A review by suzemo
Influencer : The Power to Change Anything by Kerry Patterson

3.0

Influencer: The Power to Change was written by the same people who wrote Crucial Conversations. Both books were strongly recommended by my favorite HR trainer to improve work skills, particularly for effective communication and coaching.

I thought Influencer would be more about acting/speaking in a manner that would make one more influential through to other people, but it wasn't quite that. It does have good information re: becoming a better Influencer, but more in the line of someone who wishes to be an agent of change for behaviors and programs. Not so much a "let's speak in a way that can actually affect the way people think" so much as "here are the tools and actions that lead to major effective changes for major programmatic shifts".

It was solid, just not quite what I expected. They do lay everything out well, with the 6 behaviors/things people can do to make shifts and the importance of each. It covers everything from walking the walk to finding people to buy into programs and help assemble a team to make major changes.

I do like how it covers positive vs negative reinforcement and expected outcomes. Nothing I had not known before or anything, but it would be good information for those a little bit less versed in behavior modification and appropriate actions to make them happen. There were some good tidbits to take to heart (that I did pay attention to and will try to add to my repertoire), and it was an overall good book.

The authors also present studies and examples, which is also rather nice (vs random anecdotal evidence) and it follows several examples of change and how the different principles applied and helped the programs succeed.