Influencer: The Power to Change Anything

During a recent conversation with friends recently, the topic of building a business to create change in third world countries came up -- I guess the United States presidential election has led to some intense conversations about the state of the world.

Naturally, I thought of a fantastic book I read earlier this year: Influencer: The Power to Change Anything by Joseph Grenny, Kerry Patterson, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan & Al Switzler (click here to view the table of contents). Influencer was written by the authors of the best-selling books Crucial Confrontations: Tools for Resolving Broken Promises, Violated Expectations, and Bad Behavior and Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High.

I highly recommend these three books. Communication is important in all aspects of life -- personal and business relationships -- and these books provide readers the tools to become better communicators.

I'm certainly not an expert -- I still fly off the handle when people needle me, and I could still improve on my tactics for getting my points across, but I'd like to think I'm much improved.

Sadly, I read these books before I started this blog so I don't have comprehensive notes on them. Though this excerpt from the book sums up Influencer quite well:

Influencer takes you on a fascinating journey from San Francisco to Thailand where you'll see how seemingly “insignificant” people are making incredibly significant improvements in solving problems others would think impossible. You'll learn how savvy folks make changenot only achievable and sustainable, but inevitable. You'll discover why some managers have increased productivity repeatedly and significantly-while others have failed miserably.

...

In Influencer you’ll meet change geniuses who have used the principles of Influence to solve some of the world’s most profound and catastrophic problems. You’ll meet:

• One woman who has turned 14,000 thieves, prostitutes, and murderers into upstanding citizens without therapists, a professional staff, donations, grants, or guards.
• A health advocate who has nearly eradicated a debilitating disease without traditional medicines or vaccines.
• A healthcare professional who has helped save more than 120,000 lives in America’s hospitals without a medical degree.

And many others who have lost weight, saved a struggling community, improved damaged relationships, secured bottom-line results, revamped corporate culture, etc…

The stories from Influencer are heartwarming and educational. The authors teach their theory of vital behaviors (high-leverage action that will directly lead to the results you desire that are behaviors and not results and are recognizable and repeatable) and six sources of influence to effect change:

• Personal Motivation
• Personal Ability
• Social Motivation
• Social Ability
• Structural Motivation
• Structural Ability

You know, I liked this book so much that I may add it to my list of books to purchase.

Click here to visit the authors' comprehensive website for this book, where you can download a pdf excerpt of the first chapter, download a pdf of the Influencer Self-Assessment, download a pdf of the Influencer Worksheet, download a pdf of the Influencer Discussion Questions, and much more!