|
Influencer: The Power to Change Anything
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Influencer: The Power to Change Anything for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Special Offers and Product Promotions
- Jubilee offer: spend £10 or more on any product sold by Amazon.co.uk on or before June 6 and you can buy The Diamond Jubilee A Classical Celebration Album for just £2.50 Here's how (terms and conditions apply)
-
Seasonal Offer:
This title is part of our Seasonal Offers promotion.
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Edge Magazine, December 2007
Should be required reading for anyone wishing to bring about change whether in the business, political or social sectors.
getAbstract, March 2008
This book is a joy, and, as the authors no doubt intended, an inspiration... Full of optimism, examples and practical techniques.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I tend to carry a lot of pessimism into a book such as this, partly because I'm exceedingly individualistic, partly because I consider the vast amount of sociological self-help books to be pure hokum, and partly because I know that I am personally way too messed up in the head to be radically "improved" by the contents of a single book. I also have a latent fear that a book such as this is somehow going to be a manifestation of that infernal Who Moved My Cheese? book. Believe it or not, however, I found Influencer to be a valuable read, as it provides a lot of fascinating insight into the workings of the human mind. Whether you call it motivation or manipulation, it is the authors' contention that you can change virtually anything by understanding and implementing the types of techniques and strategies they identify and expound upon in this book.
To be a true "influencer," you have to change your way of thinking, according to the authors. The real secret is not to concentrate on producing the outcome you desire; instead, you must target the behaviors responsible for producing that output. You absolutely have to change behavior patterns in order to yield the results you are after. It takes work, experimentation, etc., but baby steps in the right direction can ultimately lead to giant leaps in virtually any aspect of life, not just business. The authors identify and discuss six sources of influence which you must address in order to bring about and sustain comprehensive change. Success requires deliberate practice, a lot of honest feedback, the setting of mini-goals along the way to keep people motivated, flexibility and mutual collaboration, etc. There really are no magic formulas here; the influence strategy you ultimately adopt must be personalized and comprehensive if you are to succeed. If you don't truly understand the behavior in question or you try to pick and choose between different sources of influence, you will most likely fail in your endeavors.
The authors do a good job of showing why the most simplistic agents of change do not work very well at all. You don't have to be the parent of a teenager to know that lectures rarely yield the desired results. The more you yell and threaten, the less likely you are to get what you want. On the other hand, you would think that incentives and rewards for desired behavior would work well, but the authors show how this strategy can also backfire. So how do you enable these all-important behaviors and forge a workable strategy? The authors boil it down to three things: improving personal mastery through deliberate practice, working with others to build personal capital, and changing the environment. It is amazing how you can influence human behavior just by making even the smallest of changes inside a person's environment. For example, I know that complaints about the slowness of a certain business software program declined significantly after the words "Please Wait" were replaced by "Processing." The program wasn't one bit faster than it used to be, but people thought it was simply because it was no longer prompting them to wait. The authors pack this book full of even more telling examples than this, offering empirical evidence for every recommendation they endorse.
This book hasn't radically changed my life, but it has given me a lot to think about. I would definitely recommend it to a wide range of readers, as it is more of an idea book than a practical guide aimed at a specific audience.
To be a true "influencer," you have to change your way of thinking, according to the authors. The real secret is not to concentrate on producing the outcome you desire; instead, you must target the behaviors responsible for producing that output. You absolutely have to change behavior patterns in order to yield the results you are after. It takes work, experimentation, etc., but baby steps in the right direction can ultimately lead to giant leaps in virtually any aspect of life, not just business. The authors identify and discuss six sources of influence which you must address in order to bring about and sustain comprehensive change. Success requires deliberate practice, a lot of honest feedback, the setting of mini-goals along the way to keep people motivated, flexibility and mutual collaboration, etc. There really are no magic formulas here; the influence strategy you ultimately adopt must be personalized and comprehensive if you are to succeed. If you don't truly understand the behavior in question or you try to pick and choose between different sources of influence, you will most likely fail in your endeavors.
The authors do a good job of showing why the most simplistic agents of change do not work very well at all. You don't have to be the parent of a teenager to know that lectures rarely yield the desired results. The more you yell and threaten, the less likely you are to get what you want. On the other hand, you would think that incentives and rewards for desired behavior would work well, but the authors show how this strategy can also backfire. So how do you enable these all-important behaviors and forge a workable strategy? The authors boil it down to three things: improving personal mastery through deliberate practice, working with others to build personal capital, and changing the environment. It is amazing how you can influence human behavior just by making even the smallest of changes inside a person's environment. For example, I know that complaints about the slowness of a certain business software program declined significantly after the words "Please Wait" were replaced by "Processing." The program wasn't one bit faster than it used to be, but people thought it was simply because it was no longer prompting them to wait. The authors pack this book full of even more telling examples than this, offering empirical evidence for every recommendation they endorse.
This book hasn't radically changed my life, but it has given me a lot to think about. I would definitely recommend it to a wide range of readers, as it is more of an idea book than a practical guide aimed at a specific audience.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A book that starts with the subtitle 'the power to change anything' provokes immediate cynicism. Who could ever claim this? However, the authors in my opinion manage to fulfill their promise. Not through providing some cheesy tools or idealism (be good and you will receive good), but by showing how people's backgrounds and context determine why they behave as they do and what can be done to change this.
This change is not easy, as it requires trying out of what works and what does not. But the book provides a framework for the efforts you can apply to change things (for better or worse). The framework is as follows:
1. focus on changing behavior, not on changing results (results follow, but cannot be influenced)
2. work on both motivation (is it worth behaving in a new way, the 'why') and ability (am I able to do this, the 'how')
3. work on 3 levels: personal/individual - group/social - structural/systemic
This framework can be used both as a diagnosis tool to understand current behavior, as well as a tool for directing change efforts.
Apart from the framework, the book provides wonderful stories about successful major change (Delancey Street Foundation as the biggest miracle work for me), and insights into what works and what does not. Pivotal for me is that working on personal ability - through purposeful practice - can give an enormous boost to the right behavior. And it is so much easier than trying to improve motivation.
I recommend all people to read this book as these insights work in business, society and private life.
And most of all it provides hope that, indeed, (almost) anything can be changed for the better.
This change is not easy, as it requires trying out of what works and what does not. But the book provides a framework for the efforts you can apply to change things (for better or worse). The framework is as follows:
1. focus on changing behavior, not on changing results (results follow, but cannot be influenced)
2. work on both motivation (is it worth behaving in a new way, the 'why') and ability (am I able to do this, the 'how')
3. work on 3 levels: personal/individual - group/social - structural/systemic
This framework can be used both as a diagnosis tool to understand current behavior, as well as a tool for directing change efforts.
Apart from the framework, the book provides wonderful stories about successful major change (Delancey Street Foundation as the biggest miracle work for me), and insights into what works and what does not. Pivotal for me is that working on personal ability - through purposeful practice - can give an enormous boost to the right behavior. And it is so much easier than trying to improve motivation.
I recommend all people to read this book as these insights work in business, society and private life.
And most of all it provides hope that, indeed, (almost) anything can be changed for the better.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
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.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Very insightful
A very useful book on how to bring about change in organisations.
There are lots of interesting anecdotes and examples throughout.
It does provide a good framework. Read more
There are lots of interesting anecdotes and examples throughout.
It does provide a good framework. Read more
Published 18 months ago by The Emperor
Solid Model - More Practical than Crucial Conversations and Crucial...
I am a certified trainer for both Influencer and Crucial Conversations. I like both and use both but Influencer is the most practical and provides a model that you can start using... Read more
Published on 15 Feb 2010 by K. Mcdougall
Dont buy it
I read the previous reviews and made the mistake of believing them. This book is light on substance and full of hype. I would not recommend it.
Published on 29 May 2009 by A. Hartley
Social science gems you might be able to apply
Some examples, some methods, some references, but you'll still need your own creativity. If constructive change were that easy, would the world be in the shape it is in. Read more
Published on 6 Nov 2007 by calmly
Tedious
This book claims to show anyone how to be an "Influencer" capable of changing anything for the better. Read more
Published on 20 Sep 2007 by Kona
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Business, Finance & Law > Management > Change Management
- Books > Business, Finance & Law > Management > Management Skills > Leadership
- Books > Business, Finance & Law > Reference & Education > Secretarial & Office Skills
- Books > Computing & Internet > Web Development > Web Design > Website Design
- Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Psychology & Psychiatry
- Books > Science & Nature > Engineering & Technology
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Psychology Textbooks
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
