Switch: How to change things when change is hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

May 2013
Pages: 294

Yet another in a series of "work books" that I've read in the last year or so.  This is another good one, despite or perhaps because it could also be classified as a self-help book.

Switch talks instead about to make change happen either personally or professionally, using a very generic framework.  Basically, you need to align your intellect, your emotions, and your environment to enable changes to happen and to stick.  In the words of the central analogy of the book, to make changes you need a rider (the intellect) directing an elephant (your emotions) along a smooth path (the environment).  If any one of these elements is out of sync, you may fail to make the change you plan.

And that's it really, except for an explanation of how to effectively direct the rider, motivate the elephant, and shape the path, along with a number of illustrative stories.  For an example of how to direct the rider, consider the fact that we're all prone to analyzing failures when we're thinking about how to move ahead.  But that can lead to paralysis....try  "following the bright spots" instead.  That is, what has been going right, and is there a way to replicate that?  The authors give an example of a researcher trying to figure out how to attack child malnutrition in Vietnam.  It was obvious that poverty was the root problem, but were there poor children who did better than others? As it turns out, yes, some poor children were much better nourished because their parents fed them in non-traditional ways.  It was far easier and faster to get those parents to educate the others about preparing yam greens and rice-paddy caught shrimp than it was to raise all of the children out of poverty.  Following the bright spots allowed an immediate solution to a pressing problem.

The book is filled with similar striking examples, as well as guidance about which kinds of situations lend themselves best to an approach that leads with emotions, the intellect, or the environment.

I liked the book.  It is simple, and practical, and appears to be based on sound research.  I've already started using the framework at work, and so far it seems to be working.  Weird:  a change management book that might actually be worth reading!