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| Influencer: The Power to Change Anything | 
 enlarge | Authors: Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron Mcmillan, Al Switzler
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $13.73
You Save: $11.22 (45%)
New (42) Used (14) Collectible (1) from $12.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  141 reviews
Sales Rank: 2239
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.2
ISBN: 007148499X
Dewey Decimal Number: 153.85
EAN: 9780071484992
ASIN: 007148499X
Publication Date: September 13, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
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Product Description
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: - Identify a handful of high-leverage behaviors that lead to rapid and profound change.
- Apply strategies for changing both thoughts and actions.
- Marshall six sources of influence to make change inevitable.
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
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| Customer Reviews: Read 136 more reviews...
 Didn't influence me August 23, 2007
110 out of 166 found this review helpful
Are you trapped in a jargon-filled jungle? Forever being forced to listen to self-inflated convention speakers, droning on in mind-numbing monologues? If so, then this is the book for you -- if you want more of the same. Vague and long-winded, it appears to be written strictly for those who will still fork over the dough when what should be a free promotional pamphlet is bloated up to a $25 hardback.
Despite its promise to give you "the power to change anything," it doesn't offer any simple, straightforward advice. Instead it tells stories, ones that probably have some good points to make, but are just too dry to be interesting. For example, describing their experience consulting a particular company, the authors write:
"It turns out the company wasn't prepared to shift to a just-in-time system because it didn't posses the social capital to collaborate. When executives purposefully built independence into the work design, it quickly revealed that employees lacked interpersonal problem-solving skills along with the ability to hold one another accountable."
I'm sure the authors know their stuff. But I bet they communicate it better in person.
Value is in the potential, not the immediate September 16, 2007
73 out of 83 found this review helpful
This is an interesting, easy-to-read guide toward building one's ability to influence others and to thereby create constructive change. Building upon the work of Albert Bandura, Stanley Milgram, and other psychologists who specialized in social learning theory, the authors of Influencer: The Power to Change Anything went hunting for people, all over the world, who were able to accomplish major tasks by influencing people to change their behavior. The authors then analyzed what these expert influencers did, so as to give the reader ideas on how to exert influence in more effective ways. The authors also included several examples of major efforts to bring about change, that failed dramatically, and gave their view of what was missing in those change campaigns.
So, what did the authors find? Most persistent problems that seem immune to change efforts, have one, or both, of two factors in common: the people involved do not feel capable of making the change; the people involved do not feel that the proposed change would be an improvement. In other words, the factors are ability and motivation. The authors also looked at three different levels, for each problem: the individual, the social group, the environment of the situation. Thus, if you want to influence people to make a change, there are six basic loci for change input: individual ability (i.e., skill training), individual motivation (e.g., incentives), group ability (e.g., increase networking), group motivation (e.g., modeling and healthy competition), environmental assets (e.g., make the necessary components more readily available), and environmental feedback (e.g., improve the consequence system for success and for failure).
In order to explain how these six different modes of, or targets for influence, can be affected, the authors use a handful of examples to illustrate what they mean. They keep returning to these examples, and the reader gets to know them well. The two best ones are probably the Delancey Center in California, where oft-convicted drug-abusing felons are helped to step out of that way of living and, with a high success rate (according to this book) become employed, law-abiding, drug-free citizens; and the Carter Center's efforts to eradicate a horrible parasitic infection that was once widespread in Africa and Asia, called the guinea worm. By repeatedly returning to these examples, the reader not only understood the complexity of the approach needed, but also how it was done, without tremendous cost, using all six of the influence factors.
The book is written in a friendly, almost familiar, conversational tone. While that might not fit every non-fiction book, it worked well here, as another example of how to present information in a listener-friendly manner. It was also quite clear that the authors believe in what they say, passionately.
However, as can happen when researchers write about their theories, in a passionate way, this book seems to promise more than it actually delivers. I am a clinical psychologist, and I was particularly interested in one of the examples used, about a man named Henry, who wanted desperately to lose weight. Unfortunately, this ended up being the weakest, least-detailed example of the bunch. I ended up understanding much more about how to eradicate guinea worm infestations, than how to help Henry shed some pounds. The authors come out of a business orientation, and they did not seem sure on how to apply their methods to an individual with a personal problem. They tried, but they succeeded much less on dealing with Henry than on how to kill parasites.
I must say, though, that I think reading this book might end up being very valuable to me. It reminded me of a book that I read, written by a professor of mine, Sandor Brent, called Psychological and Social Structures. When I read that book, I thought it was so abstract and theoretical that I would never find its ideas to be meaningful or useful. Over time, though, I kept seeing examples of Dr. Brent's ideas play out in front of me, in politics and in the agency where I work. Whenever a process changed, or new staff joined a team, or when an election was held, or a new law put in place, I could see many of Dr. Brent's concepts unfolding and playing out. There is some value in Influencer: The Power to Change Anything and, like Psychological and Social Structures, I think that I will keep coming back to Influencer: The Power to Change Anything and some of its ideas, and finding new ways to apply what was presented.
 OUTSTANDING August 27, 2007
60 out of 65 found this review helpful
I found that "Influencer" was one of the best books that I've read in the last couple of years. I agree with other reviewers in that it is far from the typical self-help book. It is much, much more. It has analyzed lots of information, synthesized it into a series of packets of information. Sure, it discusses some of the theory, history, or background of each morsel. It justifies its use. The recommendations, a bit short, are practical and inspiring. I found the example stories to provide practical illustrations of the concepts that the authors hoped to communicate. Neither one of my brain cells found the disorganization to be easily worked through. While I found the information worth 8 stars, I found the disorganization worthy of only 3 stars. Averaged out, I think that it is a superb book. I would not recommend it for the average person seeking a self-help book. I would recommend it for individuals hoping to introduce change in their organization or community. I think that this book is worth the price, new, so long as the prospective reader can follow a little theoretical background along with the gems of change.
Fascinating and Helpful August 27, 2007
59 out of 64 found this review helpful
Influencing people isn't easy. This book looks at several influence success stories, including an Indian bank specializing in micro loans, reducing AIDS in Thailand, eradicating the guinea worm, and an environment that changes criminal behavior, and analyzes why they were successful.
It's a compelling study of human nature and why people do the things they do. I learned a lot, and will be able to apply some of it to my everyday life. But if you're in management, politics, or any sort of position where you need to deal with people, this is a must-read.
Do these techniques work? Look how many folks have reviewed this book prior to publication. Read Chapter 8 to find out why they have.
A Brilliant Blueprint of the Science of Change August 27, 2007
55 out of 59 found this review helpful
When Stephen Covey labeled this new book "an instant classic," I knew it was a must-read for me.
But I was floored at how brilliant this book really is.
Many books deal with some aspect or particular technique of change in people. Influencer is radically different: it presents a complete structural blueprint of the science of change, and takes you step by step through the critical factors behind change and how to apply them to any problem.
Instead of endless dry facts or empty cliches, Influencer breaks down its major points chapter by chapter, illustrating them with a detailed analysis of several real-world case studies of seemingly insurmountable change problems, including Delancy, a rehab center for hard-core criminal drug addicts which has an astonishing success rate of over 90%. Interspersed are personal and family case studies, research, and history all engagingly written in a well-organized, coherent style. At the end of each chapter is a summary of key concepts covered.
Influencer immediately helped me understand both my own thinking processes toward change and those of others, and jump-started good ideas for both my personal growth and solving several business issues. Influencer is by far the most original and useful book I have read this year. Highly recommended.
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