Anonymous
Posted January 18, 2008
This book is a joy, and, as the authors no doubt intended, an inspiration. Often, those who try to create change over the long term give up and become resigned to the way things are. Into this stable situation come five authors ¿ Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler ¿ full of optimism, examples and, best of all, practical techniques you can use right away to create change. It would be easy to say the book is too optimistic, or that it claims too much is possible, but some of its examples show the success of sweeping, ambitious changes. Instead of clinging to a dour but ¿realistic¿ view of the world, they invite you to re-examine your influence strategies and analyze your environment for new clues, whether you are trying to change yourself or your employees. The social possibilities are exciting. We recommend this book to anyone who is trying to create social change, and especially people who are open-minded and at ease with new ideas.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.ginagina
Posted March 13, 2010
I Also Recommend:
Since I own Crucial Confrontations and Crucial Conversations both written by Patterson and his colleagues, I was really looking forward to reading this book and putting its advice into action. The book is well researched, well written and easy to read, however I didn't find it very actionable. I quickly understood the message but need more direction on how to apply all this new knowledge. Their other books are great at providing examples and scripts of how to apply the knowledge. I missed that in this book. I would say that the information in the book is useful in understanding how situations develop and people move into positions of influence, but I was expecting something I could use right-away.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Reading Influencer: The Power to Change Anything is akin to watching an enjoyable movie filled with captivating characters and riveting plots. It uses the most powerful tool in the world for persuading people; and literally cracks the code for changing human behavior. On the day I received my copy, I experienced the perfect storm with my family. I was going to give them my I-am-king-of-this-castle speech until I read chapter three which was entitled: Change the Way You Change Minds. <BR/><BR/>Besides, the last time I gave that speech; I had to move into a new castle. When it comes to altering behaviors, the authors feel you need to help others answer only two questions: Can they do it? Is it worth it? I encourage you to purchase Influencer because you can do it, and it is worth it!<BR/>Reggie Johnson, Success-Tapes.Com
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted June 20, 2008
I enjoyed reading this book and its easy to see the theory behind how to become an INFLUENCER but I didn't really grasp from the book a check-list of how to go about changing behavior. The author gave some fantastic examples in the book but they were large-scale 'e.g., eradicating the Guinea worm in Africa, etc.'. What about about those of us who go to work every day in corporate America. Again, as I said, I enjoyed the book and I see 'the Forest' but I did not learn how to see 'the trees'.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted November 6, 2007
Of the many books I have read and reviewed, this book hits the core of how behavior has so much effect on enfluencing actions and receiving the desired results. I have purchased several of the books and given them to upcoming leaders in local government positions as well as some established leaders of organizations. The feedback has been unanimous-great read fantastic insight on what really makes a difference. Some call it behavior modification. I see it as personal onion peeling in the mirror. The examples in the book are extremely significant. Read it you will like it.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Good book. I thought it was going to teach more. The book gives a lot of examples of events that were influenced, instead of teaching you how to influence, plus most of the examples were more just common sense and natural progression than influence. Interesting read though.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.BarbaraRichards
Posted November 9, 2010
This book is the first step in bringing about a change in your life that you can live with. I highly recommend it. I'd also suggest that you buy another book called "When God Stopped Keeping Score." It's an intimate look at the power of God and forgiveness. Given the chance, it too will change your life.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted November 11, 2007
Yes, I read this one twice! Point? Anything can change for the better! This Author Shows the Way! Outstanding! Congratulations! Time Well Spent.
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Posted September 6, 2007
WOW! This is an extraordinary book. Inspiring and compelling this will be a landmark book on influence. Written with enticing style this soon to be bestseller is worth every minute. i could not put it down. Profound insights that I will revisit throughout my career. The best practice examples alone are worth the read. Well done.
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Posted September 4, 2007
Overall, a well-written and engaging book on a topic that could have been delivered in a very dry and distant manner. The authors employ a wide variety of examples to illustrate principles of influence, from weight loss to developing-country issues to corporate scenarios, giving the book widespread appeal. The stories chosen follow powerful 'influencers' around the globe as they successfully change human behavior, including eradicating the guinea worm in Africa, curbing the spread of AIDS in Thailand, and reforming convicted gangsters in California. A variety of corporate and health care scenarios are also shared. The stories are poignant and attention-grabbing. The anecdotal style kept my interest and made abstract concepts accessible and applicable. I found myself thinking about the examples hours after I¿d put down the book. And the authors' appropriate use of humor inspired several out-loud chuckles as I was reading. Overall, this book is hands-down the best and most thorough book I have ever encountered on influence. Persuasive. I would use their model for my company in a heartbeat. Only I¿d want to hire them to come in and do all the hard work.
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Posted September 26, 2007
Not only did I enjoy reading Influencer, but I am also reading it through a second time. This book is extremely easy to understand for people like me that don't usually read or comprehend books about business, communications, etc. Complex ideas are broken down into clear, defined steps that I have already applied in various areas of my life. Thank-you VitalSmarts for providing your research to the masses and helping me recognize that I can be an influencer everyday.
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Posted September 27, 2007
I was both fascinated and inspired with Influencer. I consider the concepts and strategies in the book to be a well-charted road map to succeeding at change. After reading and re-reading the book, I have already begun to see practical application in my life. One of the profound ideas that I have taken to heart includes targeting just a handful of behaviors 'what the authors refer to as Vital Behaviors'. The idea that by changing just two or three bad habits or behaviors can make all the difference in whether you succeed at change is reassuring¿if not inspiring. This concept makes challenges that once seemed intimidating and unattainable now manageable and achievable. And, the six source model is literally a researched formula for succeeding at changing those vital behaviors. It makes so much sense that problems cannot be solved with one influence effort alone, 'I don¿t know why this concept didn¿t occur to me before' but that by using several motivational and enabling forces you can actually succeed where you¿ve been falling short time and time again. The inspiration came by way of reading the moving case studies of people who are targeting both vital behaviors and applying them to the six sources of influence to solve some of the world¿s most devastating problems. These case studies propelled me through the book and showed me, literally, that any effort¿even enormously devastating problems¿can be solved. Influencer leaves you with nothing to chance and everything to gain when it comes to making important and necessary changes.
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More About This Textbook
Overview
An INFLUENCER motivates others to change.
An INFLUENCER replaces bad behaviors with powerful new skills.
An INFLUENCER makes things happen.
This is what it takes to be an INFLUENCER.
Whether you're a CEO, a parent, or merely a person who wants to make a difference, you probably wish you had more influence with the people in your life. But most of us stop trying to make change happen because we believe it is too difficult, if not impossible. We develop complicated coping strategies when we should be learning the tools and techniques of the world's most influential people.
But this is about to change. From the bestselling authors who taught the world how to have Crucial Conversations comes Influencer, a thought-provoking book that combines the remarkable insights of behavioral scientists and business leaders with the astonishing stories of high-powered influencers from all walks of life. You'll be taught each and every step of the influence process-including robust strategies for making change inevitable in your personal life, your business, and your world. You'll learn how to:
Influencer takes you on a fascinating journey from San Francisco to Thailand where you'll see how seemingly “insignificant” people are making incredibly significant improvements in solving problems others would think impossible. You'll learn how savvy folks make change not only achievable and sustainable, but inevitable. You'll discover why some managers have increased productivity repeatedly and significantly-while others have failed miserably.
No matter who you are, or what you do, you'll never learn a more valuable or important set of principles and skills. Once you tap into the power of influence, you can reach out and help others work smarter, grow faster, live, look, and feel better, even save lives. The sky is the limit…for an Influencer.
Are you an Influencer ?
Find out at www.influencerbook.com
”You don't have to be a manager to realize that no one likes being told what to do. Yet lectures are still the main way we try to get people to change their behavior. Fortunately, social learning academics have been studying alternatives for decades. Patterson and his fellow consultants have now collected their findings in this engaging, example-rich book. The key message is hardly new, but it has gotten more sophisticated: Managers need to get out of the way and facilitate, not manage, the process of change for employees. They can do this by offering vicarious experiences, restructured environments, peer pressure, and frequent tests-all geared so that people embrace the change as authentic to them, not imposed by an outsider. Missing are only success stories of organizations that persuaded managers to drop their controlling habits and choose to be mere facilitators.”-John T. Landry, Harvard Business Review
Influencer
Editorial Reviews
From Barnes & Noble
The authors of Crucial Conversations are convinced that you can learn to be an influencer; that is, some one who can change minds and influence people. This leveraging power isn't magic. It derives from mastering proven strategies. To teach those methods, Influencer: The Power to Change Anything draws on skill lessons learned by hundreds of successful leaders and five decades of social science research. Empowering advice for any situation.Product Details
Related Subjects
Meet the Author
Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler are the leaders of VitalSmarts, an innovator in best practices training products and services that has taught over two million people and worked with more than 300 of the Fortune 500 companies.
Table of Contents
Authors' Note
Part I: The Power to Change Anything
1. You're an Influencer
2. Find Vital Behaviors
3. Change the Way You Change Minds
Part 2: Make Change Inevitable
4. Make the Undesirable Desirable
5. Surpass Your Limits
6. Harness Peer Pressure
7. Find Strength in Numbers
8. Design Rewards and Demand Accountability
9. Change the Environment
10. Become an Influencer
Additional Tools and Resources
Works Cited
Acknowledgments
Index
About the Authors
Preface
Think about it—in almost any area of life—from business performance to personal health to relationship success—the most important problems we face will never be solved until we become better at influencing our own behavior or that of other people.
And yet most of us stink at influence.
Corporate leaders have racked up a dismal influence record. Over 80 percent of corporate programs fail. Whether the intent of the program is to improve quality, assimilate a newly acquired company, “right-size,” deliver products on time, or boost productivity—the research is clear that most efforts disappoint. And the reason is always the same—leaders failed to change the behavior needed to ensure success.
And the problem is not just with the corporate world. AIDS is raging across the planet. Terrorists are finding ready recruits in too many countries. Marriage breakup statistics hover around a predictable 50 percent. The list goes on—and the common variable in all of these horrendous challenges is influence. We seem to be powerless to influence behavior in ways that would make the world work better for everyone.
So what are we to do?
Our new book, Influencer: The Power to Change Anything,teaches anyone—executives and front-line employees, mothers and fathers, community and political leaders alike—not only that it is possible to influence change, but also that it can be done quickly and produce sustainable results.
Influencer brings together the breakthrough strategies of modern-day influence masters. By drawing from the skills of hundreds of successful change agents and combining them with five decades of the best social science research, Influencer creates a coherent and portable model for changing behaviors—a model that nearly anyone can learn and apply.
In Influencer you’ll meet change geniuses who have used the principles of Influence to solve some of the world’s most profound and catastrophic problems. You’ll meet:
And many others who have lost weight, saved a struggling community, improved damaged relationships, secured bottom-line results, revamped corporate culture, etc…
Join us on a journey around the globe and into the lives of these gifted change geniuses. Become a powerful influencer yourself by learning how to solve the problems you care about most—from the simplest to the most persistent, resistant, and profound challenges you can imagine.
When you understand the forces behind any behavior along with the strategies to change it, you hold within your own grasp the power to change anything.
Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny,
David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler
Coauthors of Influencer: The Power to Change Anything