
Switch, by Dan and Chip Heath, is a book about how to motivate and influence change without using power. If you’re an HR pro, that’s an essential skill to have.
You may remember Dan and Chip from my review of their book Made to Stick. Because I reviewed their last book, they were kind enough to send me a free copy of their new one.
This is one of my must-read books of 2010. I loved it!
Here’s the summary:
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This is part of a multi-article series on the book Made to Stick.

Photo by Paul L. Nettles
Last week, we talked about how you can use surprise to get people’s attention. But how do you keep their attention once you get it?
Today, we’re going to talk about another emotion: curiosity.
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This is part of a multi-article series on the book Made to Stick.

Photo by caribb
If you’ve ever been on a plane, you’re familiar with the safety announcement that flight attendants are required to make before the plane takes off. And if you’re like most people, you probably tune the flight attendant out. The information is pretty important, but no one cares.
What if you were asked to make the safety announcement? And what if you actually needed people to listen to you? What would you do?
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This is part of a multi-article series on the book Made to Stick.

Herb Kelleher, the longest-serving CEO of Southwest, once told someone, “I can teach you the secret to running this airline in thirty seconds. This is it: We are THE low-fare airline. Once you understand that fact, you can make any decision about this company’s future as well as I can.”1
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This is part of a multi-article series on the book Made to Stick.
It was 1961, and the United States was in the middle of the cold war. For years, the US had prided itself on being the most technically advanced nation in the world. But at that moment, Russia was beating them in the race to space.
In May of that year, President John F. Kennedy gave an address to congress, outlining how he felt America could maintain its leadership during the cold war. He requested funds for various strategic goals – everything from international aid to civil defense.
But he ended his address with a very unexpected statement:
I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.
JFK’s idea – send a man to the moon and back in less than a decade – unified a nation and helped drive ten years of incredible scientific achievement.
Made to Stick
Why do some ideas stick while others refuse to catch on. That’s the subject of brothers Dan and Chip Heath’s book, Made to Stick.
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