I opened that The New York Times Books section yesterday, and there it was: Chip and Dan Heath's new book Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard was Number 1 on the "Advice" list (a list that is usually harder to get on than thr Nonfiction list). My reaction was "Holly Cow," or as as I wrote Chip, it was really "Holly Shit." Number 1! This is their second New York Times bestseller and second masterpiece in a row following the now classic Made to Stick. I read a pre-publication version not because Chip and Dan sent it to me, but because my wife Marina Park — CEO of the Northern California Girl Scouts — got a copy (along with thousands of other people like her in positions to bring about change). This is not only a brilliant marketing strategy, it means that the ideas are spread and will be used by people in positions to do the most good. As you can see from Marina's blog post, she found the book to be extremely useful in thinking about both her role and other social problems.
A toast to the Heath Brothers, two guys who have woven together evidence-based ideas and great stories to write two of the most useful books of our era. Indeed, many authors write about things they can do well themselves, but these guys not only write about ideas that spread and stick, and how to make change happen, they demonstrate their working knowledge of these topics by implementing brilliant marketing strategies. And on top of that, they are two of the nicest guys around.
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