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The Power of Fifty Bits: The New Science of Turning Good Intentions into Positive Results
Going beyond the bestsellers Predictably Irrational and Thinking, Fast and Slow , the first “how to” guide that shows you how to help customers, employees, coworkers, and clients make better choices to get what they truly want. Of the ten million bits of information our brains process each second, only fifty bits are devoted to conscious thought. Because our brains are wired to be inattentive, we often choose without thinking, acting against our own interests—what we truly want. As the former Chief Scientist of Express Scripts, a Fortune 25 healthcare company dedicated to making the use of prescription medications safer and more affordable, Bob Nease is an expert on applying behavioral sciences to health care. Now, he applies his knowledge to the wider world, providing important practical solutions marketers, human resources professionals, teachers, and even parents can use to improve the behavior of others around them, and get the positive results they want. Nease offers a set of powerful and effective strategies to change behavior,
224 pages, Hardcover
First published January 19, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
January 4, 2017
This book was a little interesting but much of it was just lifted from books I already read.
May 22, 2019
The first line of this book's blurb encapsulates Bob Nease's premise fairly well:
Of the ten million bits of information our brains process each second, only fifty bits are devoted to conscious thought. Because our brains are wired to be inattentive, we often choose without thinking, acting against our own interests—what we truly want.
What follows is a discussion of strategies to overcome the "inattention and inertia" that human brains tend to default to, in order to make the decisions that better align with people's good intentions. Examples include refilling prescriptions on time, following a fitness regime, and investing money for retirement.
Readers who are already familiar with Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow and Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein's Nudge will not find much that is new here. What Nease calls "inattention and inertia" fits into Kahneman's "System One," or "fast thinking," and what Nease repeatedly refers to as "Fifty-Bit Design" (ick!) aligns with Thaler and Sunstein's more elegant "choice architecture."
Nonetheless, I think this is a good read for anyone interested in behavioral economics, especially when it comes to developing strategies for applying its concepts to simple things like word selection when presenting options to people.
Of the ten million bits of information our brains process each second, only fifty bits are devoted to conscious thought. Because our brains are wired to be inattentive, we often choose without thinking, acting against our own interests—what we truly want.
What follows is a discussion of strategies to overcome the "inattention and inertia" that human brains tend to default to, in order to make the decisions that better align with people's good intentions. Examples include refilling prescriptions on time, following a fitness regime, and investing money for retirement.
Readers who are already familiar with Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow and Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein's Nudge will not find much that is new here. What Nease calls "inattention and inertia" fits into Kahneman's "System One," or "fast thinking," and what Nease repeatedly refers to as "Fifty-Bit Design" (ick!) aligns with Thaler and Sunstein's more elegant "choice architecture."
Nonetheless, I think this is a good read for anyone interested in behavioral economics, especially when it comes to developing strategies for applying its concepts to simple things like word selection when presenting options to people.
December 26, 2019
Disappointing
The entire book can be summed up in the first chapter. All succeeding chapters are more or less fillers.
What I find most annoying is the author's habit of setting up examples to support his topic sentence then later on throwing them under the bus for being weak (e.g. Obama, Hilary, McCain and the Indiana polls). Another, what's with all the entertainment references? The Kardashians? Sex in the City? Taylor Swift and John Mayer? I understand the need to emphasize inertia and inattention but there's a universe of better examples out there.
Finally, Gina. While I understand the concept of humanizing the content, there's just too much Gina in the book. Gina this. Gina that. Surely there must be more to life than the author's wife.
Recommendation:
Get the Atomic Habits, The Power of Habits, and Hooked if you are looking for behavior design. Use the first part of this book as a supplement.
I'm sorry but this book should have a blog post nothing more.
The entire book can be summed up in the first chapter. All succeeding chapters are more or less fillers.
What I find most annoying is the author's habit of setting up examples to support his topic sentence then later on throwing them under the bus for being weak (e.g. Obama, Hilary, McCain and the Indiana polls). Another, what's with all the entertainment references? The Kardashians? Sex in the City? Taylor Swift and John Mayer? I understand the need to emphasize inertia and inattention but there's a universe of better examples out there.
Finally, Gina. While I understand the concept of humanizing the content, there's just too much Gina in the book. Gina this. Gina that. Surely there must be more to life than the author's wife.
Recommendation:
Get the Atomic Habits, The Power of Habits, and Hooked if you are looking for behavior design. Use the first part of this book as a supplement.
I'm sorry but this book should have a blog post nothing more.
October 3, 2018
Eh, it wasn't what I thought it would be. Simply things, let go of fear, behave better, be practical yadda yadda yadda. Suggestion for adaptive behavior change when we rut on autopilot or piggyback other ideas. Collection of wise thoughts, but felt preachy- like I could get that out of a homily.
August 28, 2017
Nothing new and I got very tired of the sexist comments sprinkled throughout the book.
December 30, 2023
A quick read (or in my case listen) addressing what we already (or should) know. Gives good food for thought and insights on how to avoid being one of the many sheep of today's society.
January 25, 2016
If a book is about a topic of interest to me, I’ll probably pick it up. If the book is based on science and research, but written by a practitioner, I’ll start reading it. If the writing is clear, includes stories and real world examples, I’ll likely keep reading. If within the first ten pages it has me thinking about things differently, or I am already telling stories or using examples from it, it is a clear winner.
For me, The Power of Fifty Bits is all of that.
The high concept of the book is that we as humans are wired for inertia, largely because we do almost everything on the auto-pilot of our subconscious. According to Neale, our conscious minds can process about 50 bits of information per second (hence the book’s title), but our subconscious can process 10,000,000 bits/second.
While I have long known our conscious mind is feeble in comparison to our subconscious, this gave me a new context and appreciation for the power of my (and your) brains!
The book describes how Nease and his team at Express Scripts have used this to design programs and processes to capture our 50 bits to help create changed behavior.
The book artfully walks the reader through their 7 step model, with chapters on each. They include:
Require Choice—compel people to deliberately choose among options
Lock in Good Intentions—allow people to make decisions today about choices they will face in the future
Let It Ride—set the default to the desired option and let people opt out if they wish
Get in the Flow—go to where peoples’ attention is likely to be naturally
Reframe the Choices—set the framework people use to consider options and choices
Piggyback It—connect the desired choice or behavior with something they already like or are engaged in
Simplify . . . Wisely—make right choices frictionless and easy, make wrong choices more difficult
The book makes these ideas make sense and gives examples on how to make them work.
While not everything in this book was news to me, few treatments of some of the material come close to making it as practical as this does, and fewer make it more interesting.
If you are a leader, coach, marketer or parent, you will find this book of great value. If you are personally interested in reaching your personal potential, it will provide you with food for thought, and ways to overcome your own inertia and make real progress towards your potential.
- See more at: http://blog.kevineikenberry.com/commu...
For me, The Power of Fifty Bits is all of that.
The high concept of the book is that we as humans are wired for inertia, largely because we do almost everything on the auto-pilot of our subconscious. According to Neale, our conscious minds can process about 50 bits of information per second (hence the book’s title), but our subconscious can process 10,000,000 bits/second.
While I have long known our conscious mind is feeble in comparison to our subconscious, this gave me a new context and appreciation for the power of my (and your) brains!
The book describes how Nease and his team at Express Scripts have used this to design programs and processes to capture our 50 bits to help create changed behavior.
The book artfully walks the reader through their 7 step model, with chapters on each. They include:
Require Choice—compel people to deliberately choose among options
Lock in Good Intentions—allow people to make decisions today about choices they will face in the future
Let It Ride—set the default to the desired option and let people opt out if they wish
Get in the Flow—go to where peoples’ attention is likely to be naturally
Reframe the Choices—set the framework people use to consider options and choices
Piggyback It—connect the desired choice or behavior with something they already like or are engaged in
Simplify . . . Wisely—make right choices frictionless and easy, make wrong choices more difficult
The book makes these ideas make sense and gives examples on how to make them work.
While not everything in this book was news to me, few treatments of some of the material come close to making it as practical as this does, and fewer make it more interesting.
If you are a leader, coach, marketer or parent, you will find this book of great value. If you are personally interested in reaching your personal potential, it will provide you with food for thought, and ways to overcome your own inertia and make real progress towards your potential.
- See more at: http://blog.kevineikenberry.com/commu...
February 10, 2016
Most people have good intentions, but very few are able to execute. In his book, Bob Nease defines how the human brain can process about 50 bits a second and much of our bandwidth taken up by processing short-term decision and basic survival issues. Making the hard decisions, moving out of our comfort zone, dealing with ambiguity and unpleasant tasks all require significant mental and physical effort. As a result, vey few have a clear long-term vision and fewer still a roadmap.
Nease points out that inattention and inertia are frequently at odds. While most have a notion of what they would like to achieve, our default setting is to focus on busy work, eating, short term gratification and delay the more complex longer-longer term. As a result, our daily actions and activities frequently contradict the who, what and where we would like to be. “We are wired for inattention and inertia”, says Dr. Nease, the roots of many of our failures to achieve the results we want.
Express Scripts made understating why people take actions a core-competency. Dr. Nease is a brilliant scientist and engineer who merges real-world experience and academic training to provide a proven framework for moving beyond intentions to positive actions.
The Power of Fifty Bits is transformative, provides a blueprint for a conscious effort and structured approach to break out with seven strategies designed to bridge the gap between our good intentions and our actual choices and behavior. The idea is to start with what the designer wants from the user and change the environment so that bad behavior is harder to do and good behavior is easier.
The Power of Fifty Bits provides a framework that can transform lives, business and society with incremental, common-sense and low-cost approaches to leading change. Dr. Nease is an example of designing and living the life he imagined. After a successful career, he is living the life he imagined on a vineyard in Italy. He provides us the roadmap in The Power of Fifty Bits: The New Science of Turning Good Intentions Into Positive Results. I recommend this book, with a glass of wine from Nease’s Tutto Doppio Farm & Vineyard.
Nease points out that inattention and inertia are frequently at odds. While most have a notion of what they would like to achieve, our default setting is to focus on busy work, eating, short term gratification and delay the more complex longer-longer term. As a result, our daily actions and activities frequently contradict the who, what and where we would like to be. “We are wired for inattention and inertia”, says Dr. Nease, the roots of many of our failures to achieve the results we want.
Express Scripts made understating why people take actions a core-competency. Dr. Nease is a brilliant scientist and engineer who merges real-world experience and academic training to provide a proven framework for moving beyond intentions to positive actions.
The Power of Fifty Bits is transformative, provides a blueprint for a conscious effort and structured approach to break out with seven strategies designed to bridge the gap between our good intentions and our actual choices and behavior. The idea is to start with what the designer wants from the user and change the environment so that bad behavior is harder to do and good behavior is easier.
The Power of Fifty Bits provides a framework that can transform lives, business and society with incremental, common-sense and low-cost approaches to leading change. Dr. Nease is an example of designing and living the life he imagined. After a successful career, he is living the life he imagined on a vineyard in Italy. He provides us the roadmap in The Power of Fifty Bits: The New Science of Turning Good Intentions Into Positive Results. I recommend this book, with a glass of wine from Nease’s Tutto Doppio Farm & Vineyard.
April 21, 2020
I think there are a few good ideas in this book if you are someone who is designing a new solution/interface for consumers. Or just simply trying to get the users to some end goal.
Will be a good read for designers and product managers.
If you are just looking to find some insights in your day to day life choices, I'll keep my expectations low.
One of the interesting ideas discussed in this books is that even though we are capable of sensing a lot of information that surrounds us, we are limited by the amount we can process and act on.
So be a little more mindful of this next time you make some decision and ask yourself if you have considered all of your options.
Another is this idea of how we value rewards in the present wayyyy more than we value rewards in teh future, irrespective of the magnitude of the reward.
That's why we struggle with doing things like exercising, eating healthy, investing our money knowing that they will be super beneficial in the future, but reward in the present convinces us to do otherwise.
Will be a good read for designers and product managers.
If you are just looking to find some insights in your day to day life choices, I'll keep my expectations low.
One of the interesting ideas discussed in this books is that even though we are capable of sensing a lot of information that surrounds us, we are limited by the amount we can process and act on.
So be a little more mindful of this next time you make some decision and ask yourself if you have considered all of your options.
Another is this idea of how we value rewards in the present wayyyy more than we value rewards in teh future, irrespective of the magnitude of the reward.
That's why we struggle with doing things like exercising, eating healthy, investing our money knowing that they will be super beneficial in the future, but reward in the present convinces us to do otherwise.
February 7, 2017
Somewhere between 3.5 and 4 stars. Recommended for: designers of any kind (except maybe fashion), people who are responsible for outcomes of human behaviour (including your own!).
A solid book that will make a nice complement to your existing Personal development/Life-hacking collection. Bob Nease is definitely writing what he knows; he uses many examples from his own work in medicine/pharmaceuticals.
I liked that the book, and its titular theory, stays away from taking a deficit view. It focuses on activating people's extant good intentions, rather than belittling them for having terrible self control, or misinterpreting inattention for willful ignorance.
To be honest, this book is mostly things you already know – but sometimes, having that presented to you in a new combination is enough to inspire you to take action.
A solid book that will make a nice complement to your existing Personal development/Life-hacking collection. Bob Nease is definitely writing what he knows; he uses many examples from his own work in medicine/pharmaceuticals.
I liked that the book, and its titular theory, stays away from taking a deficit view. It focuses on activating people's extant good intentions, rather than belittling them for having terrible self control, or misinterpreting inattention for willful ignorance.
To be honest, this book is mostly things you already know – but sometimes, having that presented to you in a new combination is enough to inspire you to take action.
February 9, 2017
The information presented isn't original but a rehashing of other behavior studies and the majority is obvious once you think on the topic for a moment. Not an enlightening book.
January 14, 2016
People are wired for inattention and inactivity and as a result many times act irrationally even when they usually have the best of intentions. The authors examples from his time at Express Scripts and his strategies to capture our limited attention and direct us the behaviors that we say we want to have yet consistently avoid. This book provides lots of good information and strategies to help users, whether they be customers, employees, co-workers or clients to get the results out of your processes that they truly want. A surprisingly engaging read considering the it is a behavioral science book dealing with business processes written by an engineer. I received a free ARC of this book through Goodreads First Reads giveaways.
February 12, 2016
This book was an eyeopener to me and I've already read quite a bit on this topic. It explains (backed by research) why our brains are wired for inertia and the status quo and how we can propel people into change. It's mostly aimed at marketers trying to get people to buy their product, or sign up for something, or in general change their behavior. The author (who has an awesome writing style by the way; both engaging, plain, and humorous) explains various strategies to get people to change. I'll be using these for sure!
August 31, 2022
Many good useful concepts that are intertwined with each other. Found this book very valuable.
2nd Read
Key points
Piggybacking existing tendencies paired with desired behaviour
Framing call to action with thoughtful use of fluency
Flow chart exhibit 10-1
2nd Read
Key points
Piggybacking existing tendencies paired with desired behaviour
Framing call to action with thoughtful use of fluency
Flow chart exhibit 10-1
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 14, 2016
If you are interested in Persuasive Technology then this book is a good complement to Predictably Irrational, Nudge & Actionable Gamification
May 19, 2016
zzzz... this book could have been a pamphlet. Most of this stuff you probably already worked out for yourself. So boring... good stuff, but omg.
August 13, 2016
Some interesting ideas.
May 20, 2018
I think I’ll have to read this one again the next time I’m setting up a process. Good techniques for positive behaviors and choice making- here’s hoping it does not get used for evil.
May 1, 2017
I really enjoyed this book. I plan to read it again now and take notes. A must for anyone who feels that they want to do great things (or even anything) and find themselves thwarted by their ownself.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews