Book review: Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, by Chip and Dan Heath.
This book uses an understanding of the limits to human rationality to explain how it’s sometimes possible to make valuable behavioral changes, mostly in large institutions, with relatively little effort.
The book presents many anecdotes about people making valuable changes, often demonstrating unusually creative thought. The theories about why the changes worked are not very original, but are presented better than in most other books.
Some of the successes are sufficiently impressive that I wonder whether they cherry-picked too much and made it look too easy. One interesting example that is a partial exception to this pattern is a comparison of two hospitals that tried to implement the same change, with one succeeding and the other failing. Even with a good understanding of the book’s ideas, few people looking at the differences between the hospitals would notice the importance of whether small teams met for afternoon rounds at patients’ bedsides or in a lounge where other doctors overheard the discussions.
They aren’t very thoughtful about whether the goals are wise. This mostly doesn’t matter, although it is strange to read on page 55 about a company that succeeded by focusing on short-term benefits to the exclusion of long-term benefits, and then on page 83 to read about a plan to get businesses to adopt a longer term focus.
Howdy from an old friend dating back to the days of the Auger House.
We haven’t been in touch since JFK was President. I see from your website that you’ve had some exciting changes and adventures.
I also left Northford and went on to have lots of fun, including bike messengering in San Francisco (you get in great shape with the hills!), the US Army (avoiding the 1st gulf war by less than a year), and the tech boom (19 years with Microsoft Corporation, with three US Patents and a banquet of stock options).
From time to time I visit the Bay Area. Let me know if you want to get in touch. My social email is in your reply field, and I’m also on Facebook.
– Percy
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