, or read this week's blog posts by authors and thought-leaders in the tech industry. > Shop now

Book Description

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.


From the Hardcover edition.


Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Chip Heath and Dan Heath on Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard

"Change is hard." "People hate change." Those were two of the most common quotes we heard when we began to study change.

But it occurred to us that if people hate change, they have a funny way of showing it. Every iPhone sold serves as counter-evidence. So does every text message sent, every corporate merger finalized, every aluminum can recycled. And we haven’t even mentioned the biggest changes: Getting married. Having kids. (If people hate change, then having a kid is an awfully dumb decision.)

It puzzled us--why do some huge changes, like marriage, come joyously, while some trivial changes, like submitting an expense report on time, meet fierce resistance?

We found the answer in the research of some brilliant psychologists who’d discovered that people have two separate “systems” in their brains—a rational system and an emotional system. The rational system is a thoughtful, logical planner. The emotional system is, well, emotional—and impulsive and instinctual.

When these two systems are in alignment, change can come quickly and easily (as when a dreamy-eyed couple gets married). When they’re not, change can be grueling (as anyone who has struggled with a diet can attest).

In those situations where change is hard, is it possible to align the two systems? Is it possible to overcome our internal "schizophrenia" about change? We believe it is.

In our research, we studied people trying to make difficult changes: People fighting to lose weight and keep it off. Managers trying to overhaul an entrenched bureaucracy. Activists combatting seemingly intractable problems such as child malnutrition. They succeeded--and, to our surprise, we found striking similarities in the strategies they used. They seemed to share a similar game plan. We wanted, in Switch, to make that game plan available to everyone, in hopes that we could show people how to make the hard changes in life a little bit easier. --Chip and Dan Heath

(Photo © Amy Surdacki)


From Publishers Weekly

The Heath brothers (coauthors of Made to Stick) address motivating employees, family members, and ourselves in their analysis of why we too often fear change. Change is not inherently frightening, but our ability to alter our habits can be complicated by the disjunction between our rational and irrational minds: the self that wants to be swimsuit-season ready and the self that acquiesces to another slice of cake anyway. The trick is to find the balance between our powerful drives and our reason. The authors' lessons are backed up by anecdotes that deal with such things as new methods used to reform abusive parents, the revitalization of a dying South Dakota town, and the rebranding of megastore Target. Through these lively examples, the Heaths speak energetically and encouragingly on how to modify our behaviors and businesses. This clever discussion is an entertaining and educational must-read for executives and for ordinary citizens looking to get out of a rut. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details


Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
389 of 427 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Several sticky insights February 16, 2010
Format:Hardcover
Chip and Dan Heath have once again summoned a lively writing style to present a series of compelling insights that make this book even more interesting as well as more valuable than its predecessor, Made to Stick. As they explain in the first chapter, "In this book, we argue that successful changes share a common pattern. They require the leader of change to do three things at once: To change someone's behavior, you've got to change that person's situation...[to cope with the fact that change] is hard because people wear themselves out. And that's the second surprise about change: What looks like laziness is often exhaustion...If you want people to change, you must provide crystal clear direction [because what] looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity." Throughout, the Heaths work within a narrative, best viewed as a "three-part framework," as they provide countless real-world (as opposed to hypothetical or theoretical] examples and - to their great credit - also provide a context or frame-of-reference for each.

Moreover, the Heaths invoke a few extended metaphors. The most important of these are the Rider (i.e. our rational side), the Elephant, (i.e. our emotional and instinctive side) and the Path (i.e. the surrounding environment in which change initiatives will be conducted). The challenge is to direct the Rider, motivate the Elephant, and shape the Path to make change more likely, "no matter what's happening with the Rider and Elephant...If you can do all three at once, dramatic change can happen even if you don't have lots of power or resources behind you."

Donald Berwick offers an excellent case in point. In 2004, in his position as a doctor and the CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), he had developed some ideas as to "how to save lives - massive numbers of lives" and his ideas were so well-supported by research that they were indisputable and yet "little was happening" until he spoke at a professional meeting and proposed six very specific interventions to save lives. Within two months, more than 1,000 hospitals had signed up. Eighteen months later, to the day (June 14, 2006) he had previously announced that he'd promised to return, he announced the results: "Hospitals enrolled in the 100,000 Lives Campaign have collectively prevented an estimated 122,300 avoidable deaths and, as importantly, have begun to institutionalize new standards of care that will continue to save lives and improve health outcomes into the future." He had directed his audience's Riders (i.e. hospital administrators), he had motivated his audience's Elephants by making them feel the compelling need for change, and he had shaped the Path by making it easier for the hospitals to embrace the change. The Heaths offer more than a dozen other prime examples (e.g. Jerry Sternin in Vietnam, the Five-Minute Room Rescue, "Fataki" in Tanzania) that also demonstrate how the same three-part framework resulted in the achievement of major changes elsewhere despite great difficulty.

Near the end of the book, the Heaths summarize the key points they have so thoroughly made while explaining to their reader how to make a switch. "For things to change, somebody somewhere has to start acting differently. Maybe it's you, maybe it's your team. Picture the person (or people). Each has an emotional Elephant side and a rational Rider side. You've got to reach both. And you've also got to clear the way for them to succeed." By now, the Heaths have explained how others have directed the Rider, motivated the Elephant, and shaped the Path. They conclude their book with a Q&A section during which they advise how to resolve twelve problems that people most often encounter as they fight for change. They suggest, and I agree, that this advice "won't make sense to anybody who hasn't read the book." The same can probably be said about much of what I have shared in this review.

Although, in my opinion, this is one of the most important business books published during the last several years, no commentary such as mine can do full justice to it. It simply must be read and read carefully, preferably then re-read carefully. Otherwise, it makes no sense to visit www.switchthebook.com/resources to obtain additional information and assistance.

I offer my congratulations to Chip and Dan Heath on a brilliant achievement. Bravo!
Was this review helpful to you?
125 of 138 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Switching "On" Your Emotional Intelligence December 23, 2010
Format:Hardcover
Switch is a compelling, story-driven narrative the Heaths use to bring together decades of counterintuitive research in psychology, sociology, and other fields to shed new light on how we can engage our emotions and reason to create real change.

The book is arranged around an analogy that illustrates the crux of emotional intelligence: when making a decision we are typically torn between our rational, logical reasons and our emotional, intuitive feelings. Chip and Dan ask us to imagine an Elephant and its Rider (the mahout). The Rider represents the rational and logical. Tell the Rider what to do, provide a good argument and the Rider will do it. The Elephant, on the other hand, represents our emotions, our gut response. If the Rider can direct the Elephant down a well-prepared path then there is a good chance for change. Otherwise, the massive elephant is bound to win.

The book is structured into three sections, each one suggesting specific behaviors you can follow:

I. Direct the Rider:
- Find the bright spots
- Script the critical moves
- Point to the destination

II. Motivate the Elephant:
- Find the feeling
- Shrink the Change;
- Grow your people

III. Shape the Path:
- Tweak the environment
- Build habits
- Rally the herd

Another must read on the topic is Emotional Intelligence 2.0
Was this review helpful to you?
77 of 86 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars On the whole, a worthwhile, rewarding read... April 17, 2010
Format:Hardcover
"Switch" oscillates between the citation of psychological research and the slightly-suspect relaying of 'inspirational anecdotes' (as is de rigeur for this genre), but is, on the whole, a worthwhile read. Coming across as a self-help version of Nudge, the authors wield an array of techniques to help people create change in their lives as painlessly as possible. In doing so, they indirectly provide an evidential basis for David Allen's "Next Action" mantra, as suggested in Getting Things Done, but their focus is neither on the "nuts and bolts" of organisational management (which can lead to meta-productivity fetishism, as many GTD converts are prone to), nor on the sort of "flying with the eagles" nonsense that keeps Anthony Robbins in a mansion in Hawaii. Instead, the authors try and strike a balance between social psychology and "change your life" blue sky thinking. For the most part, they succeed admirably, and their approach ends up leading them to more sensible suggestions than the interesting -but wacky- 59 Seconds which itself purports to be based on hard science (or, at least, as "hard science" as psychological research can be). For those who like their self help rooted strongly in scientific research, I would probably recommend this alongside Brain Rules, but own it's own, Switch is still a worthwhile addition to the burgeoning genre of self-help-based-on-academic-research genre.
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars excellent book on change
An outstanding book on understanding both the psychology and practical application of change. The metaphor is brilliant and simple, allowing for broad application. Read more
Published 6 days ago by ko
5.0 out of 5 stars Must Read for everyone
I loved this book. This is a must read for anyone in business ... or otherwise managing people. It clearly articulates the issues with great case studies to make it's point. Read more
Published 8 days ago by Robert S. Webster
5.0 out of 5 stars Great
Very good insights into why people act the way they do. I already use it with my clients. Good buy.
Published 8 days ago by Dan Watson
5.0 out of 5 stars Believe the Hype
I highly recommend this book! This book has three great concepts that will facilitate SUCCESSFUL change. Read more
Published 10 days ago by L. BAZEMORE
4.0 out of 5 stars Simple guide lines and good supporting stories
I would recommend this book to anyone who desires change, personally or professionally, and wants clear and simple support. The metaphors are great and the stories are inspiring.
Published 13 days ago by Monisha Mustapha
5.0 out of 5 stars Must read
Simply awesome! Simple concepts that can be applied to personal and business scenarios. Well written and engaging. A must read.
Published 14 days ago by juanita
4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
I recommend this book. Its approach is somewhat different from every other theory out there about change management. Read more
Published 14 days ago by Dr. Alexis Vera
5.0 out of 5 stars If you want to change the world get this book
A Worthwhile Read. Everyone should find some ideas of value in this work. Change is always hard but techniques and solid examples are well worth your time.
Published 16 days ago by Rebel Six
5.0 out of 5 stars The Need for Change
I actually loved reading this book, based as it is in the reality of the need for all organizations to change, not for the mere sake of change but for the need to address certain... Read more
Published 19 days ago by Edward W. Rogosky
5.0 out of 5 stars So smart, so practical
The Heath brothers write in a way that is very smart--i.e., backed by research--but also with the reader's clear understanding as their goal. Read more
Published 19 days ago by Robert Stocking
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

Book Extras from the Shelfari Community

(What's this?)

To add, correct, or read more Book Extras for Switch , visit Shelfari, an Amazon.com company.


More About the Authors

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?



Customer Questions & Answers
Please make sure that your post is a question about the product. Edit your question or post anyway.



So You'd Like to...


Look for Similar Items by Category