The Milkshake Moment - Book review

Finished reading "The Milkshake Moment" by Steven S. Little. The book is about Overcoming Stupid Systems, Pointless Policies and Muddled Management to Realize Real Growth. Stupid systems and Pointless policies is my favorite topic. Steven does a good job of presenting the problems created by organization 's systems & policies and how they hinder it's growth. Its surprising as to how a company which wants to give the best experience to its customer, ends up doing exactly opposite and becoming its own enemy.

On the flip side, I feel the book lacks the depth in demonstrating stupid policies and systems. It focuses only on those policies/systems which have a direct impact on customers and sidelines the one's which may not be associated with customers but have significant impact on the way employees work. Also the book doesn't really offer much on how to overcome stupid system/policies. Instead it gives case studies where he was happy with some incident or customer service and speculates as to how the leader demonstrated some quality or lack of it. On the contrary, when I think about it, I feel the book "Simplicity" by Edward de Bono, offers more solutions to overcome complex systems in organizations. He makes a very important point that, most systems are not built by keeping the right users/beneficiary in mind. If we do that, the process/policies/systems will be more simple and meaningful.

On an all, its a good book to read. It at least makes us realize how an organization's own systems and policies can drive away customers.

Switch

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, is a book written by Heath brothers and claims to help bringing change in people. By now, I have read quite a few books written by psychologists/psychiatrists. They all have a typical pattern - first a framework is proposed or certain claims are made and then case studies are presented, analyzed to justify the claim or the framework. Switch is no exception.

The common belief about bringing change is that its people problem, that they are lazy and resist change. The book first denounces these myths associated with change and presents us with a different perspective as indicated by three simple rules given below:
1. What looks like people problem is often situation problem.
2. What looks like laziness is often exhaustion.
3. What looks like resistance is often lack of clarity.

The above three rules and the subsequent road map for change is built on "the Elephant and the Rider" metaphor introduced by Jonathan Haidt. The road map or the framework as Heath brothers calls it, is a collection of methods to address each of the above three items. Each method is backed by case studies to demonstrate their effectiveness and help us understand them better. Its all about simple ideas or inspiration which can bring powerful change. And change, not just in an individual but in an organizations and even a whole country.

What I learned from this book is that to bring a change in others, there has to be a change in me. A change in my perception about where to begin and how to bring the change. It fits perfectly with what I learned 7-8 months back: "The real problem is not the problem itself, its our inability to think beyond our perception".
And I believe the methods proposed in the book, will help me see beyond my perception.

Switch: A must read if you are struggling to bring a change at home or at workplace.