Quotes from Chip Heath

to make changes stick, we've got to think about shaping the Path.

learned that lesson the hard way when his company tried to introduce a third-pound burger at the same price as the McDonald's quarter-pounder. More than half the customers thought they were being ripped off. "Why should we pay the same amount for less meat?" they said.

When you appeal to the Rider inside yourself or inside others you are trying to influence, your game plan should be simple. First, follow the bright spots. Think of the Vietnamese children who stayed well nourished against the odds

Best of all, bright spots solve the "Not Invented Here" problem.

Know what your listeners care about, so you can tailor your communication to them.

We are frequently blind to the power of situations.

The value of the new A&W burger depended on consumers comparing two fractions: 1/3 and 1/4. But fractions are difficult for everyone, because they're parts of things as opposed to whole objects. We like to count things, and fractions don't equal "things." So, we jump to the closest available whole numbers. 4 is bigger than 3, so we mistakenly infer that a 1/4-pounder is a bigger burger than a 1/3-pounder.

Rounding early means sharper recall in the end.

Once people are on the path and making progress, it's important to make their advances visible.

Rule #1. Simpler Is Better: Round with Enthusiasm.

Rule 2. Concrete Is Better: Use Whole Numbers to Describe Whole Objects, Not Decimals, Fractions, or Percentages.27

Don Berwick, with his 75-person team at IHI, had convinced thousands of hospitals to change

encouragement is critical, because it's self-reinforcing.

5/11 is about half. 217 is about 200.

One study of corporate mergers and acquisitions—some of the highest-stakes decisions executives make—showed that 83% failed to create any value for shareholders.

we've seen that a credible idea makes people believe. An emotional idea makes people care. And in this chapter we'll see that the right stories make people act.

they'd saved 122,300 lives—the equivalent of throwing a life preserver to every man, woman, and child in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Deadlines focus our mental spotlight on a choice. They grab us by the collar and say, If you're gonna do this, you have to do it now.

By using the miracle scale, you always have a clear idea of where you're going next, and you have a clear sense of what the next small victory will be. You're moving forward, and, even better, you're getting more confident in your ability to keep moving forward.

What looks like a people problem is often a situation problem. And no matter what your role is, you've got some control over the situation.

It's like Tolstoy's quote: "All happy families resemble each other, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." All

To change someone's behavior, you've got to change that person's situation.

the core of the matter is always about changing the behavior of people, and behavior change happens in highly successful situations mostly by speaking to people's feelings.

Tweaking the environment is about making the right behaviors a little bit easier and the wrong behaviors a little bit harder.