By Sara Beggs, Exponent Philanthropy
I recently attended GEO’s 2014 National Conference and heard Charles Duhigg, award-winning New York Times business reporter who has spent more than a decade studying habits. His book The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business explores the science behind habits and how to change them. Not only were many of us thinking about our failed attempts to keep to our New Year’s resolutions, we were pushed to think about how habits affect the organizations we support and the field of philanthropy.
Duhigg made the case that understanding habits is critical to transforming organizations and communities. Based on recent discoveries in brain science, it has become clear that for bad habits to change and good habits to start, there must be appropriate cues and rewards in place.
The process of changing habits might look something like this flowchart from The Power of Habit (shared here with permission):
Remarkably, after a habit is formed, the reward might not even be needed. And even more thrilling is this: A good habit in one area (e.g., increased discipline in eating right) is likely to spill over into areas (e.g., increased discipline in sticking to a budget).
But how does all this relate to philanthropy? In so many ways.
