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.
Charles tells the funny story how Pepsodent claimed to remove the film you feel on your teeth, which is a natural process. Claude C Hopkins, a noted pitchman made a ‘habit’ by changing the perception of using Pepsodent versus not brushing. The pitch stuck and Pepsodent was a best seller.
The Procter & Gamble Febreze story was a bit different. From a marketing perspective this was a simple case of making a significant investment in a product that did not deliver. Again the marketing teams had to find a way to make the investment pay off. Fully aware of the habit story for Febreze, but felt this was not very solid.
Charles did deliver with a story of determination in the face of great adversity. This habit proved to other talented people how long term dedication to change results in achieving success. Tony Dungy was by many measures a successful football player and coach. However the mark of success in the NFL is Super Bowl trophies and Dungy had zero. Yet his relentless dedication to change the habits of his players, Dungy won the 2006 Super Bowl trophy.
The Power of Habit has a basic premise. Success is based upon how habits work. Habits are not automatic however in a modern connected world transformation is indeed possible.
Microsoft Research: The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
TEDxTeachersCollege: The Power of Habit: Charles Duhigg