KNOWLEDGE SEMINAR REPORT

ON BOOK

“CHANGING MINDS”

HOW TO GET ANYONE TO AGREE WITH YOU

WRITTEN BY

“HOWARD GARDNER”

BY,

MOHIT KUMAR GUPTA -11031

PGDM - 2011-13

ContentsIntroduction:..........................................................................................................................................3

Seven factors of mind changing:............................................................................................................4

1-Reason:...........................................................................................................................................4

2-Research:........................................................................................................................................5

3-Resonance:.....................................................................................................................................5

4-Representational Redescriptions:...................................................................................................5

5-Resources and Rewards:.................................................................................................................5

6-Real World Events:.........................................................................................................................5

7-Resistances:....................................................................................................................................5

How our minds change:.........................................................................................................................5

Intelligence:...........................................................................................................................................6

When we change our minds:.................................................................................................................7

Political leaders:....................................................................................................................................7

British Prime Minister Margret Thatcher:..............................................................................................8

American leadership style:....................................................................................................................8

Corporate executives :...........................................................................................................................9

John Chambers of Cisco:........................................................................................................................9

Indirect leaders:...................................................................................................................................10

Schools:...............................................................................................................................................10

Mind changing up close:......................................................................................................................11

President George W. Bush:..................................................................................................................11

A change of ideology:..........................................................................................................................11

Damascus, Luther, And the Fundamentalist changes in faith:.............................................................12

The future of Mind Changing:..............................................................................................................12

1-Wetware:......................................................................................................................................12

2-Dryware:.......................................................................................................................................12

3-Goodware:....................................................................................................................................13

Introduction: Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner, a leading expert on cognitive theory, offered a framework for understanding exactly what happened during the process of changing a mind. He explained how our minds changed gradually.

The author thought this book as a synthesis of his cognitive psychology with special reference to changing minds. The author thought that primary audience will be readers in education and psychology but he was surprised to know that the primary readers were business people. Even more surprise came to the author when he received a call from Ralph Nader who was campaigning for presidency and the campaign had not been going well. The caller said that Nader was interested in changing of minds of public and press with respect to his candidacy. However another call from advertising agency, a business man of restaurant seeking to change the fast food eating habit of Americans, a high level commission on national security, charged with altering the beliefs and work habits of five thousands intelligence officers. However, when he was writing that book, he had not given any moment to any of these audiences. Even he had never thought that this book will became a major issue in the presidential election. But perhaps the reason was the publication of book at that time makes the author an instant expert on presidential election.

Changing the minds of others is an important process in the world of business whether leader trying to keep a work force from resisting a significant change or a manager trying to convince a colleague to approach a task in a new way, or even a salesperson trying to convince consumers to change brands.

Minds are exceedingly hard to change. Ask any advertiser who has tried to convince consumers to switch brands, top management who has tried to change a company’s culture, or any individual who has tried to heal a rift with a friend. So many aspects of life are oriented toward changing minds.

According to the author, there are four entities of mind changing – stories, theories, concepts, skills. These four entities play an important role in mind changing. Changing minds occurs in different ways as our knowledge of the brain continues to accumulate at an impressive rate, this knowledge is being mobilised in efforts to change individuals minds from products they buy and to the political parties they support.

The author main focus is on the people who succeed in changing minds, but he also considers peoples failed efforts in changing minds as political leaders, business man and other aspiring minds changer. In a way leader, teacher and media personality plays an important role in

minds changing. The minds brings discussion at all because a key to minds changing is to produce a shift in the individual’s mental representations means the way particular way in which the person perceives, codes, retains, and access information.

Seven factors of mind changing: Howard Gardner has identified seven factors that are called as seven levers that could be at work in all cases of a change of minds.

1-Reason: A rational approach involves identifying relevant factors, weighing each in turn, and making an overall assessment. Reason can involve sheer logic, the use of analogies, or the creation of taxonomies.

2-Research: Complementing the use of argument is the collection of relevant data. The research only needs to entail the identification of relevant cases and a judgment about whether they warrant a change of mind.

3-Resonance: An idea resonates to the extent that it feels right to an individual, seems to fit the current situation, and convinces the person that further considerations are unnecessary. Gardner also points out that rhetoric is a principal vehicle for changing minds. Rhetoric, he explains, works best when it encompasses tight logic, draws on relevant research, and resonates with an audience.

4-Representational Redescriptions: A change of mind becomes convincing to the extent that it lends itself to representation in a number of different forms, with these forms reinforcing one another.

5-Resources and Rewards: Sometimes mind change is more likely to occur when considerable resources can be drawn on. Although positive reinforcement means an individual is being rewarded for one course of behaviour and thought rather than the other, unless the new course of thought is in harmony with other criteria, Gardner writes, it is unlikely to last after resources run out.

6-Real World Events: An event might occur in the broader society that affects many individuals, not just those who are contemplating a mind change. These include wars, hurricanes, terrorist attacks, or economic depressions.

7-Resistances:While it is easy and natural to change one’s mind during the early stage of life and it becomes difficult to alter one’s mind as the time passes. The reason is that we develop strong views

and perspectives that are resistant change. Not all factors help a mind change. Any effort to understand the changing of minds must take into account the power of various resistances that inhibit a mind change.

These seven factors play crucial roles in mind changing. As we look at individuals cases of successful and unsuccessful changes of mind, these various factors at work in distinctive ways.

How our minds change:In true, minds are very hard to change , yet in so many ways we are oriented towards doing that as convincing a colleagues to approach a task in a new way, or trying to change our own prejudices. Some of even are involved in a professional way in the changing of minds as the sales man or advertiser who try to convinces the consumers to purchase their because their brands are better, the teacher introduces students to new ways of thinking about a topic. However leaders are the people who frequently change our minds frequently.

Our minds change at every moment of our life but these are not all changing of minds. Changing of minds occur while we are sleeping, playing or any task we are doing. Changing of minds is for the situation where individuals or groups abandon the way in which they have customarily thought about an issue of importance and henceforth conceive of it in a new way. So, if i decide to read the sections of newspaper in a different order, or decide to lunch at noon rather than at 1o’clock then these activity are not as significant change of minds. On the other i always vote for Democratic Party and today onwards i decide to vote for Republic party and campaign for it or i decide to leave college to become a pianist then it is under the category of significant change of minds. Significant change of occurs when someone brings about a mental shift in minds.

Most of us from our childhood operated under the following assumption that, when confronted with a task, we should divide approximately equal time to each part of task. He According to this “50/50 principle”, if we have to learn music or be a master of a game or complete a task, we should spread our effort equally across the various components. This 50/50 says that we should spend the same amount of time on each person, each customer, each employee, each project and each component of project. Psychological go so far as to claim that this equity principle is part of the mental architecture of our species. There is cultural support from earliest childhood for the notion that one should devote attention equivalently.

Now take another perspective that is proposed that is known as “80/20” principle. According to this principle, one can in general accomplish most of what one wants – perhaps up to 80% of the target, with only a relatively modest amount of effort and only 20% of expected efforts. In addition to this one should avoid to inject equal amounts of energy into every part of task, problem or hobby or to lavish equal amount of attention on every employee, every friend.

But now the question is this, why should anyone change his minds from 50/50 principle to 80/20 principle. Research shows that, in most business 80% of the profit come from 20%

percent of the products then clearly it make sense to devote attention and resources to the profitable products while dropping the losers. In most business group, the top workers produce far more than their share of profits, thus one should reward the top workers while trying to ease out the unproductive ones. The same type of situation applied to customers, the best customers or clients account for most of our success, while the vast majority client or customers contribute little to our bottom line. But the question is how we know that which 20% to focus on. In other words, we can say that chances are high that you are beginning to change your mind about previous beliefs and accept the principle of 80/20.

Intelligence: Many of us like Albert Einstein also report that vital thinking occur in imagery. Now the question is what the forms of thought are. We take in information through our eyes, nose, hands, nostrils etc. In addition to this actual thinking takes place in a number of different forms that rely on the sensory organs. The author studied various kinds of individuals under varying condition. The author developed a view of intelligence that was multydisplinary in the analysis of anthropology which abilities have been valued and fostered in various cultures during different eras and evolution and study of individual’s differences.

As a result of this analysis, the author arrive at a definition of intelligence that an intelligence as a bio psychological potential to process specific forms of information in certain kind of ways and term intelligences that allow them to solve problems . Rather than claiming that intelligence is the same in all time and places, the author consider that human being value different skills and capacities at various times and under varying conditions. So, individuals are not equally smart or dumb under all circumstances, rather they have different intelligence under different conditions.

Now how multiple intelligences are relevant to mind changing? A change of minds involves a change of mental representations. If I change your idea of intelligence, I am altering the idea images concepts and theories by which you are accustomed to thinking of intelligence. The more of an individual’s intelligences you can appeal to when making an argument, the more likely you are to change a person’s mind and more minds you are likely to change.

When we change our minds: When we are young, our mind changes with great ease. We pick up information rapidly as well as we learn foreign language rapidly and pick up accent accurately, our understanding of the world alters quickly as well and in many ways it grows more accurate. Though our mind can change quite easily especially, when we are young, it simultaneously resistant to change as we grows.

People change their minds and particularly in the young stage of life. We change our minds when there is a clash with one’s own mind is widely shared by a new, powerful and resources-rich country. However minds change as the result efforts by external agents. When we are young, we encounter individuals who are authorised to change our minds, our parents,

other relatives, teachers and the community in between we live. Even our later stage, we encounter some agents like representative of our employer or the legal system who have sufficient power to change our behaviours and our minds. Perhaps the most recognised agents of mind changing are the political leaders or the top management in the organisation. For example political leaders from British Prime minister Margret Thatcher to the world leader Mahatma Gandhi. These leaders have influenced the whole world even they have changed the whole history.

Political leaders: Political leaders is the person who convince their own party members to accept leadership and develop policies that have or can acquire reasonable support among both the governmental bureaucracy and the general public. In the absence of such support, leaders are likely to face revolt from their own supporters and that result in defeat in the next election. Leaders must analyse the current situation, determine what needs to change, and envision an altered state of affairs. They must then create a convincing narrative and present it to those whose minds they hope to change. Success will depend on various factors, including the effectiveness of the narrative, the ways in which it is convincingly conveyed, and the extent to which leaders and those around them actually embody the presentation. The more personal and authentic the story, the more people will identify with common themes.

The one way to capture the attention of a disparate population is by creating a compelling story, embodying that story in one’s own life and presenting the story in a format with certain characteristics. When one is addressing a diverse or heterogeneous audience, the story must be simple and easy to understand with emotionally resistant and evocative of positive experiences. If a story is too complex, it is likely to above the head of some audiences. Complex stories always have a trouble getting hearing rather than simple stories.

British Prime Minister Margret Thatcher: In1940s during the Second World War Prime Minister Winston Churchill had stood alone against the Nazi power. In 1945 after the victory over the axis power in 1945, the British power decline in strength and prosperity. Prime Minister Winston Churchill was turned down from the office. There was a post war situation between leaders of parties.

In 1979, Margret Thatcher, fifty year old member of Britain made a political history As a leader of conservative party Margret Thatcher embraced a slogan “ Britain has lost its way”. At that time Margret Thatcher promised all of this would change, if she becomes the prime minister. Britain would once again revive its special partnership with U.S. and its sovereignty and maintain its leadership in Europe and the whole world. British commercial and entrepreneurial genius would be reinvigorated and the stranglehold of the unions would be broken, industries and other major functions would be privatised. A smart and, tough and self made woman, Thatcher was well suited to bear this message and seemed to be a perfect candidate to lead her nation back to the proper course. From the moment she became Prime Minister, Margret Thatcher determinedly put her platform in to action with the aim of

bringing about dramatic change in Britain. Indeed within a few years, Britain seemed to a very different country, occupying a position of refreshed importance in its own view and in view of many other nations. She had provided opportunity to all individuals to participate in the life of the nation and then let those with ability and tenacity rise to the top.

Without question, she succeeded in changing many minds, due to her influence and Britain was in a very different nation. As a result the stories leaders tell and the lives that they lead, can determine their success or failure at changing their minds

American leadership style: Like the Margret Thatcher, U.S. president bill Clinton provides an example of a political leader who achieved the success largely through the effectiveness of the stories he told. Bill Clinton was a genius person in understanding the minds of others. This interpersonal intelligence made him a successful leader. Clinton always tries to learn as much as possible as he could about every individuals whom he met and to put this knowledge to use at every opportunity. According to his close friends, the key to Clinton’s success lay in his ability to study the personalities of the people with whom he was dealing and to determine what it took to get along with them. In addition to he has the ability of knowing how to read people. He seemed to sense what audiences needed and deliver to them.

In addition to this, a story must also capture an audience at a deeper level. British Prime Minister Margret Thatcher was able to tap her constituents sense that there country’s had lost its way and her leadership would help restore the country to the major power status of which its citizen could be proud.

The author Howard Gardner five example of Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela , to show that how these leaders became famous beyond the nation through their act.

Corporate executives : In some respect, the task faced by a corporate executive or a college president is analogous to the challenge faced by a political leader. In each case the leader with his close adviser analyse the situation and determine what’s need to be change. Then the leader must create a convincing story and present it those whose mind she hope to change. Success will depend on various factors as effectiveness of the narrative, the ways in which it is conveyed. However there are crucial difference in the nature and the scope of task faced by the leader of an organization as compare to political leaders. The major difference is size. For organization leaders, the sizes of audience consist of dozens or hundreds of people or even thousands. The individuals with whom they work are generally members of the organization and they define themselves that way. The members of such an organization have a common purpose and even a common destiny; after all, if corporations fail none of its employees has a livelihood. Their minds have been schooled in the core philosophy, knowledge and culture of their particular group.

John Chambers of Cisco: In 1990s, a John Chambers of Cisco was the golden boy of American business. Rather than being content to serve as a leading supplier of routers and switches for the internet, John Chambers decided that Cisco would participate in the full range of internet materials and services. For some time Cisco strategy was successful. Between1993s to2001s, the company acquired and integrated into its fabric seventy three new companies. Cisco resisted hostile and competitive takeover in favour of friendly and comfortable ones.

John Chambers and his associates told the reporters that the internet will change our lives in ways that people are just beginning to grasp. We will change the world and we are going to do it in a ways that no one has ever thought. Indeed at that time Cisco was considered a highest valued company in the world and the period was considered as second industrial revolution.

The dotcom phenomenon came to an abrupt end and even larger and more established companies had to suffer. Cisco ‘estimates of continued growth were widely off the mark and for the first time, Cisco had to lay off a significant number of employees. Its high capitalization abruptly dropped by 80%. John Chambers could no longer simply be the prophet of endless growth. He said that we are victims of the disaster. In 2002, there was not any change in the revenue of the company though it had gained market share.

However Cisco was able to control the elements that were in its control and on this it was performing well.

In terms of seven levers for changing minds, it could be maintained at Cisco was affected by real world events that is dot com crash. John Chambers did not pay enough attention to the long term research about business research. Moreover Chambers underestimated the resistances he faced.

Indirect leaders: Our minds also changes by the works that a person creates rather than by his or her direct words or acts. Karl Marx was not a leader, yet his writing exerted enormous influence on political events. We might think Karl Marx and others like as an indirect leaders. Take the example of Albert Einstein in physics and Charles Darwin in Biology. Their creative works have changed our minds and often perception of world.

Schools: it is very difficult to say how schools came in to the culture but we can certainly say that over time, some individuals were designated as masters or teachers and given authority over young, specific written and oral materials were as important and these became subject that were taught by them. All over the world, education is considered as one of the most important functions of the society. Universal education is goal everywhere. It is appreciated that in the absence education, individuals will not be able to function adequately in this world.

Schools are the key to investigation because they are the institutions that have been charged with the changing of minds. According to the author, the schools help the student to achieve mental skills. Gardner describe about school education to illustrate the mind changing properties.

A first challenge to educators is to socialize youngsters into the school setting. Schools are involved in the mind changing at the most basic level in helping youngsters to progress learning through observations. But the type of learning that takes place in the schools is far less natural than that occur in the world. In the schools, a group of youngsters comes together for some hours every day and to sit so that they can understand the materials and apply the application in to their daily lives. However most learning appears to have taken place in the natural surroundings of everyday existence. Youngsters observed adults engaged in different activities and slowly inducted into these activities and carry out actions as soon as they are ready to do so.

Mind changing up close:We all have keen interest in mind changing in intimate settings, situations in which our persuasive energies are directed at just one or two people. In fact most of us probably spend the bulk of our time thinking about how to change the minds of those to whom we are closest. We want to change the minds of family members, including parents, siblings, and children to convince friends defang enemies to be able to work effectively with our employees to fuse with those of our lovers. In such personal settings we gain the most when we successfully change minds and pay the heaviest prices when our attempts fail. Few encounters are more personal than that between patient and therapist.

When one is dealing with a large audience, especially one that is heterogeneous, it is not possible to customize one’s approach. When however one is attempting to craft a change of mind in a small group or in a single “target” individual one can adopt a much more nuanced track.

Our minds are changed either because we ourselves want to change them or because something happens in our mental life that demands a change. As Baker also reminds us, the change can occur in any sphere: our political beliefs, our scientific beliefs, our personal credo, our views about ourselves. Sometimes the change of mind is smooth and congenial, but it is especially poignant when a change of mind alters our life space in a fundamental way. All seven layers of mind change can play a role in changing our own minds.

President George W. Bush: Bush had a little idea of domestic goals; he mostly spoke about the need for lower taxes and reduced government expenditures on the domestic front. He was best known as someone who had improved educational opportunities for disadvantaged youth in Taxes was intent on achieving the same advances on a national scale. He changed in the period following

September 11, 2001 after the twin towers of World Trade Centre were hit. In general, we think of young persons as changing their minds readily, of old rather than young.

A change of ideology: Whittaker Chamber, born in long island in 1901 and raised in a dysfunctional household, chamber became attracted to the moral vision of communism while studying in the early 1920s. Due to the political differences and increasing unjustifiable actions of the Soviet Union became too much for Chambers to swallow. So in 1937 at some risk to his own and his family’s safety, Chambers left communist party. In ensuing decade, he joined the staff of Times magazine and became one of its most esteemed writers and editorialists. Chambers chronicles four successive states of mind: (1) his attraction to communism and his decision to join the communist party in the mid 1920 (2) his heart wrenching decision, in the late 1930s to leave the party (3) his initial ambivalence about revealing to investigative agencies the nature of his and others spying activities (4) his final decision to go public to bring renown about the awful story of communism in united states.

Damascus, Luther, And the Fundamentalist changes in faith: Perhaps the most famous change of mind of all times was that undergone by Rabbi Saul of Tarsus during the first century A.D. Having been a persecutor of Christianity and indeed having embarked on a journey to Damascus to suppress this new and troublesome sect, Saul temporarily blinded. He heard a voice that thundered, “why persecutes thou me?” On his arrival in Damascus, Saul (now Paul) regained his sight and became a convert to Christianity. He studied the life of Christ and became a leader of Christianity. Paul had seen the error of his ways, undergone a dramatic conversion and was able to use his personal experience as a basis on which to communicate to other who might be persuaded to change their religious allegiance.

The future of Mind Changing: Of all of the species on earth, we human beings are the ones who specialize in voluntary mind change: we change the minds others, we change our own minds. We have even crafted various technologies that allow us to extent the sweep of mind change: powerful mechanical artefacts like writing implements, televisions, and computers; and equally powerful human contrivances like the teaching strategies, curricula, and tests that we associate with schools. In the coming decades, mind changing will continue and, in all probability, accelerate. I believe that new forms of mind changing will emerge in three areas in what I’ll call wetware, dryware and goodware.

1-Wetware: We born into this world with many reflexes and proclivities, but the knowledge that we begin to construct is based on the experiences that we undergo. Each organism must build up its understanding of the world from scratch. If all the faces that encounter happen to have but one eye, we would see the world as Cyclopean; if the only language we heard was Esperanto,

that is what we would speak; if all the surfaces were rough, that is the texture that we would learn to feel. And because all of this newly acquired knowledge is stored in brain, cortical and sub cortical areas that serve those perceptions would become our windows on the world.

2-Dryware: Mathematicians who laid forth in 1930s the basic laws of computing and information processing, high speed computers are now ubiquitous in our lives. They aid us in all sorts of tasks, from doing our taxes to handling our airplanes reservation to guiding our missiles. Speculative thinkers like computer experts Ray Kurzweil and Hans Moravec, the programming software and the robotics hardware as gaining intelligence with each passing year.

3-Goodware: Neither science nor technology is good or bad in itself. Einstein understands between mass and energy can be drawn on to nuclear power plants or thermonuclear weapons. A pencil can be used to write beautiful sonnets, to poke out the eye of an enemy intentionally, or to puncture one’s skin accidentally.

Finally the author concludes by saying that basically mind change is the alterations of our mental representations. Most of us develop mental representations readily from the beginning of our life. Mental representations have content. These content are ideas, concepts, skills, stories. Some have noticeable charm and others are misleading or wrong. In the coming time mind changing will continue and new forms will emerge. Mind changing occurs all the time in the whole life and especially at the stage of young and until death. Yet certain ideas develop in the early stage of life and prove refractory to change.

My thoughts about the book

My impression about the book is that the author is trying to convey that how we can change the minds of others and why we change our minds. As far as my thought about the book is concern that it is very difficult to change other’s minds. However for every one whether he is parents, teachers or others, it is very easy to change one’s mind in the early stage of life, but it becomes very difficult as the time passes. As the time passes, we make resistance not change our mind and we make a mind set in that direction. For example it is easy to learn accent of the words in the early stage of life but it becomes very difficult as the time passes.

However our minds not always changed because others have changed it. But it change automatically because of real world event, through the learning in schools, interactions from others. It can also change because we want to change our minds.

Most people are involved in changing minds and some of us are involved professionally in it as a salesman or advertiser try to change the mind of customers and convince to purchase their product. However leaders are the person who changes the minds of public through their thought and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and U.S. president Bill Clinton has done. I think it is important for a leader to understand the minds before he will try to change the minds of public.

As managerial point of view, this book is very effective for understand the customers and particularly seven leavers of changing minds. If we want to change the minds of customers, first of all we need to understand the behaviour and as well as the requirement of the customers. Once we know this, it is very easy to change the minds of customers to convince for purchasing our product. A successful businessman always tries to learn as much as possible as he could about every individuals whom he met and to put this knowledge to use at every opportunity.

Mohit Kumar Gupta

11031

My thoughts about the book

Minds are exceedingly hard to change. Ask any advertiser who has tried to convince consumers to switch brands, any CEO who has tried to change a company’s culture, or any individual who has tried to heal a rift with a friend. So many aspects of life are oriented toward changing minds—yet this phenomenon is among the least understood of familiar human experiences.

Whether we are attempting to change the mind of a nation or a corporation, our spouse’s mind or our own, this book provides insights that can broaden our horizons and improve our lives.

Howard Gardner is an education thought-leader who has changed minds at many levels - among his students, with educators and society at large. In Changing Minds, Howard Gardner reexamines concepts presented in his earlier works - i.e. multiple intelligences, the "disciplined" mind, the importance of integrating ethics with instruction/leadership, etc. He then presents seven "levers" for changing minds and discusses their application at various levels of mind change (from societal to intimate relationships). As usual, Gardner has produced an important, well organized book supported with excellent real-world examples. Unfortunately, the book stops short of providing specific tools and techniques for applying his model for changing minds. Perhaps in a sequel, Gardner will share more specific tools and techniques that may be used to "map the mental terrain", compile and present convincing research, build resonance and breakdown resistance. (Those looking for more detail may want to dig deeper into the tools/techniques used in organizational development, team-building, leadership development and self-awareness.)

What I learned from this book is that as a manager you need to change the mind of people around us to get our things done. Leadership Skill are as important as Managerial skills to lead change and to influence them in a positive manner. After reading this book the most important thing I realised is to get our work done by people around us to get our work done.

Informative, Interesting, Motivating etc is what I found after reading the book. The book contains plethora examples about successfully changing the minds of people. A bank of knowledge is what I can say about this book. Every line in this book means a lot. What I liked most is creating and communicating vision which is very important from organisation point of view.

What I feel is that it is a must read for management students to know the change and lead change in this modern era. As a corporate executive how to implement changes is what I learned from this book.

Shashank chaudhri

11031