The Vine

I scored an advance copy of Chip and Dan Heath’s next book, Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, due out Feburary 2010. (You probably know the Heath brothers from their previous bestseller, Made to Stick. If you haven’t read it, buy a copy now. It’s remarkable.)

I’ll honor the authors’ request to not quote or review the pre-release galley, but there’s one idea in particular I can’t resist exploring here:

What looks like a people problem is often a situation problem.

In other words, we frequently conclude that people behave the way they do because it’s their fundamental nature—that’s just the way they are—when in fact behavior is largely influenced by circumstance or environment.

Case in point: roundabouts. Unlike the traditional, four-way intersection, which is regulated and stop-and-go, a roundabout is inherently cooperative. To drive through one, you have to be more aware and accommodating of other drivers. And while roundabouts don’t necessarily reduce the number of collisions, they dramatically reduce the severity of them.

Roundabouts don’t make us better human beings. But they do, apparently, make us better drivers.

I don’t mean to oversimplify change. It’s hard. But in many cases, the way to make it easier is by addressing the situation, not the person.

If you want to lead people to a particular outcome, shape the path that gets them there.