Chip Heath's Blog, page 4

From Floyd Norris in the NYT:

This week I checked the Web sites of the four largest banks in the country — Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo — to see what they were offering on an ordinary savings account, say, one with $5,000 in it.

Chase, the retail operation of JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo were offering 0.05 percent. That $5,000 would produce monthly interest of almost 21 cents. If you left such an account untouched for 20 years, and rates stayed where they are...

Our latest Fast Company column was sparked by a provocative public health ad:

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In the piece, we wonder whether sugary sodas will be the next cigarettes…

Come see Chip tomorrow (3/17) in Houston or Dan next week (3/30) in Durham.

Both are free and open to the public.

So far, we've had 322 people donate over $7,500 to Teach For America through our promotion. Thanks to everyone who has donated! You'll all be receiving a free Switch book soon.

There are 3 days left to get your donation in — the promotion ends at 5pm Eastern on Tuesday. Give $20 or more to Teach For America and get your free copy of Switch!

This week we have Switch tour events in four different cities. Chip will be in:

- Los Angeles on Wednesday Mar 10; and

- San Diego on Thursday Mar 11.

Meanwhile, I'll be in:

- Atlanta on Wednesday Mar 10; and

- Chicago on Thursday Mar 11.

All the events are FREE. We'll give a talk on "How to Change Things When Change Is Hard" and then hang around to talk or sign books. Hope to see you there!

If you've ever read research about "choice paralysis" you've probably been reading about the work of Sheena Iyengar (we talk about her speed dating and 401k studies in Switch).  She has a beautiful new book out about her work and the broader cultural consequences of choosing.  You'll learn that not every culture venerates choice like Americans, and her insights will be useful to you if you work in a global organization, deal with global consumers, or just want to see the world through keener ...

If you have any patience at all for academic articles, you'll find this one captivating. Three researchers find that when we are confident about our impulse-control abilities, it backfires on us, because we allow ourselves to get into tempting situations — and then we end up caving. Whereas people who are more skeptical about their self-control will tend to avoid those temptations altogether. (By the way, don't miss experiment 3 — a comical case study in temptation involving smokers and the J...

If you love Teach For America then you'll love this offer: Donate $20 to TFA and we'll ship you a free copy of Switch. The free book is our way of thanking you for supporting an organization that has spurred so much positive change in the school system. (BTW, the money goes directly to TFA and you will be able to claim the charitable tax deduction for whatever you donate.)

Only two disclaimers: 1. We can't ship outside the U.S. (Sorry about that. We're funding this out of pocket and it just...

Here's more than you'd ever want to know about Switch:

REVIEWS: … Wall Street Journal … Chris Brogan … Katya Andresen … Publisher's Weekly … Care2 … Time Magazine

INTERVIEWS: … Inc. Magazine … Mojo Mom podcast … Author podcast series [requires registration:] … Dave Ramsey [link coming soon:]

EXCERPTS OR ARTICLES: … The first chapter of Switch … Fast Company: The "bright spots" excerpt … Parade Magazine: "Make Changes that Last" … Open Forum: Five Ways to Make Change Easier … TechCrunch: "The War...

In Switch, we point out that what looks like a "people problem" is often a "situation problem." Here's a great story from a 3rd-grader teacher who came to that conclusion when he noticed that another teacher's students were doing a better job getting their assignments in on time…