Change or Die. What if you were given that choice? If you didn't, your time would end soon—a lot sooner than it had to. Could you change when change matters most?

This is the question Alan Deutschman poses in Change or Die, which began as a sensational cover story by the same title for Fast Company. Deutschman concludes that although we all have the ability to change our behavior, we rarely ever do. From patients suffering from heart disease to repeat offenders in the criminal justice system to companies trapped in the mold of unsuccessful business practices, many of us could prevent ominous outcomes by simply changing our mindset.

A powerful book with universal appeal, Change or Die deconstructs and debunks age-old myths about change and empowers us with three critical keys—relate, repeat, and reframe—to help us make important positive changes in our lives. Explaining breakthrough research and progressive ideas from a wide selection of leaders in medicine, science, and business (including Dr. Dean Ornish, Mimi Silbert of the Delancey Street Foundation, Bill Gates, Daniel Boulud, and many others), Deutschman demonstrates how anyone can achieve lasting, revolutionary changes that are positive, attainable, and absolutely vital.

Customer Rating:
Summary: What does it take to change: A bullet to your head or a new lease on life?
Comment: I downloaded this audio book expecting to garner some new ideas for marketing and business. I didn't exactly get that, but I got a lot more.

Mr.Deutschman's book is about the psychology of change. He clearly lays out very compelling examples of people, businesses and cultures that have to change to survive, but don't. The narration is engaging and the content thought provoking but not so esoteric that its hard to understand.

Basically through a series of real life examples he shows us the three keys needed to evoke lasting change in our lives. To: Relate, Repeat, Reframe. It's not a how to book stuffed with techniques to use and apply so much as it is a study and understanding of how to go from wanting to doing to changing through empathy, respect and repetition.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book on an intellectual level, I found it both powerful and useful enough to begin applying right away. It seemed more like a catalyst to change; to go out there and find the tools that you need to begin.

In summary this a deep, interesting and useful book on change that will stimulate you as a reader and help you layout the ground work necessary to make the step towards life mending changes.

One of the better audiobooks I've listened to in quite sometime.

Todd Millar, Glenn Simon Inc.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: It is Change or Die
Comment: This was our book club selection for Oct. 08.
In the introduction Alan gave information that is worth the price of the book.
The follow up on that information in the rest of the book got a little long. Than Alan covered areas of life where I had chose not to change, he gave me a new and easier way to see what those chose's look like from a detached outside point of view. In a simple matter of fact way Alan illustrated how some attitudes control our physical, financial, and moral lives in a deadly way, attitudes that I have no special or absolute attachments to. This made it easier to understand why we must "Change or Die"! This book is also recommended (a friend told me) by his cardiologist.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: change or die
Comment: great book. This is my second purchase of several of these books as I have been giving them to business to read. Different however timely

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A Blueprint for Change Agents
Comment: Author Alan Deutschman writes powerfully about the phenomenon of personal change - both in our professional and "real" lives. He starts with the arresting premise that, even if faced with the stark choice of changing or dying, many people would slack off. Instead, he offers three factors for genuine change and case studies illustrating these lessons.

The case studies include
* A successful homeless/rehab shelter in San Francisco
* Dean Ornish's diet and wellness work with overweight individuals
* Toyota taking over a US car factory in Michigan
* His own undergraduate struggles to learn French and later his own "battle of the bulge" waistline

Deutschman argues that the willingness to pursue positive change enhances the brain's plasticity and provides people with adaptive compensations. Part of the trouble is, as we get older we increasingly do not like to look foolish or bumbling in trying to learn a new skill. Kids are less self-conscious that way.

"Change or Die" is a powerful blueprint to spur us to reassess what is needed to effect positive changes in our lives and the importance of self-directed change throughout all of life's seasons.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Changed my life
Comment: I found this book applicable since I work in a health care setting, and that is one of the groups described to help change. This book is applicable to about anybody who wants to learn how their efforts at trying to help people change are working against them. Many parents who are struggling with wayward children would find this information useful.

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