Project Influence and Leadership: Building Rapport in Teams: Volume 4 Paperback – 18 Sept. 2013

Excellent!

Purchased for a present which a friend requested no comment really.

OK

This book begins with an entertaining tale about wilderness survival, but continues with a very practical and concise guide for survival in the business workspace.I found that I could relate to the first chapters a little too well - not just in learning new influencing tips for myself, but also in understanding how others have manipulated, er... influenced, me in the past. That eye opener alone made the read worthwhile.

Michael Nir has written a very good primer on communication skills for leaders and managers. I enjoyed his analogy to backpacking in Denali National Park, which I have personally visited. He has a dry sense of humor with lines like "...the natural urge to pet [bears] is highly inadvisable. I liked his focus on personal informal power with spot on tips for communication styles to affect greater informal power. He makes a valid point that most organizations go to an extreme level to avoid using the "liking" influencing strategy. The result is a dead organization devoid of acknowledgement and recognition. The end product is a group of cohorts that avoid liking each other and many times don't. Michael's greatest contribution in this book is the inventory of 20 leading characteristics found in global business leaders. I wonder if we should do more screening for these indicators like fairness, vision, humility, trust and the others. All in all, a good, quick read to help leaders and managers with communication skills development.

Pro: Filled with great insights that are transferable to task-oriented teams in multiple contexts.Con: The writing/editing was poor. It seemed like it was written by a middle school student.

I think this author has something with bears as they appeared also in silent influencing... Anyway now we know the reason why probably a life-threatening experience does something to you. As for me I will stick with this author's work as it feels like he is not wasting my time and gives me valuable ideas and know how.

Very good overall discussion of how to communicate, create rapport - which is not mentioned in this name - influence and motivate. There is some reference to empowering which can be further developed in situational leadership. The messages in 30 seconds is a good reminder for me. The different four communication styles is very relevant and important, good job.