A short time ago, I finished reading Switch by Dan and Chip Heath, and I can honestly say I loved every second of this book.
The book focuses on the mandatory elements to effectively creating a change – in your personal or professional life or in your company or organization.
**Elephant, Rider, and Path**
Switch investigates triumphant change efforts by assigning metaphors to separate factors of people's personalities plus the environment that surrounds them.
The metaphor utilised in Switch was initially from a book called The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt (I haven’t read this book yet for myself, however it’s been added to my continually growing inventory of required reading!).
I could truthfully go on forever about the details of this metaphor, as It is my opinion it's nothing short of brilliant, but I’ll attempt to keep it concise.
In a nutshell, your personality is made up of two major components (much like Freud’s ego and superego) – an Elephant as well as a Rider sitting on that Elephant’s back holding the reigns and attempting to lead the Elephant along.
Every so often the Elephant and the Rider don't always have the same opinion on what direction to go in - regrettably the Rider is only zealous enough to pull the Elephant along for a small stretchof time.
Dan and Chip Heath depict our "Elephant" side as the portion of our mind that's prone to emotional responses and tendencies, as well as our inclination to "go with the flow" and react without truly thinking things through first. Our “Elephants” represent action – not contemplation or analysis, just reaction to the world surrounding us.
The Elephant's downfall is that while it alwaysrelies on emotions, instincts and habits we occasionally need to create changes that do not go hand in hand with those tendencies. It becomes essential to give our Elephants a push in the right direction from time to time.
This is where the Rider comes in. His job is to direct the Elephant along, even when the Path (which is the third part of our metaphor) isn't so easy to travel.
The Rider is the Elephant's opposite. While the Elephant relies on feelings and instinct, the Rider specializes in analysis as well as "big picture".
The Rider's greatest challenge is spending too much time weighing his options. He can easily get caught over thinking things and spinning his wheels when what we actually need to do is ACT.
The final component to Haidt and Heath's metaphor is the Path, used to describe the environment surrounding th changes we try to make in our lives. Things that effect the Path can include the attitudes of others, social norms, laws and systems - or any other factors that impact the changes we are making.
**Seeing The Metaphor In Action**
Applying the different components described above to a change in your life is described in the book as a three step process:
* Motivate the Elephant
* Direct the Rider
* Shape the Path
The book is broken into three sections based on these steps. Essentially, you need to get the Elephant moving, give the Rider a clear destination to travel in (preventing him from spinning his wheels) and shape the Path you’re traveling on to eliminate or avoid obstacles.
All three of these sections is further broken down into three smaller pieces, and the book is full of examples of all off the different components.
As you read, the authors introduce you to wide variety of changes (and the people behind them) that they studied while writing this book. These changes range from individuals to companies, from departments to entire corporations and governments.
**Why This Book Works So Well**
Let’s be honest – the principles this book are based on aren’t the kind of thing that sounds exciting to everyone. In spite of that fact, the authors did a very good job of making it an extremely entertaining book to read.
The simple fact the book is broken into well organized sections – and those sections broken into unique stories that make a point and reinforce each other – keeps the content of the book fresh and interesting from beginning to end.
The authors also managed to add in plenty of notes of humor that make it easy to forget you're reading a "self help" book, because you are consistently engaged and entertained.
Dan and Chip Heath do a amazing job of drawing parallels between different varieties of change efforts, allowing you to see some of your own habits and tendencies as they exist on a national or corporate level.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that this book is loaded with moments that leave you thinking “Yup. I totally do that…”
All in all, this a great read for anyone who has a habit they don’t like, or something they think they need to improve in their life or their business (which I think covers pretty much all of us ;) )
Author Resource:
Switch by Dan and Chip Heath is a great book for anyone considering starting an online business . Lynne and Chad have read this and many other great books that they review on their blog.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/rss.jpg "XML Feed For RSS")