Two Books to Change People’s Minds

Not one, but two books in review today!

This September, I read two books focused on persuasion, negotiations, and change management. As someone who works in a corporate environment, I find these topics highly relevant.

“The Catalyst”

This book takes a broad approach, exploring what it takes to change anyone’s mind, not just in the corporate world.

According to Johan Berger, pressuring and pushing don’t work, which goes against the usual ideas about negotiations — even in intense situations like hostage cases.

“Instead, it’s about being a catalyst – changing minds by removing roadblocks and lowering the barriers that keep people from taking action.”

Berger points out five factors that prevent people from taking action or making changes: Reactance, Endowment, Distance, Uncertainty, and Corroborating Evidence.

He suggests working with these factors (different ones will come into play in different situations) to help lower barriers for others.

Another point from the book that really resonated with me is our proven need for freedom and autonomy. We all want to feel that our actions and lives are under our control, even though, as stoicism and cognitive behavioural therapy teach us, this isn’t entirely true.

To have any chance of changing a someone’s mind, it’s crucial to offer, or at least show the possibility of, a choice. It’s also essential that we feel heard and understood — it’s is not just about “me”, it is “you and I” being in this together.

“The Catalyst” offers so much more insight, and I’d say it’s the most practical, straight-to-the-point book I’ve read on this topic in a long time.

It’s a definite recommendation from me!

“Build, Excite Equip”

This book is more narrowly focused on a specific niche — change management in corporate organizations — with a specific audience in mind: change managers.

Nicola Graham runs her own consultancy focused on change management, and this book serves a useful step-by-step guide (build, then excite, then equip) on how to communicate change.

She goes in depth on all the key aspects of the process: mapping stakeholders, dealing with sceptics and lack of buy-in, keeping everyone informed.

The only thing I found lacking (and this might have to do with my own existential concerns) is the discussion of the broader, common reasons behind frustration with change initiatives:

• There have been many similar unsuccessful initiatives in the past (like IT projects), and quite a few of them
• Leadership’s overarching strategy is unclear, leading to misunderstandings about the reasons for a change
• In the end of the day, it feels like “just” another corporate initiative, like a new IT tool that makes work slightly more efficient. There’s not much to really get excited about.

These questions are still open to me, even after reading Nicola’s book. While this book serves as a great guide for executing change initiatives, I’m afraid it didn’t address how to handle those “background” concerns, which are likely to be relevant in many change projects.

I never post book reviews without a beer recommendation. Books and beers – it’s my thing.

I wanted to go with a beer that visually matches today’s books’ covers. It will be a pale ale from Omnipollo brewery (and their Omnipollos hatt bar) enjoyed in beautiful Stockholm last year.

What’s unique about this brewery is that brewing and graphic design are closely intertwined — much more so than with most other breweries, it feels like.

Stockholm is one of my favorite cities in Europe. My husband and I try to visit every year, but we didn’t make it this year — so this is a nice reminder to book a trip to Sweden next year.