Switch by Chip and Dan Heath - Notes

This page contains my notes, my reflections and various other references that would aid my readers. Finally my recommendation on the book.

Book: Switch - Switch - How to change things when change is hard

Authors: Chip and Dan Heath

Website: http://heathbrothers.com

Posts:

These posts are not a replacement for the book. The book is million times impressive and insightful. After reading these posts you might get an urge to buy the book but after reading the book you would like to change something. I would rate this book a five star (*****) and encourage all my readers to buy one. These posts should shed some light on your investment on this book and potential huge return on investment.

1. Book Review after first reading
2. Switch (Part 1) - Three Surprises
3. Switch (Part 2) - Direct the Rider, Find the Bright Spots
4. Switch (Part 3) - Direct the Rider
5. Switch (Part 4) - Motivate The Elephant
6. Switch (Part 5) - Shape The Path
7. Switch (Part 6) - How to keep the Switch going?
8. Found an excellent video review of the book in Youtube
9. Other Resources to aid in learning

!!! Happy Switching !!!

Switch (Part 6) - How to keep the Switch going?

This is sixth and final part of my reflections on the book - Switch. This is going to be a short post. Before reading this post, read other posts.

Once the change process has kicked in and you got the Elephants moving, the next thing to do is to convert the momentum to forward momentum. A long journey starts with a step but a step does not guarantee the long journey towards the destination. We need to constantly reinforce - "point and move towards the destination", "get the elephant moving towards the destination" and remove impediments by "shaping the path". We need to follow the pattern of Switch.

A good thing about a change is that once you moved it an inch from stationary, the change feeds itself. Once you start, the change favors you. The mere exposure effect and cognitive dissonance play their part to continue to push through the change (snow balling effect). The only thing that you need to ensure is to follow the pattern again and again - "direct the rider, motivate the elephant and shape the path".

The learning from the book is immense and i think the insights are so engrained that i would follow Switch framework in my life - personal and profession. I would like to thank Heath brothers was writing such a wonderful book that is quite engaging. Hope to read the other books.

Want to read all the posts on Switch. Click here

Disclaimer: I neither get commission for a writing review nor using Affiliation of any Bookstore. The whole purpose of these posts is to provide value to my readers and give them information to be better.

Switch - Video Review

Check this out - the review gives an overview of the book - Switch. This video provides quick overview of the book. I am sharing it here since i find it interesting and useful. This is published by Callibrain

Want to read all the posts on Switch. Click here

Disclaimer: I neither get commission for a writing review nor using Affiliation of any Bookstore. The whole purpose of these posts is to provide value to my readers and give them information to be better.

Switch (Part 5) - Shape The Path

This is the fifth reflection post on Switch by Heath Brothers. If you are the first time reading the posts  on the book - Switch, it might help to skim through other posts this, this, this and this.

Tweak the Environment - This is based on the premise that "What assumed to be a people problem is often situation problem". You see someone cutting across you at high speed and you curse him. You think that he is mad and yell at him. Do you think he is usually like that? We often see issues as people issues rather than situation issue. This is called as "Fundamental Attribution Error". The author discussed how to reward right behavior, making the environment easier for right behavior and making the environment little harder for bad behavior. The section provided ample case studies - Saints and Jerks Food Donation Campaign, Medication vests to keep nurses focused to reduce errors, Rackspace Fanatical Support. Haddon Matrix needs special mention on how the environment can be tweaked better (pre-event, event and post-event)

Build Habits - Habits are behavioral auto-pilots. Unless the behaviors are formed as habit, it is going to tax Rider and often needs Rider's supervision. Habits are environmental and mental. People are sensitive to environment and culture, we often try to fit to peer groups as behaviors are contagious. The second way of making habits is to have "action triggers". So it is very important to tweak the environment so that "expected" behaviors are formed as habits.

Rally the Herd - When you lead Elephant on an unfamiliar path, chances are it is going to follow the herd. Now, you need to create herd the way it is easier for change to happen. Make influencers and create free spaces so that the people flock together so that they build new identity.

Summary:

The first part of the book covers three surprises about change, the second part covers how to "direct the rider", the third part covers how to "motivate the elephant" and the final part covers the role of the path and how to shape the path. This part "Shape the Path" discussed three important elements related to environment that are absolutely stunning and insightful. I often feel that each section gives an increased impact with respect to understanding the change, people's behavior and response to change and how it can be tweaked to yield better results. This section is no different.

Want to read all the posts on Switch. Click here

Disclaimer: I neither get commission for a writing review nor using Affiliation of any Bookstore. The whole purpose of these posts is to provide value to my readers and give them information to be better.

New Year Resolution - Does it make sense?

Retrospection, questions and answers

1. Have you ever taken a resolution on new year eve? 
• Mostly yes. I often take every year since i became professional. Sometimes i share it with others and sometimes i do not share with others reason being "fearing failure". It looks like the goals should not to be made public.
2. Have you ever successfully able to keep up the commitment to yourself? 
• Yes for initial days/weeks and then it fades away. After few months, i hardly remember the resolution unless someone remind me
3. What is the motivation behind your resolution?

• I want to lead a better life. I think everyone has every right to be better and be happier. When i take resolution, it always give me a fresh thought and a fresh start. I feel that i can erase all the past and give my life a fresh start. I understand that it need not be a new year. But then it is a nice way to start a year so that we can review it mid way through the year.
4. How does it feel when you have given up resolution?
• It feels very hard. Though i smile, i really takes a toll on my self-confidence. I feel like i am an excellent starter & planner but a poor finisher.
5. What do you think is root cause of failing in resolution?
• There is no single answer. It is lack of experience, lack of ability to split the goals into minor critical accomplishments, lack of prioritization, lack of ability to connect emotional with the goal (Elephant), lack of understanding of tiny improvements & small wins, lack of commitment.
6. Is it still relevant?
• Yes, i do think that i am going to have very few resolutions.
7. How do you think that you will be different this year?
1. I need to think a lot. 
2. I should marry my long term goals to shorter term wins (Rider, Elephant). I should focus on one month at a time than a year (a lot of things can happen in a year but shorter periods are almost certain)
3. Focus should be on Health, Happiness and Skill building than making money.
4. Approach this more psychologically by forming habits rather than seeing this as end points. (For example losing 30 pounds should directly related to walking. Unless i form walking as a habit, i cannot lose 30 pounds.)
5. Whatever it is, i should share my progress with others.

Switch (Part 4) - Motivate The Elephant

This is fourth part of my review/learning while reading the book Switch and it forms a critical step for the change process. This post covers - Motivate the Elephant.

Before reading this post, please read previous posts - this, this and this.

If you drive any vehicle, have you ever wondered why it takes more energy to move the vehicle in first gear. Read this in Quora. The simple answer is - "more" energy is needed to overcome inertia. It applies to Change too. When you are about to Switch, the folks who need to undergo a change and responsible for the change have to beat their initial inertia. It needs a lot of motivation to embrace the change as the people are quite comfortable in status quo.

In previous posts, we saw that Elephant is powerhouse and actually works on getting things done. It gives energy to the change process. Without Elephant's energy (and motivation), the change process is very likely to be a failure. In this section, Heaths discusses three important methods of getting started with change and keep it going - Find the Feeling, Shrink the Change and Grow the people.

Find the Feeling - The section on "Find the Feeling" discusses the importance of appealing to Elephant and help Elephant make the first step. It is very difficult to make Elephant move with analytical acumen. We have to appeal to Elephant emotionally by SEE-FEEL-CHANGE. The case study of HopeLab is amazing and it conveys how appealing Elephant changes one's life. It also discussed the effects of "Positive Illusion" with a case study. It is very important to find the feeling - feeling of control and power, determination to fix the issues or undergo the change and being empathetic. For any change that is big, we need to get to the Elephant with positive psychology, fresh thinking, creativity and instill hope and optimism.

Shrink The Change - Why is it important to shrink the change? Because the Elephant feels that it is easier to "do" which is very important to beat the inertia. Not only does it help to beat inertia, it constantly helps Elephant to march towards the destination (remember sequence of bright spots?). The case studies on Hotel Maids and Free Car Wash are excellent examples for a head start and keeping the ball rolling. Two strategies are discussed here - Limit the investment (amount of time required to complete the tiny change) and Small wins (ensure that small wins are meaningful and within immediate reach).

Grow The People - One way to make Elephant to make feel big is to shrink the change. Another way is to actually grow the Elephant big (bigger than the size of change). In both cases, the Elephant feels that it is easier to get it done. The section gives out two models of decision making - consequences model and identity model and discusses why the identity model is so important during a change process. It also discusses building identities leading to people learning new things and why it is important to set expectations of failure when people learning (During the learning process people tend to fail. Every failure will demotivate Elephant and hence set expectation on failure during learning process). It discusses on two mindsets - fixed mindset and growth mindset (pain now, payoff later). The case study of minimally invasive cardiac surgery is simple awesome.

Summary:

Like previous sections, the section is also to the point and centered on critical case studies with some serious takeaway. After reading this chapter, you would certainly feel that you can catalyst a change (the chapter kindles your Elephant)

Want to read all the posts on Switch. Click here

Disclaimer: I neither get commission for a writing review nor using Affiliation of any Bookstore. The whole purpose of these posts is to provide value to my readers and give them information to be better.

Switch (Part 3) - Direct the Rider

This is concluding post on "Direct the Rider".

Review of Chapter 2: "Direct the Rider" - "Script the Critical Moves" and "Point to the Destination". (Click here to read all posts related to Switch")

Are you one like me takes a lot of time to decide when there are lot of choices?

Have you ever tried to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of a particular cell phone? Have you ever compared number of different cell phones on variety of parameters - "look and feel", "value for money", "technological features", "emotional feeling of feeling proud", "customer service" and so on. If you are stuck days or weeks in deciding which one to buy - you have been affected by "Rider's" weakness at least once.

The rational side of our brain pushes itself to endless cycle of analysis when there are more options (it doesn't matter whether the options are good or bad). Since the decision making is draining, the Rider quickly runs out of fuel leading to "spinning the wheels" (and taking enormous Elephant for a ride eventually dooming the change). The same happens where there is ambiguity in choices . In these situation the Rider is quite happy to continue with status quo.

How to mitigate this weakness? "Script the Critical Moves" and "Point to The Destination"

Convert the idea to specific behavior that are specific and concrete and provide a vision or compelling destination that is appealing to "Elephant" and engage the "Rider" to think how to reach there.

Another important issue discussed is "Rationalization" - finding excuses when the destination is not inspiring. And how setting Black and White goals would keep change process in tact.

Case Studies to note:

1. Chronic Hip Pain for Arthritis
2. Behring - Brazil Southern Railroad Turnaround
3. Crystal Jones - Third Grader
4. Laura Essermen - Breast Care Center

Summary:

The bright spots helps us to kick start with change process and helps us give the feeling that we are already there (and see it easy). The pointing to destination with prescribing the critical moves help us to keep "Rider" from analysis paralysis.

Impression: Both the sections are to the point and discusses mitigation of "Rider's" weaknesses backed up with case studies. Few of the ideas are higher level and it might take couple of reads to understand it well and apply it.

Another little thing that i feel is that "Point to the destination" should precede "Script the Critical Moves". The reason is when the destination is shown the Rider thinks how to reach there (Rider would get his thinking and scripting his critical moves).

Want to read all the posts on Switch. Click here

Disclaimer: I neither get commission for a writing review nor using Affiliation of any Bookstore. The whole purpose of these posts is to provide value to my readers and give them information to be better.

Switch (Part 2) - Direct the Rider, Find the Bright Spots

Review of Chapter 2, Section 1: Find the Bright Spots

There are more negative emotions words than positive emotions words in the dictionaries. The bad things stick in our minds relatively longer than good things. Bad things spread faster. This trait of human beings put us in disadvantage when it comes to making decisions. The manifestation of this trait during a change process is looking for complex solution for a complex problem. We look at problems - the scale of the problem and try to find a solution of similar scale.

Can the solution be simple? If so, How to make it simpler?

The authors claim that the above shortcomings can be mitigated with "Finding the bright spots". Once we have the bright spots identified, the next step is to learn from bright spots removing any exceptions and cloning bright spots. The entire change process can be sequence of bright spots.

Let us dig it further

There are couple of case studies in this section that are quite powerful. One of the case study is "Jerry Sternin's Solving Malnutrition in Vietnam". Sternin was tasked to address malnutrition of kids in Vietnam. There were numerous papers published before on discussing the problem. But the knowledge were knowledge in piece of paper but nothing changed. 

Sternin identified healthy kids among malnourished kids and there were clear differences in terms of what they eat and how they eat food. Sternin found the bright spot (local wisdom) and made community kitchens for mothers to learn how to keep their kids nourished. Within months, the kids showed marked improvement and this kitchen become laboratory and spread across the country. In this case study the authors clearly bring out why the bright spots are needed. Without bright spots how the Rider derails the change process (spinning the wheels and analysis paralysis). 

This case study and another case studies anchors the subject very well.

To sum up, this section conveys the following

1. Bright spots keep us moving without being stuck in analysis (without moving an inch from problem and not getting started with actual change process)
2. Change is sequence of bright spots
3. Transition from problem focus to solution focus
4. Archaeological problem solving to bright spot evangelizing
5. Solution-focused therapy to change behaviors,
6. Red flag: Focusing on bright spots can be counter-intuitive for business - Talks about Rider's weakness to see initial "good news" as "bad news" or as an anomaly.
7. Red flag: Rider's Weakness - Big Problem needs big solutions attitude

Impression: Very well presented and with some big takeaways. There shouldn't be a second thought to read this book.

Next: Direct the Rider (Part 3)

Want to read all the posts on Switch. Click here

Disclaimer: I neither get commission for a writing review nor using Affiliation of any Bookstore. The whole purpose of these posts is to provide value to my readers and give them information to be better.

Switch (Part 1) - Three Surprises

Review of Chapter 1

This is going to be another post on the book Switch. In this post i am going to quickly cover various ideas and insights in section 1 - Three Surprises. There will be 3-5 more posts on the book. The goal of writing the detailed reviews are as follows:

• Discuss the contents so that you can decide why i am recommending others to spend time on this book
• Internalize the ideas so that my recommendation is based on thorough reading and reflecting. Since i read this book for the second time. First time i did not take any notes. Since the subject and book is interesting, i started making notes.

Enough of reasoning. Let us move on.

The first section talks about "Three Surprises About Change". The section provides motivation to read the book further. I have bought many books in the past and hardly can complete any. But when i read the first section, i get the feeling that I should read this. The first section does a good job of giving an overview on Change - what is a good change pattern and what are common misunderstanding about impediments.

The first section introduces us our brain - "Rider" and "Elephant". Rider analyzes, thinks, provides direction and look into the future. Elephant gives us energy, motivation, love, compassion. It discusses few case studies why it is critical to involve both "Rider" and "Elephant" for the change to be successful. How "Rider" and "Elephant" derail the change.

The first section brilliantly demystifies the following the myths.

Surprise #1: What it looks like people problem is often Situation Problem

Surprise #2: What looks like laziness is often Exhaustion

Surprise #3: What looks like resistance is often Lack of Clarity

The following case studies are used as supporting materials

1. Stale Popcorn in Bigger and Less Bigger Bucket to discuss how the situation changes people's eating behavior
2. Clocky - The Running Rogue Clock to discuss Rider and Elephant fight
3. Chocolate Cookies and Radish to discuss exhaustion
4. Stegner's 242 Gloves to discuss what happens when Rider and Elephant are engaged
5. Making West Virginia to adopt 1% milk to be healthy to discuss the importance of direction
6. Saving 100000 lives by Donald Berwick to discuss what scripted change and a successful change

Sum up: Overall the first chapter is delight and sets the stage to read further.

Next: Switch (Part 2) - Direct the Rider, Find the Bright Spots

Want to read all the posts on Switch. Click here

Disclaimer: I neither get commission for a writing review nor using Affiliation of any Bookstore. The whole purpose of these posts is to provide value to my readers and give them information to be better.

Switch - Book Review after first read

Title: Switch - How to change things when change is hard

Authors: Chip Heath and Dan Heath

I was browsing to find good books on emotional intelligence. While was browsing through the book reviews, i found one of the sites recommending Switch. I did a brief research on authors, their credibility and Amazon reviews. I decided to buy this book. Initially i skim it through about one third and i found that the book was interesting.

After about few weeks, i again started to read the book. Having heard about quotes and perspectives about change like "change is only permanent" and usual boring stuff, i found that this book was interesting. The book talks about change and why it is hard. Some of the myths i had about change are completed busted with sound reasoning. I tend to believe that i can approach a change scientifically if i follow this book (that is after reading only few tens of pages).

The book is split into three parts - Direct the Rider, Motivate the elephant and Shape the path. Each part again split in multiple subsections. First part is how to get started with the change, the second part takes about how to keep going and what to do during the change journey. This book gives you a framework under broader perspective and numerous case studies, success stories and clinics (a quick problem and solution - before reading the solution you are encouraged to solve it on your own)

Are you trying to change something - in life (trying to lose weight, relationships) or at work (take part in change and be a catalyst etc). This book is must read for anyone who wants to understand science of change.

This book deserves another round of reading. I feel i should take notes and use it as a manual, try out in real world and see it working. Books are investment.

I would give a five star (*****)

Want to read all the posts on Switch. Click here

Notion of Role

I often hear from people about wanting an elevation in the role thinking that mere elevation would give us a career progression. The career progression is a sword and ultimately lead to suicide when there are no business need and an undue promotion (a different topic).

Let us dwell right into the "notion of role".

Unlike a drama or cinema, the role at work need not be restricted. The role is something what i believe that i would be doing (aspiration), what i should be doing (expectation), whether it pushes my abilities (performance) and whether i really like what i am doing (passion). 

Each one of us can aspire to become something. It doesn't mean that it is available right now. The second thing - the reality might be quite different from belief. I might believe that i am something and ready for something more. The reality could be different and there could be gaps. I might need to work on the gaps, be flexible to play better (efficient, try to solve the team's problem and create impact).

But to start with I feel it is very important to be flexible to contribute more. Flexibility (mindset or paradigm whatever you call it) could be a real game changer. The moment i become flexible, i really tune my antenna of learning and slowly expand my capacity which is very likely to give a career progression and role progression. There is a possibility of becoming a role MODEL.

Random Thoughts on "Add Value"

Having been in the industry for quite sometime, i took a lot of time to understand the true meaning of "add value" and practical meaning of "add value". I never shy away from being bold and often share my candid opinion with a caveat that i could be wrong. When i share, i understand my limitations in my own thinking and offer to correct my thinking flaws when an argument is made with evidence. This post need not necessarily my experience at my workplace. This is just a "how the world can be" thinking. 

Many people who manage people use these tricky words - "add value". I think, the statement "add value" is so abstract. Can you make it concrete so that understanding becomes easier? When you go abstract, you become more philosophical. The abstraction has to be an outcome of one's own thinking. It is outcome of your thinking when you play with few concrete things and you understand them. It can and should never be taught. When we say "add value", what do we mean by that? Have we clearly said what is basic expectation and what is value addition. Being in an industry where there is large human churn (due to attrition), being sticking to a company for few years is basic expectation and  serving the company for long years is adding value. can the mere presence be considered as "adding value"?

How will you convince a worker who is so passionate, who maintains a very low profile who thinks that he is doing something what is expected out of her. Here, "adding value" is built in. You cannot differentiate such worker and value. How can you define "add valuing" to such a person? Will you exploit him when she says "she is normal guy".

Why is that adding value never be practiced? When you have so many people under you, it is much easier to make noise, can you step up your contributions through critical thinking? Are you dare enough to say, "come on guys, fire my thought process, let us learn something new, thinking fresh is more important than value itself". You know, being an example takes a lot of pain and we have to endure a lot of pain. The commitment to remain painful is a way to "add value" to your folks. For example, you have endure the pain of no results for many months before seeing something. Are you prepared for it? When your team is in incubation, will you rally around it?

Unless we have such a commitment towards shaking up status quo, we can never be "adding value".

With my little experience, i infer that only rebel can add value in words and spirit and i also believe that the value driven out of such a person will never be visible. Because such a value will lead to paradigm shift.

Being with RIGHT GUY and turning UPSIDE DOWN

Changing the status quo needs a vision. You got to know where you want to go. It is your "point zero".

Only then comes the resources. Most of the times, you just don't commit to a change initiative thinking of resources. Resources are assumed to be available when you need them.

If you are convinced enough that you have to change and facilitate a change, the next important thing is being with RIGHT people. I m not saying you need to be with a visionary. I m just saying that you got to be with someone who sees tomorrow, next month or probably next couple of years. The way he is seeing may not be consistent. But the key is seeing tomorrow.

As long as he sees "some tomorrow", he is the guy and he is going to question you and probably shake things up to make tomorrow little better.

Be with RIGHT guy and turning UPSIDE DOWN would be a wonderful experience. You will simply love being part of such a change.

Democratization of Organization

There are two ways of getting things done - in your own way, dictatorially and in the way others like. With the machines, you can be dictatorial meaning that you decide when the machine has to produce products. Switch on the power, boot up the machine, make sure that all parts work in unison and the product is produced. It is a continuous system where the output is predictable. But in the place where human beings are involved and the factor of motivation/passion more appropriate than fear, democratization or knowing what people have in their mind becomes absolute need. Human beings are discrete systems and they become quite unpredictable as mind and emotions are involved. 

There are two reasons why you democratize anything. First is due to the fact that you cannot make decisions or you don't feel responsible for something that is going to happen and the second reason is that you want to democratize to align your people towards the vision - may it be vision of a company or a country or the mankind. The first reason actually paves way to collective irresponsibility (like the climate change where everyone talks but no one does anything) and the second approach involves a lot hard work (likes of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin  Luther King). In order for effective democratization to become reality, first we have to accept that we can achieve it after a lot of failures. Initially, people tend to misunderstand the process of democratizing before understanding it completely which at the initial stage results to a lot of failure. After the initial failures and if you rally around your people during the failures, the democratization takes shape and becomes effective.

What are the signs of effective democratization? If you have at least few souls who give back far more than what they take back and if the ratio of number of souls that give back to the number of souls take back increases as the function of time, then you are staging yourself for better democratization.

Organizational Entropy

Entropy (thermodynamics) is the energy that is not available for any useful work. Entropy in software measures the degree to which it is unordered, degree to which it can't be maintained. Entropy in organization measures the degree to which the workforce is unfocused & unordered. Though the field of application is different, by the very definition we understand that entropy is not a thing to boast about. The system continue to go in favor of entropy unless it is taken out in the form of heat.

Entropy in organization implies that energy that is available and that will eventually be spent on matters that is not so useful to the organization either be it taking too much of tea for a prolonged period in cafe or putting up a strategy in a conference with tea (or beer). All these are efforts which won't necessarily be converted to results. The next question that may come you mind - "is entropy same as that of being unproductive?".

Being unproductive is the result of having an entropy at higher side. Productivity is a metric that is measured after the event has happened. You have to wait for a week, a month, a year or until you have next meeting. But entropy measures how much of energy you have and what portion of it will be spent on things that will have little to no impact.

I feel like measure on entropy, and trying to reduce it, is a proactive approach than doing with measuring productivity alone. You better remove entropy periodically. Keeping a check on entropy increases the awareness and anticipation which in turn increases the probability of producing productive work/results.

Either in software or organizations, the entropy has to be worked against.

Related Links

Entropy in Thermodynamics

Entropy in Software