Self-change heuristics: How managers unlearn, change habits, and rework their identity

Simple rules are not only for strategy, they are also for the self. This paper identifies a novel class of simple rules: self-change heuristics. Drawing on a study of 63 senior managers, we reveal how leaders create and apply these heuristics not to address external business problems, but to transform themselves, often shifting from command-and-control to trust, delegation, and empowerment. We discovered that managers use self-change heuristics to unlearn old mindsets and behaviors, to break detrimental habits, and to undo aspects of their identity which they consider inadequate. Symmetrically, they use self-change heuristics to relearn new mindsets and behaviors, to form beneficial habits, and to work on their new identities. We advance a conceptual model that integrates these processes, extending the well-documented role of simple rules from strategy and decision-making to the underexplored domain of personal transformation.