The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg. Charles is a columnist and senior editor at The New York Times. He won a Pulitzer Prize in explanatory journalism for the “iEconomy” series. This story examined the global economy through the lens of Apple.
After finishing Atomic Habits, this was an easy transition. Charles has the skill to tell a compelling story.
The Power of Habit begins with such a compelling story of a young woman at a medical laboratory. Over a period of two years she transformed her entire life. She quit smoking, successfully completed a marathon, and was promoted at work. Researchers observe patterns inside her brain fundamentally changed. How? She divorced and chose to change her life by adopting new habits.
Starbucks’ training programs reveal how personal change through adversity is possible. Companies can achieve new success when they focus on habit patterns.
When Paul O’Neill was hired to run Alcoa, he made waves on Wall Street. His stated top priority: improve the company’s safety profile. This is a great introduction to ‘keystone’ habits, a type of habit creates culture. Aluminum production is certainly not an easy process. O’Neill faced stiff feedback from the company’s Board of Directors. However his keystone habits drove Alcoa’s market value from $3 billion in 1986 to $27.53 billion in 2000.