Reviews

The Art of Woo: Using Strategic Persuasion to Sell Your Ideas by G. Richard Shell

reubenvar's review

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3.0

DNF, picked it up at the store because WOO was one of my biggest strengths according to a personality test I recently took and I wanted to learn more. Overall, it’s a pretty decent book about selling your ideas as it has personality tests within itself and explains what means what. However, I didn’t feel like I was learning a lot of new ground breaking knowledge. So I put it down after reading approx. 120 pages and the conclusion. Tbh “How to win friends and influence people” might be a better start in that topic if you’re looking for something like this.

mikeymikec85's review

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informative slow-paced

3.0

kilcannon's review

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3.0

A decent, high-level look at negotiation. Examples were sometimes too lofty and/or legendary to be easy for the common folk to identify with. The book is aimed, it felt, at middle managers rather than entry-level people, but for someone who wants a sense of what to expect when trying to get ideas across in the corporate world, this is a good primer. It's a practical and amoral (but not immoral, and also very ethical) look at getting your goals accomplished in corporate America.

heatherjkirk's review

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3.0

Great book for anyone wanting to learn how to better relate your ideas and sway others to your side.

labbyreads's review

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informative medium-paced

3.0

It truly is a  framework that they give the user on how to be more persuasive. It's incredibly tactical and helpful. 

They break their Woo Process into four "easy" steps. The problem is that each step has many steps. In order to diagnose the best strategy you also need to understand what your personal style is (of which there are five) and you need to understand what channels of persuasion will dominate with your audience (of which they lay out six). That's all before you even get to the pitch. 

Like many professional development books, there were plenty of examples here. Many could have easily been cut in the editing process without detracting from the authority with which they were presenting the material. 

Overall, I liked this one. The framework alone is reason enough to read this. Even if the only people you're persuading are your spouse to order your favorite for dinner.

njschaal's review

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4.0

Very helpful and HIGHLY informative. This book is thick with methods and tips to remember, so go through it with a pencil and notepad if you really want to get everything.

kfigley's review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

3.5

kmodes's review against another edition

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3.0

Recommended in my Negotiation module at my MPH problem. One of the better work books I've read as it's fairly well written.
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