I have been picking up highly recommended books for years on business-y topics that seemed interesting. However, until a couple months ago when I found a position as a data scientist at Mashey, reading most of them had never topped my to-do list. One of those books was called "Influencer: the new science of leading change."
The book is impressive to me for carefully articulating how little it takes to really create change, but also the complexity behind those small differences. I have noticed that it really does seem to be the small things that determine outcomes, but had not fully articulated what made that set of small things special. In the book the authors describe those things as "crucial behaviors." They give examples of settings where a leader was able to articulate and change one or two problem-specific behaviors which stopped the spread of disease, got inner city kids successfully through college, and many other cases.
While many business books lay out a roadmap to success that may or may not work, this one covers an approach that feels very familiar to me. As an example, I have found that while the everyday interactions matter for my kids, there are pretty infrequent "critical moments" where if I notice and take the opportunity, I can teach them something really important. Further, the whole premise of this blog is that if you can identify the right problem to solve, you will be much more successful in your projects.
I actually am jumping the gun a bit on posting this since I've only made it through part 1 of the book so far, but the framework is genuinely inspiring to me. Hit me up in a month and I can give you the complete run-down.
It's been a month. I demand satisfaction! Or not, it's up to you.
ReplyDeleteWhat are some of those "crucial behaviors" or "critical moments"?
I've now written this response and been thwarted by technology twice... Hopefully the third time is the charm.
ReplyDeleteOne example from the book which you've written about as well is how to lose weight / be healthier. In that case, the critical moment is when you find yourself faced with a choice of enjoying something this moment for sure, and enjoying some vague probabilistic benefit in the future. The crucial behavior would be to resist that temptation so you could achieve your longer term goals.
In the book, there are 6 tools of influence. Personal, social, and structural: motivation and ability. So, a person faced with one of those choices who is motivated and able personally, who has people around them encouraging them, and has structural opportunity, will find it easy to resist the temptation to indulge in the present. Someone without those resources will find it much more challenging to meet their goals.
I also found out towards the end of the book part of why it resonated so much for me. Industrial Engineers get a special mention for focusing on that structural piece which is often missed. A lot of our focus is on how you design systems to naturally get the right behavior from people.
Thanks for asking! I will definitely be writing more on this topic, but it's a bit tricky to figure out how to really do the book justice.