Goodall on Promoting Change

Jane Goodall set out into the Tanzanian rain forest 50 years ago to study chimpanzee behavior.  Her research changed our understanding of chimpanzee's capabilities, emotions, and relationships, as well as what it means to be human.  Later Goodall shifted her focus to saving chimps and their habitats, helping to secure the livelihoods of people living in the rain forests. 

In an interview in Harvard Business Review (April 2010) about her efforts to promote these causes, Goodall shared these insights on how to change people's minds: 

"It is important to tell stories.  Sometimes you're told you'll never change so-and-so's mind.  But if you can be one-on-one with that person and tell a couple of stories....  You usually can't change people's minds by intellect.  You've got to find something that reaches into their hearts.

"There's no point in struggling to save chimpanzees and rain forests if we're not raising young people to do a better job than we've done.  They can do a better job.  They're doing it already.  And so my hope is very much vested with them.  But also, people say you can't change somebody who's older than such and such an age, because they are set in their ways.  It's not true.  If you can find a story, if you can make them think and not be defensive, sometimes the toughest person can change."

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