If you want to completely change your destiny, where should you start? Or, when a very complex problem is presented to you, where should you start? In this issue of
, we are going to talk about a method to leverage major changes with the least cost. This method is - changes core habits, pays attention not to change all bad habits, but to change the core bad habits.
What are core habits? How can it affect you? There is a real case in the book The Power of Habit.
Alcoa is the world's largest aluminum products company, with operations all over the world. You may not have heard of the name of this company, but you must have drunk Coca-Cola, and they made the cans for Coke.
As early as the mid-1980s, there had been serious management problems within Alcoa, which led to a sharp drop in profits and many customers were taken away by competitors. The board of directors decided to hire a new CEO to change the situation. The name of the new CEO invited by
is Paul O'Neill, who is also the former Treasury Secretary of US . On the first day he took office, shareholders expected him to come up with some brilliant strategic plans to change the company's poor performance. There was only one thing mentioned in his inaugural address, and that was how to fix the security issues of workers . Nothing was said about products and services, cost and profit, cooperation and competition, not even a word to boost morale. All
board members were fooled, thinking that this guy was either an overdose or a funny guy invited by a monkey. The company has fallen into a serious crisis, and many important issues have not been resolved, but what are you doing with security issues, some shareholders are completely disappointed and even start to sell the company's stock.
Although everyone was unanimously opposed, the new CEO O'Neill resolutely implemented his plan and concentrated all efforts to improve the safety measures in the production process. What is the final result of
? After a few years of
, the company's net income has increased by 5 times, and its market value has reached 27 billion US dollars, and it has become a leading enterprise in the industry again. While
is developing rapidly, the frequency of work-related accidents at Alcoa has also dropped to 5% of the US average, making it one of the safest companies in the world.
What is the situation, and why a policy that seems to be completely irrelevant to business operations can transform a troubled and precarious company into a win-win enterprise of profit and safety?
The answer is that O'Neal broke a core habit.
Let's take a look at what happened to Alcoa in the process of solving safety problems:
First, in the past, the company had at least one work-related accident every week, and every accident would cause workers' morale to be low and production to drop. . When safety issues were improved, workers were much more motivated than before.
Second, most security incidents are caused by the unreasonable workflow and . In order to eliminate potential safety hazards, the workflow has to be improved, thereby improving the overall production efficiency.
Third, the company has tried to improve the production plan many times in the past, but it is always difficult to implement it because of the opposition of the workers, and sometimes even lead to large-scale worker strikes. But later, when all policies were based on the safety of workers, the workers were willing to cooperate, and the conflict between superiors and subordinates was alleviated, which improved the execution of the entire company.
Fourth, in order to fundamentally eliminate potential safety hazards and achieve the goal of zero work-related injuries, the management needs to actively collect feedback from front-line workers. Not only has an efficient communication mechanism been established, but many workers have also put forward some suggestions for improvement that are not related to safety. , creating an atmosphere in which good ideas are emerging, and information exchange between levels is smoother.
Fifth, because the company headquarters is far away from the factory, employees have to use the internal software system to discuss security issues, so that the system can be continuously improved and perfected, and later this system is often used to deal with other business issues , and finally formed a complete set of enterprise management information system, which made the company several years ahead of other competitors in terms of informatization. O'Neill, the new CEO of
, said that our time and resources are limited, we cannot do everything, and we cannot force others to make changes, so we can only focus on solving one core problem, and the final result will cause a chain reaction and drive other problem solving.
In fact, whether it is a person or an enterprise, there are always some habits that can drive and reshape other behavior patterns. These habits are the core habits. The
core habit is a switch that, once activated, like dominoes, eventually changes everything. Another example is mentioned in the
book:
Researchers at the University of Rhode Island in the United States say that for many people, the movement is a core habit that can cause widespread change. Based on 10 years of survey data, researchers found that exercise habits have a significant impact on all aspects of daily life, and even exercising only once a week can unknowingly change other behaviors.
For example, some people have changed their bad eating habits because of regular exercise, some people have better sleep quality, and some people have even given up smoking, alcohol and credit cards, and are more patient with their families, etc.
So the first thing you need to do to get a major change is to find and break a core bad habit. The power of
habits is so powerful that, to a certain extent, it can almost determine a person's fate. A Duke University report released in 2006 pointed out that 40% of all people's daily behavior is not due to decision, but out of habit. Jobs also said that in the first 30 years of your life, you develop habits; in the last 30 years of your life, your habits determine you. Once a
habit is formed, it is not easy to change it, and what is even worse for is that a bad habit often leads to a second and third bad habit, until it pushes people to desperate ; on the contrary, a Good habits will also bring more good habits, making excellent people better and better.
Of course, some friends may ask, I know what my biggest problem is, but what should I do if I can't change it? Here I recommend you to read the "The Power of Habit" book we are talking about today. The book not only explains in detail what the basic principles of habit formation in the brain are, and based on this, summarizes for you What are the golden rules for changing habits, step by step to help you break old bad habits and build new good habits.
