Title : Getting It Done: How to Lead When You're Not in Charge
Author : Roger Fisher
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Solid Advice for the Most Common Business Problem
Whenever I meet with bright, motivated business people who want to improve the world, they always complain about others in their organizations who will not cooperate in a change process. Get those reluctant people on board the progress train, and the more positive future will soon arrive. Almost never do these complainers realize that their own habits, perspective, and behavior are contributing to delaying the progress by making others oppose the initiative.
Getting It Done is a wonderful book for helping each of us see ourselves as part of the problem and part of the solution in situations when many people must cooperate. That's a first in my experience.
The book builds on that valuable perspective by suggesting what skills we each need to improve, and how we can implement a process that will lead to genuine, effective progress. That is very critical, because most improvements occur because someone has designed an effective process to ease their implementation. In new areas, by definition, there is seldom such a process. My suggestion is that you try this one if you have no other.
I also liked the way the authors went on to generalize about how lateral leadership (influencing peers) provides lessons for when you are the boss. The same lessons apply here as well. Influencing people through genuine involvement leads to both better solutions and to better implementation.
If you only read and learn to apply one book this year, Getting It Done should be that book. My reasoning is simple. If you cannot help those you work with to make successful collaborations, you and everyone around you will always operate at a low level of effectiveness. Also, your work day will be filled with stress, conflict, pressure, too much to do, and worry. That's not the way you want to live. Getting It Done can help you develop the skills to get the benefits of how all of us know and can do more than any one of us. When you are able to get that benefit from being in an enterprise, life becomes very interesting, rewarding, and meaningful. You will also feel good about living closer to your potential as a person.
Title : Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Author : Robert Cialdini
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Priceless
I have been entertaining my friends at dinner parties with this book. Cialdini, who admits to being a bit of a sucker himself, shows all the ways we've been manipulated over the years by small gestures and situations contrived by salesmen.
There are so many good stories. The one about Joe Girard, a car salesman who sends out each month 13,000 cards every month to former customers with a card saying, "I like you". Surely people wouldn't fall for that? Yes they do, he made more than $200,000 a year selling cars. He's in the Guinness Book of Records.
There's the story of how the Chinese got the American prisoners in the Korean War to betray their country by setting them essay questions. There's accounts of the trouble we can get into when we insist on being consistent or make a vague commitment to supporting a cause.
Cialdini exposes loads of sales techniques and has some fascinating insights into what motivates us.
As a self-employed person I'm really grateful for this knowledge. This is a book that everyone should read.
Title : Goals! How to Get Everything You Want - Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible
Author : Brian Tracy
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : I read it seven times!
I've read about fifty self-help books and this is the best.
Brian Tracy can say in one page what other authors (notably anthony robbins) will spend a whole chapter on.
Title : The Four Agreements: Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (Toltec Wisdom)
Author : Don Miguel Ruiz
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : great inspirational book
A really good read! a self help book that is true and believable. it made me think!
Title : Motivational Interviewing: Preparing People for Change
Author : William R. Miller
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Wonderful book
I found this book very helpful indeed and many of its techniques have been successful in my practice.
Other Related Resources:
1: http://biketobrown.brown.edu/?p=107
2: http://healthpromotionandwellness.com/corporate-wellness-program-maintaining-motivation-and-interest/
3: http://red-cedar.ca/?p=1331
4: http://www.gitaaonline.com/self-motivation/
5: http://www.michaelroby.com/blog/build-top-ten-lists-to-increase-sales/
