Catalysts are also a really important factor in the social world. It’s an approach of stepping back and not adding more forces to push people in one direction or saying, “What could I do to get someone to change?” Instead, this approach asks, “Well, why haven’t they changed already? What’s preventing them? What things are stopping them from changing? What obstacles are in the way? And how can I mitigate them?”

Think about a car parked on a hill. When we want our car to go, we turn the key in the ignition and we put our foot on the gas. If the car doesn’t go, we just think we need more gas. But sometimes, we don’t need more gas. Sometimes we just need to release the parking brake. Similarly, if someone doesn’t change, we just think we need to push more. But sometimes we don’t need to push more.