Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Dan Heath. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Dan Heath. Mostrar todas las entradas

viernes, 2 de julio de 2010

Management Ebooks: "Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard"

Why is it so hard to make lasting changes in our companies, in our communities, and in our own lives?

The primary obstacle is a conflict that’s built into our brains, say Chip and Dan Heath, authors of the critically acclaimed bestseller Made to Stick. Psychologists have discovered that our minds are ruled by two different systems—the rational mind and the emotional mind—that compete for control. The rational mind wants a great beach body; the emotional mind wants that Oreo cookie. The rational mind wants to change something at work; the emotional mind loves the comfort of the existing routine. This tension can doom a change effort—but if it is overcome, change can come quickly.


miércoles, 21 de octubre de 2009

Management Ebooks: "Made To Stick"


What is that makes urban myths so persistent but many everyday truths so eminently forgettable? How do newspapers set about ensuring that their headlines make you want to read on? And why do we remember complicated stories but not complicated facts? In the course of over ten years of study, Chip and Dan Heath have established what it is that determines whether particular ideas or stories stick in our minds or not, and IMade to Stick/I is the fascinating outcome of their painstaking research.


Packed full of case histories and thought-provoking anecdotes, it shows, among other things, how one Australian scientist convinced the world he'd discovered the cause of stomach ulcers by drinking a glass filled with bacteria, how a gifted sports reporter got people to watch a football match by showing them the Ioutside/I of the stadium, and how high-concept pitches such as 'IJaws/I on a spaceship' (IAlien/I) and 'IDie Hard/I on a bus' (ISpeed/I) convince movie executives to invest vast sums of money in a project on the basis of almost no information.

Entertaining and informative by turns, this is a fascinating and multi-faceted account of a key area of human behaviour.
At the same time, by showing how we can all use such cleverly devised strategies as the 'Velcro Theory of Memory' and 'curiosity gaps', it offers superbly practical insights, setting out principles we all can adopt to make sure that we get our ideas across effectively.