The Power of Fifty Bits
The New Science of Turning Good Intentions into Positive Results
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $1.99
Publisher Description
Going beyond the bestsellers Predictably Irrational and Thinking, Fast and Slow, the first “how to” guide that shows you how to help customers, employees, coworkers, and clients make better choices to get what they truly want.
Of the ten million bits of information our brains process each second, only fifty bits are devoted to conscious thought. Because our brains are wired to be inattentive, we often choose without thinking, acting against our own interests—what we truly want. As the former Chief Scientist of Express Scripts, a Fortune 25 healthcare company dedicated to making the use of prescription medications safer and more affordable, Bob Nease is an expert on applying behavioral sciences to health care. Now, he applies his knowledge to the wider world, providing important practical solutions marketers, human resources professionals, teachers, and even parents can use to improve the behavior of others around them, and get the positive results they want.
Nease offers a set of powerful and effective strategies to change behavior, including: Require Choice—compel people to deliberately choose among options Lock in Good Intentions—allow people to make decisions today about choices they will face in the future Let It Ride—set the default to the desired option and let people opt out if they wish Get in the Flow—go to where peoples’ attention is likely to be naturally Reframe the Choices—set the framework people use to consider options and choices Piggyback It—connect the desired choice or behavior with something they already like or are engaged in Simplify . . . Wisely—make right choices frictionless and easy, make wrong choices more difficult And more.
Customer Reviews
A unique perspective on the complexity of the human mind, intention and action.
Most people have good intentions, but very few are able to execute. In his book, Bob Nease defines how the human brain can process about 50 bits a second and much of our bandwidth taken up by processing short-term decision and basic survival issues. Making the hard decisions, moving out of our comfort zone, dealing with ambiguity and unpleasant tasks all require significant mental and physical effort. As a result, vey few have a clear long-term vision and fewer still a roadmap.
Nease points out that inattention and inertia are frequently at odds. While most have a notion of what they would like to achieve, our default setting is to focus on busy work, eating, short term gratification and delay the more complex longer-longer term. As a result, our daily actions and activities frequently contradict the who, what and where we would like to be. “We are wired for inattention and inertia”, says Dr. Nease, the roots of many of our failures to achieve the results we want.
Express Scripts made understating why people take actions a core-competency. Dr. Nease is a brilliant scientist and engineer who merges real-world experience and academic training to provide a proven framework for moving beyond intentions to positive actions.
The Power of Fifty Bits is transformative, provides a blueprint for a conscious effort and structured approach to break out with seven strategies designed to bridge the gap between our good intentions and our actual choices and behavior. The idea is to start with what the designer wants from the user and change the environment so that bad behavior is harder to do and good behavior is easier.
The Power of Fifty Bits provides a framework that can transform lives, business and society with incremental, common-sense and low-cost approaches to leading change. Dr. Nease is an example of designing and living the life he imagined. After a successful career, he is living the life he imagined on a vineyard in Italy. He provides us the roadmap in The Power of Fifty Bits: The New Science of Turning Good Intentions Into Positive Results. I recommend this book, with a glass of wine from Nease’s Tutto Doppio Farm & Vineyard.