How do we change people's behavior? Fast Company writer Alan Deutschman took his search to Dr. Ornish of the Preventative Medicine Research Institute, where previously-heart-attack-waiting-to-happen patients leave every day with sustainable lifestyle changes (smokeless, exercising, and dieting). Ornish's strategy to motivate is refreshingly different than the typical "you're gonna die if you don't change" fear tactic.

Here's why scaring people with death doesn't work:

the thought of death is just too much, people go into denial, people get depressed, and then people aren't sure that living a longer (and depressed) life is even desirable.

Ornish reframes the issue, by appealing to positive emotions. He talks about the "joy of living," and encourages people to enjoy the things that make daily life so pleasurable. He has effectively "re-framed" the issue. Read the rest of the article for more examples from business (IBM, Apple, and the NYTimes).

While we're sort of on the topic of smoking, teen smoking is down. How did it happen? Check out this Slate article on how this advertising campaign got teens to stop smoking. Similar to Ornish's strategy, they didn't appeal to the fear of death (what teenager doesn't feel invisible?), they appealed to their emotional need to be hip.

For teenagers, the fear of being uncool and unaware is greater than the fear of dying.

Both of these examples help us see that when we want to change someone's behavior, we have to appeal to their most poignant emotions. It's the same facts/information, just "re-framed" in a way that connects with them. Whether you're a doc trying to get a patient to change his life or you're an administrator trying to implement a new system or process for docs, the question becomes: do we know people well enough to identify the emotional aspects of any change we desire? Maybe we're getting ahead of ourselves. do we know ourselves well enough?

Change Agent Series:
101 Why preventative health doesn't work
102 Give people a new frame (not a new picture)
103 Revolutions easier than evolutions
104 Learn to play the accordian