And that’s the charge for all of us: to defy the forgettable flatness of everyday work and life by creating a few precious moments.” While I believe, after reading the book, that you can create an enhanced opportunity for defining moments, I’m not convinced it’s the best or safest investment of time and resources. After all, both time and resources are limited in every organization (and in every life). If you spend the same amount of time and effort building trust in your organization, would the ROI be better? I think so, and that is not to say that you can’t build trust through defining moments. It’s a matter of emphasis and line of approach. Moments of insight deliver realizations and transformations. They can be small and/or serendipitous. But you can also create them.

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

If you want to be part of a group that bonds like cement, take on a really demanding task that’s deeply meaningful. All of you will remember it for the rest of your lives.” I found the chapter on creating elevating moments especially interesting. The authors provide a recipe on creating such a moment: 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. Responsiveness encompasses three things: Understanding: My partner knows how I see myself and what is important to me. Validation: My partner respects who I am and what I want. Caring: My partner takes active and supportive steps in helping me meet”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.

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

Chip Heath is the professor of Organizational Behavior in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. What makes a relationship strong? When you perceive that your partners are responsive to you. In three ways: (1) Understanding: My partner knows how I see myself and what is important to me. (2) Validation: My partner respects who I am and what I want. (3) Caring: My partner takes active and supportive steps in helping me meet my needs. The Power of Moments helps readers decide what defining moments are and how to create life-changing defining moments.This is the great trap of life: One day rolls into the next, and a year goes by, and we still haven’t had that conversation we always meant to have. Still haven’t created that peak moment for our students. Still haven’t seen the northern lights. We walk a flatland that could have been a mountain range. It’s not easy to snap out of this tendency. It took a terminal illness for Gene O’Kelly to do it.” While human lives are endlessly variable, our most memorable positive moments are dominated by four elements: elevation, insight, pride, and connection. If we embrace these elements, we can conjure more moments that matter. What if a teacher could design a lesson that he knew his students would remember twenty years later? What if a manager knew how to create an experience that would delight customers? What if you had a better sense of how to create memories that matter for your children? 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.

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

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.

In studies, star employees tended to have a strong sense of meaning attached to their work. It’s the difference between Purpose and Passion. If people have high passion but low purpose, they will often be poor performers. But if they have high purpose and low passion, they can still be strong performers. Of course, high purpose and high passion = best results. In the book, we have two goals: First, we want to examine defining moments and identify the traits they have in common. What, specifically, makes a particular experience memorable and meaningful? Our research shows that defining moments share a set of common elements. Second, we want to show you how you can create defining moments by making use of those elements. Why would you want to create them? To enrich your experiences. To connect with others. To make memories. To launch your life or your career or your team in a new direction." The book applies a formula that has become universal in the world of modern business management and the consulting that drives it: Every problem/opportunity can be solved/leveraged by analyzing the data, discerning the patterns, and applying them to future or potential data sets. It’s not a bad framework, per se, but I don’t personally feel it applies equally in all situations. Some problems/opportunities just don’t lend themselves to such a conscious and rational process. Defining moments, I believe, are one of them. 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.