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Note: New chapter added February 2011: Chapter 8: Find the right inviter

How we think about change matters.
As a generality, we change agents don't think about social change very clearly. Every one of us brings private, often unconscious, assumptions about what it takes to motivate other people to change. Learning to abandon that baggage and replace it with better intellectual frameworks is the foundation of good change work. That's what this book is about. It is (hopefully) an enjoyable crash course in the thinking needed to be an effective change agent.

It brings together what psychologists, activists and educators have learnt over the past few decades about the science and practice of changing people and societies. It's been quite a journey to make sense of these fantastically fragmented intellectual worlds. The many sciences and practices of working with people for change speak different languages, hold tight to their assumptions and resist the interbreeding that's necessary to meld them into something really useful. With only a few leaps of speculation I've tried to do this. The result is a general model of change which benefits from the tremendous depth of knowledge and experience of thousands of actors and scholars over the years.

As I've just become a new dad, it looks like I'm not going to have a chance to get this book ready for publishers in the immediate future. So I've decided to publish an exposure draft online. I hope you enjoy it. I'm keen to hear your feedback, suggestions and corrections.

This material is copyright, so don't reproduce it without permission. I'm perfectly happy for short extracts to be reproduced. Just ask me first. Email me on les@enablingchange.com.au

Comments welcome

This is an exposure draft. Your comments and suggestions are very welcome. Please email to les@enablingchange.com.au

Contents
Some chapters are available for download now.

Chapter 1) Changing the world

When individuals act on their hopes and dreams, their lives improve. When large numbers of people act, history happens. Although new technologies, social reforms, wars and revolutions seem to be the great drivers of social change, the real "what happens" is that large numbers of people start doing things they've never done before.

Chapter 2) Common folk beliefs
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Why it's so easy to be wrong about other peoples' motives.

Our assumptions about the motivations of other people are frequently wrong and sometimes disastrous. The culprits are our pervasive, often unconscious, worldviews and biases. Two biases which are especially toxic for change efforts are Man is Bad Bias and Heroic Agent Bias.

Chapter 3) The social immune system
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Why tell, sell, and threaten rarely work.

Humans come with a powerful social immune system, standard in all models, that protects us against unwanted attempts to influence our behaviour. This immune system produces two potent immune responses: denial and resistance. They explain the failure of most "tell, sell or threaten" attempts to change human behaviour.

Chapter 4) First, start a buzz
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How nothing happens without conversation.

The historic campaign against slavery, a more recent case of mass public disobedience, and the interesting tale of Iowa corn seed point to the power of conversation to influence human behaviour. No buzz, no change. Are there rules for generating buzz? Yes. Emotionally touching stories are the essence of buzz. But not all buzz is the same. "Up buzz" leads to change, "down buzz" stifles it. Being able to encourage "up buzz" is vital for change, and hope is the key.

Chapter 5) Intersect with hope

The story of student pranks leading up to the collapse of the Milosevic regime is a chance to reflect on how change arises from thwarted hopes. When peoples' hopes are blocked, frustration and guilt are the result. This is good news for change agents, because practically everyone is frustrated, guilty or dissatisfied about something in their lives. Hope is what every successful change effort has offered its participants. We understand hot hopes and how to work with them.

Chapter 6) The art of stickiness
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How the product is more important than the message.

If you want to win people's loyalty and energy you need to satisfy their hot hopes. Chances are, satisfying at least one of three uber-wants - control, time and connection - will make all the difference. But beware of Heroic Agent Bias and make sure you reality-test your ideas. Ultimately, success is about designing behaviours or products that are a good fit for peoples' lives not how cleverly you market them. Harnessing the power of reinvention is your key to spreading successful products and behaviours.

Chapter 7) Expand the comfy zone

A refusal to dance the Salsa reminds us how even the simplest actions can scare the pants off people who've never done them before. There are many proven techniques for lowering peoples' fears of change, including familiarity, personal control, goals and feedback, enjoyment, discussion with peers, social proof, commitment, labelling, and incentives. These techniques are explained and illustrated with fascinating real life examples.

Chapter 8) Find the right inviter
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Stories about Jamie Oliver, Al Gore and Richard Branson suggest how the person who issues an invitation may be more important than the invitation itself. Who are the best inviters? The evidence is that people who are passionate, similar, connected, respected and powerless are the best inviters. We look at how to find the right inviter and the elements of a persuasive invitation.

Chapter 9) Bringing it all together

This chapter brings these themes together into a general model of social change with five elements: buzz, desire, can do, invitation and satisfaction. We see how you can activate these elements the next time you try to change the world.