3:25ish PM
Chip and Dan Heath are authors of Made to Stick and the upcoming Switch the latter of which is the subject of the interview.
Change is not always unwanted; having kids brings great change, getting married brings great change. Change is filled with conflict. Part of us wants to diet, part of us wants a cookie. Part of us sees the need and wants to change, part of us wants to keep the status quo.
There are two systems in our brain that can be pictured by a human rider on top of a 6 ton elephant. To make progress, there has to be an agreement between the goals of the rider and the goals of the elephant. The short term goal of the elephant has to be utilized by the long term goal of the rider in order for their to be success (at least I think that’s how the illustration went).
In a time of change, look for the one or two things that are working and study them and then clone them. It proves that something is successful. The bright spots are proof that the church can solve its problems.
1. There is a clear asymmetry between the size of the problem and the size of the solution. The small solution comes into play when the elephant sees what it can do, “Let’s go to the next village,” rather than what the rider wants to do, “We need to go two hundred miles.” (I’m having to expand some thoughts to compensate for some very brief sentences the Heaths are using.)
2. Shrink the change.
When change occurs there is usually a predictable pattern.
