Switch: Change Never Sleeps, Not Unlike the Heath Brothers

Switch: How To Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip & Dan Heath; Broadway, 2010

Chip & Dan Heath are brothers---brothers in business.

They are the bestselling authors of Made To Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die.  They are also regular columnists for Fast Company Magazine.

And they are brothers.  I wonder if my sons would go into business together and write bestselling books, and blog about stuff that millions of people read, and will keep their old man rolling in the green long after he quits earning.

I doubt it.

Switch is the newest offering by the Heath Brothers in their quest toward a more innovative, relevant and nimble business "model."  It's also an awesome read and full of straight up wisdom.  Switch sets up the analogy of a Rider that is trying to direct an Elephant down a Path toward change--an analogy that is carried throughout the book and into the prescriptive guidelines that the Heath brothers tout as vital for any leader navigating change with his/her organization.

The Heath brothers believe the following about leading change:

For things to change, somebody somewhere has to start acting differently.  Maybe it's you, maybe it's your team.  Each has an emotional Elephant side and a rational Rider side.  You've got to reach them both.  And you've also got to clear the way for them to succeed. 

Switch is not only a great read--mixing narrative with prescriptive in a way that engages and challenges the reader--it is just one part of the process for the Heath brothers.  If you travel to the website that they have set up for the book, you can find several resources that will enable you to continue applying the lessons learned in Switch long after you put it down.  The site is www.switchthebook.com/resources. 

If you are a leader in an organization, a church, a business, etc., and you are struggling to manage and facilitate much-needed change, then Switch is the next thing you need to add to your library.