The Power of Habit

M501 Strategic Marketing Management Book Review

Marvin A. Bishop

Charles Duhigg’s book, The Power of Habit, provides a detailed and thought-provoking analysis about why we do what we do.  Duhigg illustrates how habits form and how they can be changed in regards to life and business.  The book provides a balanced narrative with references to research studies, but remains a pleasure to read for the average reader.

Duhigg begins the book by introducing us to Lisa Allen, who at the age of 34, was in debt, obese, and unemployed.  Four years later, she had lost weight, was debt-free, and owned a home.  She was able to change her life around by changing one “keystone habit,” which was smoking.  By changing this habit, she was able to focus on jogging, which in turn, changed the way she lived all aspects of her life.  

In part 1, Duhigg introduces us to the concept of the habit loop, which consists of three main components:  the cue, the routine, and the reward.  This concept was demonstrated with lab rats at MIT; when they heard a noise, they worked their way though a maze, to find a piece of chocolate.  What was remarkable in the study was that as the rats became more familiar with the maze, they ceased thinking about how to navigate the maze and just navigated it because of the habit loop that was created.  This habit loop has been translated into the marketing/business world in examples of Pepsodent and Febreeze.  According to Duhrigg, brushing of teeth in the U.S. was not a habit until Pepsodent created the habit by providing consumers the craving of having cool, tingling teeth.  This point of differentiation allowed Pepsodent to be the dominant toothpaste for many years.  Febreeze created a similar craving in consumers by having an appealing scent, which created a feeling of “cleanliness” after it was sprayed after a cleaning session.  These products, because of intelligent marketing, became hot-selling items due to the creation of a new routine in the American psyche, which led to new habit loops.  

Part 2, Duhigg focuses on the habits of successful organizations and how habits become a part of their culture.  One of the more powerful examples for me that Duhigg provided was Travis and Starbucks.  We are introduced to Travis, who was having issues holding down jobs, due to his background of having to deal with drug-dependent parents.  I found this very powerful because I directly treat patients who have drug-related issues and witness how destructive this disease-process can be.  What amazed me in regards to Travis was how he took a chance to work at Starbucks and was introduced to Starbucks’ organizational habits.  Starbucks management would help create healthy habits in their baristas by encouraging them, while in training, to write down plans to deal with angry or difficult customers.  This habit allowed baristas, like Travis, to remain calm and provide a tranquil place for customers to obtain their early morning coffees.  This simple organizational habit helped in making Starbucks a powerhouse.