Change is everywhere: in business, leadership, sales, and even parenting.
Change is hard.
The instinct to push harder often backfires.
What if, instead of pushing, we removed the barriers to change?
Inspired by Jonah Berger’s book The Catalyst, let’s explore how to REDUCE resistance and create change.
REDUCE = Reduce Reactance, Ease Endowment, shrink Distance, alleviate Uncertainty, and find Corroborating Evidence
The Catalyst Approach: Make Change Happen
Want to persuade customers, employees, or even your kids? Stop pushing, start removing barriers and resistance!
Reduce Reactance – The Art of Enabling Change Without Pushback
Nobody likes being told what to do. It’s known as psychological reactance.
However, there are several powerful strategies to bypass this resistance and create willing participants in change.
Instead of pushing direct orders, provide a carefully curated menu of options that gives people both direction and autonomy in their decision-making.
Don’t ask, “Do you want to do X?” – Ask “Do you want to use A, B, or C to do X?”
Here’s an example from my life, “Do you want to wear your Crocs, tennis shoes, or rainboots to go to the library with me?”
Ask, don’t tell.
A question-based approach is more effective than declarative statements.
When people verbalize their own solutions, they’re more likely to follow through due to their desire for consistency.
People support what they help build is one of the most impactful principles of leadership.
Building trust through empathy and understanding creates a foundation for change, while highlighting gaps between someone’s current actions and their recommended advice for others can spark self-motivated transformation.
Pro Tip: Next time you need someone to embrace change, try this three-step approach:
- Acknowledge their perspective (“I understand this feels challenging…”)
- Ask an open-ended question about their ideal outcome (“What would success look like to you?”)
- Offer 2-3 concrete options for moving forward.
This combination of empathy, self-discovery, and guided choice dramatically reduces resistance and let’s them feel in control.
Ease Endowment – Burn the Ships
You can burn the ships, which dates back to 1519, when a Spanish expedition led by Cortés landed in Mexico.
Cortés knew his crew was already exhausted after the long sea journey, but he had to motivate them to succeed in the new land.
So he ordered to have the ships burned to guarantee the commitment of the crew because going back was no longer an option.
Or you can highlight the cost of inaction and the pain of not changing. Point out why the status quo isn’t worth keeping.
Shrink Distance – Make Changes More Digestible
Identify and engage the “movable middle – those who are already leaning toward your desired direction, not those who are the strongest opponents. These individuals represent the sweet spot where small shifts can create substantial ripple effects.
For those further from your position, success comes from scaling back initial requests. Ask for less. It’s like climbing a ladder. It’s easier to take one step at a time than to leap to the top.
When faced with deeply entrenched resistance, shift the conversation to areas of common ground first. Remind them you have things in common. This strategic pivot allows you to build bridges of understanding before tackling more challenging differences.
Pro Tip: Before launching your next change initiative, create a simple 1-10 scale where 10 represents full agreement with your position. Based on what you know about the stakeholders involved and through informal discussions, sort them from most agreement to least agreement. You can then tailor your approach differently for the “moveable middle” and the “deeply entrenched opposition” to ask for less initial change.
Alleviate Uncertainty – Making Decisions Feel Safe and Simple
In the world of business decisions, uncertainty often stands as the biggest barrier to action.
Ambiguity causes people to hit the pause button.
The key to overcoming this lies in making choices feel less risky and more approachable.
Easier to try. Easier to buy.
By implementing a try before you buy approach, you significantly lower the psychological barriers to entry and allow potential customers to experience value firsthand. This principle extends powerfully into the freemium model, where users can explore core features without financial commitment – a strategy that has transformed countless startups into industry giants.
Even more important is offering a risk reversal, like money-back guarantees or trial periods, removes the anxiety of commitment and paradoxically increases the likelihood of long-term engagement.
Case Study: This is why Malloy Industries offers the Lifetime Second Match Free Guarantee™! If, for any reason, you are not satisfied with your first fractional executive specialist, we will work with you for free to replace them with another one of our 750+ experts who better meets your needs and culture. We check in with you and your fractional executive every month to ensure you have the right people leading your team.
Pro Tip: When launching your next product or service, create a ‘risk-free zone’ by combining these three elements: a free trial period, a basic version with core features available at no cost, and a clear, no-questions-asked return policy. Track how many customers actually reverse their decision – you’ll likely find that while the safety net increases conversions, very few actually use it.
Find Corroborating Evidence – Amplifying Persuasion Through Social Proof
When it comes to influencing decisions, who delivers your message matters as much as the message itself.
People are naturally drawn to evidence from those who share their characteristics, experiences, or challenges.
Create a diverse portfolio of testimonials, case studies, and endorsements that allows different audience segments to see themselves reflected in your success stories. We’ll share more on case studies in a future Business Bite.
Timing and delivery are equally crucial – concentrated social proof (multiple endorsements presented simultaneously like a firehose) creates a more powerful impact than the same testimonials spread over time like a sprinkler.
Think of it as choosing between a “sprinkler” approach for gentle persuasion or a “fire hose” strategy when facing significant resistance.
Pro Tip: Create a social proof matrix for your next campaign. First, identify 3-4 distinct customer personas. Then, gather testimonials from each group and release them in strategic clusters. For low-resistance audiences, spread these testimonials across various channels over time (sprinkler). For high-resistance situations, showcase multiple testimonials from each persona group simultaneously (fire hose) to create a stronger persuasive impact.
Apply This to Your Business and Closest Relationships Today
Change doesn’t require more effort, it requires less friction. Instead of pushing harder, remove the barriers that make change difficult.
Start by identifying one roadblock that is holding back progress in your business. Then, apply the REDUCE framework to eliminate it. Whether it’s offering a free trial to make it easier to try before you buy, simplifying a decision, or providing social proof, small adjustments can lead to significant change.
REDUCE = Reduce Reactance, Ease Endowment, shrink Distance, alleviate Uncertainty, and find Corroborating Evidence
Next, think about your closest relationships with your family. You know that thing they do that really annoys you and wish they would change, but for some reason all your nagging and complaining hasn’t made it happen? Try this approach instead.
Be the change you want to see in the world.
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P.S. Whenever you’re ready, here’s how we can help:
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