experiencelifemag.com Print › | Back › Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard By Chip Heath and Dan Heath (Broadway, 2010) January-February 2010 Looking to make a change in your life? Bewildered why past attempts haven’t worked as well as you might have liked? Pick up this latest book by change experts Chip and Dan Heath (authors of the 2007 bestseller Made to Stick). You’ll realize that it’s less a matter of will than of strategy — how you go about balancing and interweaving the rational, emotional and environmental forces that make or break change attempts of all kinds. In Switch, the Heath brothers describe the split between the conscious rational self (what they call the “rider”)  and the unconscious, instinctive and emotional self (the “elephant”). And they demonstrate that we need to appeal to both players if we want to succeed in changing anything, whether it’s breaking the junk-food habit or transforming a failing organization. The book offers all sorts of brilliant change strategies that satisfy both the mind and the heart, showing how the rider responds to clear direction and the elephant to ample motivation, and how both respond to environmental cues and social support. Rich stories, fascinating research and clear examples appeal to both the elephant and rider in all of us. If this is your year to make real change — personal, professional or social — this smart, entertaining book can be a powerful tool to help you make it happen. Want to learn more about this book? Listen to editor in chief Pilar Gerasimo's interview with Switch coauthor Chip Heath in our multimedia center.

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard

By Chip Heath and Dan Heath (Broadway, 2010)

Looking to make a change in your life? Bewildered why past attempts haven’t worked as well as you might have liked? Pick up this latest book by change experts Chip and Dan Heath (authors of the 2007 bestseller Made to Stick). You’ll realize that it’s less a matter of will than of strategy — how you go about balancing and interweaving the rational, emotional and environmental forces that make or break change attempts of all kinds. In Switch, the Heath brothers describe the split between the conscious rational self (what they call the “rider”)  and the unconscious, instinctive and emotional self (the “elephant”). And they demonstrate that we need to appeal to both players if we want to succeed in changing anything, whether it’s breaking the junk-food habit or transforming a failing organization. The book offers all sorts of brilliant change strategies that satisfy both the mind and the heart, showing how the rider responds to clear direction and the elephant to ample motivation, and how both respond to environmental cues and social support. Rich stories, fascinating research and clear examples appeal to both the elephant and rider in all of us. If this is your year to make real change — personal, professional or social — this smart, entertaining book can be a powerful tool to help you make it happen.

Want to learn more about this book? Listen to editor in chief Pilar Gerasimo's interview with Switch coauthor Chip Heath in our multimedia center. 

Print | Email | Comment | Subscribe | Give a Gift