Ch ch ch ch changes

If you’re looking for a gift for someone on your list who likes to read, I’ve got a suggestion for you. While authors (and brothers) Chip and Dan Heath proved their relevance in their first New York Times bestseller Made to Stick—a book about why and how only the best ideas survive—their second book is about something we help our clients do all the time: ignite change.

Rocky relationship? Dysfunctional workplace? Public opinion not on your side? Let’s face it: change is hard. There are some Myers-Briggs types that will resist change with every ounce of energy they have. Others embrace it. But neither type of personality necessarily understands how to bring about change in others.

The book is called Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard. (You can read the whole first chapter here.)

Of course, change is not only hard, it’s complex too. The Heath brothers understand something we have to convince y'all of all the time: creating change is not as simple as presenting a logically sound case; it involves overcoming the attitudes, emotions, motivations and fears of your audience.

Throughout the book, Chip and Dan use a simple metaphor about an elephant and its rider (BTW, did you hear that there was an elephant in Nicole Richie’s wedding over the weekend?) to help dispel key misconceptions about change:

Our emotional side is an Elephant and our rational side is its Rider. Perched atop the Elephant, the Rider holds the reigns and seems to be the leader. But the Rider’s control is precarious because the rider is so small relative to the Elephant. Anytime the six-ton Elephant and the Rider disagree about which direction to go, the Rider is going to lose.

The bottom line is this: successful changes share a common pattern and by learning that pattern, you can begin to create the kind of change you’re longing for.

I liked that the authors made their points through a combination of research and storytelling (and thereby backed up the entire premise of the book!) Reading it sparked tons of new ideas about how I could tap into the change efforts I’m currently working on with my clients at SE2.

So whether your gift recipient is a volunteer at a local nonprofit, serves on a board of directors, or is leading a change effort at work, he/she can certainly benefit from this easy read that will shed new insights on the psychology behind change and how to harness the pattern of successful change for their own efforts.

Merry merry!

P.S. I'd like to thank David Bowie for inspiring the title of this post.