by Chip and Dan Heath
One of my favorite real-life case studies is about Alexandre Behring, charged with rescuing a a Brazilian railroad company in deep financial trouble. Alexander has to change the company and change it fast. But how? There are thousands of decisions that must be made to save a company, every one carries the weight of possible fatal error, it can be paralyzing. To deal with this, Alexandre lays out four unbreakable rules that he and his team will follow to navigate the recovery. With stringent rules, managers at all levels can make decisions easier, quicker.
One of the rules was “use what we’ve got”, reuse and recycle materials already owned before buying anything new. This led to pulling up track on an abandoned line so they could fix track on a popular line.
Another rule was “faster is better than best.” Quick fixes may not hold long term, but they kept the trains rolling, which kept more cash flowing in than out.
These and the two other rules may not be the ones a healthy company would operate under but they helped everyone at all levels stay focused on increasing revenues until they could get to a place of stability. This case study is found in the chapter called “script the critical moves”.
Humans are creatures of inertia, wary of the unknown. Getting people out of the well-worn groove is extremely difficult. “Switch” is full of mind opening theory and practice to enable change, for teams, companies, communities, or just yourself. Every couple years I listen to it again for a tune up.
Another chapter focused on making changes to solve deep institutional problems. How would you attack problems like generational poverty or regional malnutrition? Organizations, no matter how big or deeply funded, rarely make a dent in these issues. The book’s answer?
Bright spots.
Stop studying what is broken, instead find what is already working. In a community where all the children are undernourished, an intrepid program manager asks around to find out if any children are healthy. Sure, the villagers all knew and pointed them out easily. One ordinary family has healthy children, they are a bright spot. So, he found out what made them healthy and coordinated community classes to replicate it. Hint: the resources needed were in the village the whole time.
Powerful stuff. Highly recommended. Don’t wonder if this is for you, if you are human, it is.
Interesting, thought-provoking, entertaining, vacation read, practical, easy to digest
Book: 322 pages
Audio Book: 7 hours, 43 minutes
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