Summary:

Quickest to Read & Apply

Photo Credit: Amazon.com Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive by Robert B.Cialdini

Yes!:50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive

I use this to target prospects for linkbuilding as a SEO copywriter, blog writer and digital content producer. This means that I use these tips to write my “query letter” or emailed guest blog post pitch to bloggers. These tips also seem to work in landing job interviews.

Most Engrossing

Photo Credit: Amazon.com Negotiation Boot Camp by Ed Brodow

Negotiation Boot Camp

I read this in 2008 when I interviewed for a buyer position in supply Chain and again this month when I was offered a Logisitics job for a manufacturing company.

Most Entertaining and Instructive

Photo Credit: Amazon.com Thank You for Arguing by Jay Heinrichs

Thank You for Arguing

I laughed out loud like I did when I read The Goal.

Intellectually Interesting

Photo Credit: Amazon.com The 3rd Alternative by Stephen R. Covey

The 3rd Alternative

What classroom textbooks have you found useful in the work world? The Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner have been valuable to me as an individual contributor and as a manager in the five years after business school. Disclosure: I have not been paid to promote any company, product, blog, book or school.

Out of the Five Practice of Exemplary Leadership, my classmates said that I excelled in encouraging the heart, inspiring a vision and enabling others to act. I would like to develop as a leader in modeling the way and challenging the process. Contact me if you’ve applied The Leadership Challenge practices as a middle manager, as a public speaking club officer or at church.

According to my Social Networking class taught by Dr. Simon Rodan, knowing when to share knowledge and when to withhold knowledge is essential to power play. I’m still reading negotiation books such as: Negotiation Boot Camp by Ed Brodow, The 3rd Alternative by Stephen R. Covey, Thank You for Arguing by Jay Heinricks and Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive by Robert Cialdini. Why? Because I’m still looking for my way to be firm but friendly and achieve a win-win on the job and in my personal life. In The 3rd Alternative, Stephen R. Covey says, “Trust and fidelity work the same in business as they do at home…”

In the meantime, I am encouraging girlfriends to influence others and exercise their innate leadership in writing tutorials for successful business women. A leader is part coach. Wouldn’t you agree? My style is to begin with encouraging the heart. Though you may expect Ed Brodow’s Negotiation Boot Camp to instruct you to talk others into submission, it taught me to become a better listener. This works during second level job interviews with the hiring manager as well as when your spouse may need to vent about his or her day. It is true that the other doesn’t care what you have to say until he believes you care about him. Ed Brodow suggests that if you are listening 70% of the time and speaking for only 30%, that the other party will perceive that you are being respectful. This increases their perception of your likeability and trust follows.

The 3rd Alternative by Stephen R. Covey reminds me of the Negotiations seminar by Leadership Professor Dr. Joyce Osland. She said that two parties fighting over pie slices do not recognize that the size of the pie can increase. In other words, the pie may be larger than what both parties think. I gave a glimpse into one of her business negotiation simulations here.

Thank You for Arguing by Jay Heinricks will remind you of Eliyahu M. Goldratt’s The Goal because the author uses personal anecdotes that will remind you of the The Goal’s protagonist’s interaction with his teens, wife and coworkers.

Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive by Robert Cialdini seems to be the best book out of this list if you have 15 minutes per day to learn more sales negotiation strategies or attracting new visitors to your website. For instance, he mentions research that shows that those with the same first name as you may be more receptive to your sales pitches. I’ve found a similar phenomenon on Pinterest where people are eager to follow Pinners by the same name. In some cases, they share similar tastes in home decor. Uncanny.

Comments

Negotiation Boot Camp reads like a manual. It answers what traps to avoid and common strategies to use if you are buyer for supply chain or a consumer shopping for a car. Talk with your friends about this title but don’t let your “sparring partner” know you are reading it.

The 3rd Alternative is less popular than The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by the same author. Don’t expect this book to be a natural conversation starter like The 7 Habits. In contrast to encountering a blank look when you mention The 3rd Alternative, you can bond instantly with another reader of The 7 Habits outside of your industry. In my graduate school dorm, a Masters in Library Science read The 7 Habits as part of her required reading while I read the same book as supplementary reading as a MBA student. I would say that though The 7 Habits is a course all its own and wildly popular, The 3rd Alternative can be understood and applied without reading the former.

Just as The 3rd Alternative can be useful without its more popular sibling, The 7 Habits. You can enjoy Thank You for Arguing by Jay Heinricks without reading Eliyahu M. Goldratt’s The Goal. However, in the case of these two books, I recommend you read them concurrently. The Goal gives tangible operations problems and personal conflicts that aid with the understanding of Jay Heinrick’s lessons. Sure, The Goal is fictional but it helps illustrates man of the truths in Thank You for Arguing.

If you are looking for instant gratification, you get pretty close to it by applying Robert Cialdini’s Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive. Tips from Negotation Boot Camp take more finesse to apply. I’ve used Ed Brodow’s tips to negotiate the price of a dental exam. In contrast, I received three job interview offers, in one afternoon, by applying just two of the tips from Cialdini’s book of Yes! The return on investment (ROI) is high for Yes! techniques and the rate of return is quick. For example, I applied to online job openings at 10:15 A.M. and I received three phone calls from hiring managers by 4 P.M. the same day.

Which one of these books is for you? It depends on your objective. What do you need? What argument do you need to settle? How many people do you need to persuade? What’s your timeframe?

If you are a successful business woman who does not like to be involved directly in sales, beef up your reading list and find out what bothers you about interactions in sales. You may identify new ways to train your sales team.