The Power of Moments is a guide to having more stand-out moments in your life and how those can change you. We all experience moments that catapult us in a direction, but do they have as much of an effect if we aren't paying attention to them? He received his B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from Texas A&M University and his Ph.D. in Psychology from Stanford.

The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extr… The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extr…

Some powerful defining moments contain all four elements. Think of YES Prep’s Senior Signing Day: the ELEVATION of students having their moment onstage, the INSIGHT of a sixth grader thinking That could be me, the PRIDE of being accepted to college, and the CONNECTION of sharing the day with an arena full of thousands of supportive people. (See the footnote for a mnemonic to remember this framework for defining moments.)” The Power of Moments helps readers decide what defining moments are and how to create life-changing defining moments.In this book, we explore why certain brief experiences can jolt us and elevate us and change us—and how we can learn to create such extraordinary moments in our life and work.

The Power Of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact The Power Of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary

You can’t appreciate the solution until you appreciate the problem. So when we talk about “tripping over the truth,” we mean the truth about a problem or harm. That’s what sparks sudden insight.” The emphasis is on creating positive experiences, but of course memorable moments can also be "pits" in contrast to the hoped for "peaks." One example described in the book was a program used in some places by John Deere that provides extra attention to making the first day for new employees extra special—letting them know that they are valued and welcomed. That reminded me of an instance in my own employment life when I showed up for work on the first day of employment at a consulting firm. When showed to my new office I found there to be no chair behind the desk. That provided me an excuse to meet other employees while scrounging for a chair, and consequently I remember that first day better than any other of my first days. It was a memorable experience, but still that's probably not the best way to treat a new employee. This book explores ways to make more memorable moments. It suggests that if we pay attention and work creatively, we have the power to turn ordinary occasions into extraordinary ones. It begins by outlining the elements of a “defining moment” with the following characteristics which happen to spell the mnemonic, "EPIC". • Elevate: Create moments that rise above the everyday.Our most memorable positive moments are dominated by four elements: elevation, insight, pride, and connection (EPIC) Personally, I do not. At least not the first part. I believe our lives are measured in the quality of our relationships, including the connection we establish to the world around us. (To be fair, connection is part of their formula, but its purpose is to create more defining moments, which is not how I use the term here.) I also question whether the WOW factor of defining moments is truly transformative. The moment is memorable, but is it the moment or the thing it represents—recognition, connection, trust—that is transformative? And, again, the process the author’s define, which I won’t articulate here here because they deserve the opportunity to lay it out in their own context, is built around some of these fundamentals. My point, again, is one of emphasis and the hierarchy of relative importance.

The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary

Break the script - defying people’s expectations of how an experience will unfold. But if you are doing this with people who experience one of your services/products regularly, need to introduce a bit of randomness. It’s strategic surprise. When you create shared meaning through responsiveness, you develop a purpose. This is as close as you get to a panacea when it comes to productivity. It’s also important to note that this chapter focuses a lot on how ties are deepened through adversity. If you go through something with a group of people, you’ll feel closer to them. The harder it is, the deeper the ties with them will be. In this chapter is also introduced the idea of “Responsiveness” and how it deepens relationships. There are three facets to this: (1) Mutual understanding, (2) Validation, and (3) Caring. A heart-breaking story in this sub-chapter tells us about a school in bad shape. For parent-teacher conferences, only 11% of parents attended. There was no investment from the parents, because they felt no investment from the school. There was little investment from the school, because they felt no investment from the parents. A vicious cycle. Under new management, the school went to each home and asked them questions that leverage these principles of responsiveness: What future do you see for your child? How do you think the school should approve? This is hardly new, but a good mental model for how to phrase the questions of importance. Parent-teacher conference attendance went up to 73%. This book made me question choices in my life. Do I take enough risks? What transformation would I need to make for risks to seem less scary? Are big opportunities really just chance? This book features captivating stories of people who have created standout moments: The owners who transformed an utterly mediocre hotel into one of the best-loved properties in Los Angeles by conjuring moments of magic for guests. Relief workers who beat a deadly health practice in one village by causing the locals to trip over the truth. The scrappy team that turned around one of the worst elementary schools in the country by embracing an intervention that lasts less than an hour."

I received an advance copy of The Power of Moments from the publishers but my opinions about the book are my own. When Blakely and her brother were growing up, her father would ask them a question every week at the dinner table: “What did you guys fail at this week?” “If we had nothing to tell him, he’d be disappointed,” Blakely said. “The logic seems counterintuitive, but it worked beautifully. He knew that many people become paralyzed by the fear of failure.” Boost sensory appeal - make it look and feel different: wear different clothes, have music, present something with white gloves. The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have An Extraordinary Impact written by acclaimed NYT bestselling author’s Chip Heath and his brother Dan Heath, is an engaging and exceptional book that combines the latest research from education, teaching, business, to technology with four basic principal concepts. These concepts shape and define our world, and can be applied to every aspect of our personal and professional lives.

The Power Of Moments - Heath Brothers Heath Brothers The Power Of Moments - Heath Brothers Heath Brothers

What did you guys fail at this week?” “If we had nothing to tell him, he’d be disappointed,” Blakely said.” Based on the price and the pre-launch publicity, however, this book is clearly seeking transformative status. It is competing among the best business books of the year. And that is the standard by which I have chosen my overall rating. If you are just looking for a good book by a reputable and successful author(s), this book will surely fit the bill. As the other Heath books, the structure is straight-forward. It dissects these moments into three broad categories: (1) Elevation of an experience where you build peaks, or break the script, (2) Insight, where you allow people to trip over the truth or help them stretch to gain knowledge, (3) Pride, by recognizing others and setting up work through small milestones that can be celebrated, (4) Connection by deepening ties through experience and developing a shared meaning with a group. I found THE POWER OF MOMENTS to be a fun read, with lots of practical ideas. I enjoyed the anecdotes that illustrate the principles. Don’t miss the story of how the Ritz Carlton took photos of the forgotten toy “vacationing” around the hotel. Each chapter concludes with a summary called the “Whirlwind review.” I found this summary to be a good recap of the points in each chapter.Connection. A fascinating study introduced in this chapter looked at what’s more important, passion or purpose. Passion is individual, purpose is shared by a team. People with high passion, high purpose, perform in the 80th percentile. People with high passion, low purpose, perform in the 20th. People with low passion, high purpose perform in the 64th percentile. If you lead a team of people, this should make you stop and think. Are you leverage the massive leverage a clear purpose has? If you ask on your team what the purpose of their work is, do they all know? Have you ever seen people with high purpose, but low passion, have output (I have)? When a story was read for life-guards about the importance of their job, they signed up for 45% more volunteer hours than when told a story about how the skills they were learning would help them in their career. Transitions should be marked, milestones commemorated, and pits filled. That’s the essence of thinking in moments.”