Transcript of The Elephant, The Rider and the Path - A Tale of Behavior Change

Psychologists know that there are two

systems in our brains, the rationalsystem and the emotional system.

Jonathan Haidt,

who's a psychologist at NYU, came up witha great analogy for these two systems.

He said, Think of your brain asa human rider atop an elephant.

The writer represents the rational system

that's the part of usthat plans and problem solved.

The writer might do some analyzingand decide, hey, I want to go that way.

But it's the elephant representing

the emotional system that providesthe power for the jury.

The writer can try to leadthe elephant or drag the elephant.

But if these two ever disagree,who would you bet on?

The elephant has a six ton weightadvantage, and it's exactly that power

imbalance that makes adoptingnew behaviors very hard.

If you want this duo to head a newdirection, you also need to think about

the path which representsthe external environment.

This duo is more likely to complete

a journey if you can shorten the distanceand remove any obstacles in their way.

So bottom line,

if you want to lead change,you've got to do three things

give direction to the riders knowledgeof how to get to the destination.

You've got to motivate the elephant,which means tapping into emotion.

And finally, you need to shapethe path to allow for easy progress.

That's how change happens.