the rational system and the emotional system.

Jonathan Haidt, who's a psychologist at NYU, came up with a great analogy for these two systems.

He said, " Think of your brain as a human rider atop an elephant."

The rider represents the rational system.

That's the part of us that plans and problem-solves.

The rider might do some analyzing and decide, "Hey, I want to go that way."

But it's the elephant representing the emotional system that provides the power for the journey.

The rider can try to lead the elephant, or drag the elephant.

But if these two ever disagree, who would you bet on?

The elephant has a six-ton weight advantage,

and it's exactly that power imbalance that makes adopting new behaviors very hard.

If you want this duo to head a new direction, you also need to think about the path, which represents the external environment.

This duo is more likely to complete a journey if you can shorten the distance and remove any obstacles in their way.

So, bottom line, if you want to lead change, you 've got to do three things.

Give direction to the rider — knowledge of how to get to the destination.

You've got to motivate the elephant, which means tapping into emotion.

And finally, you need to shape the path to allow for easy progress.

That's how change happens.