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Showing posts from July, 2011

Switch by Chip Heath and Dan Heath (Book Review)

Switch is a smoothly readable and deceptively simple book about making lasting change. To set the stage for change, the authors contend that you need to do three fundamental things: speak to people's rational site and provide direction, appeal to people's emotional side and stir feelings, and shape the way forward. It doesn't matter if the change is directed at a person, group, or organization - the principles are basically the same in all instances. I loved the clear-headed logic in Switch and the many anecdotes of everyday people who achieved dramatic change results. For example, there's a teacher who helped motivate under-performing first graders by challenging them to perform as well as third-graders . Then there's a manager who helped executives feel the need to drive down purchasing costs by literally stacking 424 different types of gloves on a conference room table to show the different prices and glaring lack of economies of scale. There are also stori