The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do and How to Change

In brief – a well‐written book on an important and interesting topic – I commend it to the audience.

And now the longer version.

The topic is not one that I had considered before in any detail, either in my personal or professional life. As a learning and development professional, I am often in the situation of working with people to help them to behave differently. This may be by changing their decision‐making processes, or having better conversations with their work colleagues, or in the routines they adopt when managing a project. On other occasions, I am working with departments or companies to help improve their ways of doing things. We may look at the culture in general, or the culture that has built around specific activities.

Charles Duhigg's book has made me think seriously about how I will approach some of these assignments in the future. Anyone who works in a similar field or who has an interest in introducing change within an organisation may also be influenced by this book.

Charles Duhigg is an investigative reporter for The New York Times. He is a graduate of Harvard and Yale and has spent time working in private equity. From the biographical details in the book, he seems to be fairly new to the field of authoring books. However, don't let this put you off.

The book is divided into three main parts, plus a section of 60 or so pages at the end with more extensive notes about some of the earlier text. The first part focuses on the individual, the second on organisations and the third on society. In each case, he uses examples to show the point that if we understand how habits work, we can use this information to change habits.

Starting with the individual, the basic premise is that a lot of what we do is the result of habit rather than conscious thought. He defines habits as the choices that all of us deliberately make at some point, and then stop thinking about but continue doing, often every day. There are good reasons for habits to develop. For one, they free the mind up to concentrate on other things. In this part of the book Duhigg explores the neurology of habit formation. He uses examples of individuals whose habits have been studied in detail and of how companies have understood our habits to sell more of their product. He outlines the basis model of habits: a cue for the subsequent activity; the behaviour itself and the reward that the person gets from performing the behaviour. He also looks at a further influence that drives the habit and that is craving for the reward. This is all fascinating stuff.

The second section of the book takes the story into the world of organisation. He uses half a dozen extended case studies plus numerous smaller examples to make various points. These case studies range from the success story of a chief executive who turned around the fortunes of his company by concentrating on one “keystone habit” (health and safety) to the lesson's learned from examination of inappropriate culture within a hospital and within London Underground (both of which have now improved).

The third and shortest part of the book moves the investigation to a higher level. Here Duhigg examines how the early days of the Civil Rights Movement in America, when Rosa Parks refused to stand on a bus. This led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, when thousands of residents boycotted the buses in the town. He unpicks the events, and shows the specific elements of the story that propelled it from the actions of one woman to a national movement that resulted in significant societal changes. In a final intriguing chapter, he contrasts the stories of a man who killed his wife whilst he was asleep to that of a woman who became a compulsive gambler. The man was judged not to be operating under “free will”. He asks if the same should not be thought for the compulsive gambler.

Stylistically, the book reminds me of the writing of Malcolm Gladwell (The Tipping Point, Blink). He tells a good story and backs this up with masses of research. This is quoted where appropriate and left to the notes section where not. He indicates when he has had co‐operation from the participants in the case studies and likewise he indicates when he has not. He gives us the science, he gives us the examples and he gives us practical advice as to how to approach habits. He doesn't claim to provide a “quick‐fix” solution (“Change your life/your company in 5 easy steps”) and does acknowledge that some habits will take considerable effort to change. However, he does give practical advice, both for individuals and for companies.

As I mentioned, I think this is a valuable book for the learning and development community. It can be helpful particularly for coaches/mentors and for those involved in introducing change within an organisation.