The Real Way to Change Someone’s Mind

By John Millen

In a world of constant change, we spend a surprising amount of time trying to shape outcomes by influencing other people.

At work, at home, and increasingly from home, influence has become a core skill.

Research suggests the average worker spends roughly 40% of their time trying to influence others.

A March 2026 study by the American Management Association found that 69% of leaders spend at least half their time influencing without direct authority.

That’s a major shift away from hierarchical management.

Which means there’s real value in understanding how to change minds.

A recent book offers a counterintuitive approach: The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone’s Mind by Jonah Berger, a marketing professor at Wharton.

Most of us approach change like physicists—we push harder, hoping to move people in a new direction.

So we add more information. More facts. More reminders.

It doesn’t work very well.

Berger suggests thinking like a chemist instead.

A catalyst doesn’t force change—it removes barriers so change can happen naturally. As he puts it, catalysts can transform “air into fertilizer and petroleum into bike helmets.”

Drawing on two decades of research, Berger studied what successful change-makers actually do:

“I’ve learned from superstar salespeople how they converted customers, from a hostage negotiator how he got hostage-takers to surrender… and even from a Jewish clergyman who helped a white supremacist renounce the KKK.”

He distills this into five strategies:

1. Reduce reactance

We all want to feel in control. When someone pushes us, we push back.

Psychologists call this reactance.

The move is to preserve agency. Guide the path, but let people feel ownership of the choice.

A subtle tactic: highlight the gap between what someone believes and what they actually do.

2. Ease endowment

We overvalue what we already have—our beliefs, habits, and the status quo.

That’s the endowment effect.

The move is to surface the cost of inaction.

One advisor finally persuaded a client to change by showing him what he was losing each month by staying put.

3. Shrink distance

Ideas that feel too far from our current beliefs get rejected.

The move is to narrow the gap.

People are more open to ideas within their “zone of acceptance.”

Think small steps, not big leaps.

Uber didn’t start by asking people to get into a stranger’s car. They started with black cars—familiar and safe—then expanded from there.

4. Alleviate uncertainty

Change feels risky. We discount new options because of what Berger calls an uncertainty tax.

The move is to make it easy to try.

Don’t just tell people something is better—let them experience it.

Free trials. Easy returns. Low downside.

Resistance drops when risk disappears.

5. Find corroborating evidence

For bigger decisions, one voice isn’t enough.

People look for confirmation from multiple sources.

You’ve seen this: you give great advice to your partner for years, with no result.

Then someone else says the same thing—and suddenly it’s brilliant idea and change happens.

Frustrating, but normal.

People don’t just need information.

They need validation.

All five strategies point to the same idea:

Change doesn’t happen because we push harder.

It happens when we remove friction.

As Berger writes, it’s not about exerting more energy—it’s about reducing the barriers to action.

You build your influence by making the change easier.