Saturday, April 28, 2012

Influence: Science And Practice (5th Edition) By Robert B. Cialdini

Influence: Science and Practice (5th Edition)

Influence: Science And Practice (5th Edition) By Robert B. Cialdini

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Influence: Science and Practice is an examination of the psychology of compliance (i.e. uncovering which factors cause a person to say "yes" to another's request).

 

Written in a narrative style combined with scholarly research, Cialdini combines evidence from experimental work with the techniques and strategies he gathered while working as a salesperson, fundraiser, advertiser, and in other positions inside organizations that commonly use compliance tactics to get us to say "yes." Widely used in classes, as well as sold to people operating successfully in the business world, the eagerly awaited revision of Influence reminds the reader of the power of persuasion.

 

Cialdini organizes compliance techniques into six categories based on psychological principles that direct human behavior: reciprocation, consistency, social proof, liking, authority, and scarcity.


Product Details
  • Amazon Sales Rank: #1428 in Books
  • Published on: 2008-08-08
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Dimensions: .56" h x 6.08" w x 8.98" l, .81 pounds
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 272 pages
Editorial Reviews

Review
Here's what people are saying about the material in INFLUENCE: Science and Practice:

"This marvelous book explains in clear, practical language the ways in which we become persuaded. It offers excellent insights for those who sell, but even more importantly for all of us who negotiate and buy." –ROGER FISHER, Director, Harvard Negotiation Project, Co-author of "Getting to Yes."

"For marketers, it is among the most important books written in the last 10 years." –JOURNAL OF MARKETING RESEARCH

"The best sales tip I ever got was encouragement to read INFLUENCE by Dr. Robert Cialdini. It was so profound and insightful, I read it three times in a row." –GREG RENKER, President, Guthy-Renker

"It would be marvelous reading for students taking Social Psychology." –DAVID MYERS, Hope College

"The book is tremendously entertaining and very popular with students. It makes excellent reading for a Consumer Behavior or Advertising class." –ALAN J. RESNIK, Portland State University

"INFLUENCE should be required reading for all business majors." –JOURNAL OF RETAILING

From the Back Cover

Over 1.5 million copies sold!

What factors cause someone to say yes? And which techniques most effectively use these factors to bring about such compliance? In his bestselling book, Robert Cialdini, former salesperson, fundraiser, and advertiser, and current professor of social psychology, examines the science and practice of persuasion and compliance. Praised for its enjoyable writing, practical suggestions, and scientifically documented content, prior editions have been widely read by business professionals, fundraisers, and those interested in psychology. The new edition includes:

•  twice as many first hand accounts of how the book's principles apply to business and personal lives;

•  updated coverage of popular culture and new technology; and

•  more on how compliance principles work in many cultures.

 

Here's what people are saying about INFLUENCE: Science and Practice:

"This marvelous book explains in clear, practical language the ways in which we become persuaded. It offers excellent insights for those who sell, but even more importantly for all of us who negotiate and buy."

–ROGER FISHER, Director, Harvard Negotiation Project, Co-author, Getting to Yes

 

"Bob Cialdini is the most brilliant student of influence and negotiation I've encountered. If everything were on the line in a negotiation, I can't think of anyone I'd rather have advising me."

–TOM PETERS, The Tom Peters Group

 

"This book is the de facto standard to learn the psychology of persuasion. If you don't read it, I hope you enjoy pounding your head against the wall and throwing away marketing dollars."

–GUY KAWASAKI, CEO, Garage.com

 

"His book should be in every sales and marketing person's briefcase and reread frequently."

–R. CRIAG WILSON, Sr. Vice President, Sales Manager, Northern Trust

 

Robert B. Cialdini is a well known and influential speaker who gives frequent speeches on The Power of Ethical Influence to such organizations as IBM, the Mayo Clinic, and NATO. He is currently Regents' Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University, where he has also been named Graduate Distinguished Research Professor. He is past president of the Society of Personality and Social Psychology. He attributes his longstanding interest in the intricacies of social influence to the fact that he was raised in an entirely Italian family, in a predominantly Polish neighborhood, in a historically German city (Milwaukee), in an otherwise rural state.


About the Author

Robert B. Cialdini is Regents' Professor of Psychology and Marketing at Arizona State University, where he has also been named W. P. Carey Distinguished Professor of Marketing.  He has taught at Stanford University and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.  He has been elected president of the Society of Personality and Social Psychology.  He is the recipient of the Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award of the Society for Consumer Psychology, the Donald T. Campbell Award for Distinguished Contributions to Social Psychology, and the (inaugural) Peitho Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Science of Social Influence. 

            Dr. Cialdini attributes his interest in social influences to the fact that he was raised in an entirely Italian family, in a predominantly Polish neighborhood, in a historically German city (Milwaukee), in an otherwise rural state.


Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews

48 of 49 people found the following review helpful.
5Great book with ideas that anyone can benefit from.
By Kevin
This was a great book. I come from a technical background, and as most people know engineers are horrible at influencing others. But this book taught me a lot of simple ideas that are applicable in helping to motivate others to my point of view and also how to recognize when others are using these techniques and how to defend against them.

The book has 6 different concepts and it goes into the psychology of each (at a high level), some examples of it, and a few testimonials from readers. It was a quick read and held my attention throughout.

As a side note, in case you are comparing editions. The "Influence Science and Practice" seems to be the most recent version. The "Influence psychology of persuasion" book looks like the same book with an earlier copyright. Skimming through the chapters of both they look like the exact same text, so you probably don't need both.

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful.
5Incredibly Influential, Powerful, and Useful!
By Fr. Charles Erlandson
"Influence" by Robert Cialdini is one of the most wonderful and influential books I've ever read! Other books have been written on the topic, but Cialdini's is the best and most influential of them all.

"Influence" deals with the study of persuasion, compliance, and change - a subject that has application for every area of life. Cialdini presents the latest research on influence in a compelling way, clearly stating the 6 principles of influence and providing wonderful illustrations of each principle from advertising, psychology and other fields. If we understood these 6 principles better, we would be less subject to manipulation from others (for example, the manipulation to buy things we don't need or to buy more than we need). We might, in turn, also be able to understand how to influence others for good.

The 6 principles of influence are:

1. The Rule of Reciprocation: "We should try to repay in kind what another person has provided us."

2. Commitment and Consistency: "Once we make a choice or take a stand, we will encounter personal and interpersonal pressures to behave consistently with that commitment."

3. Social Proof: "We determine what is correct by finding out what other people think is correct."

4. Liking: "We most prefer to say yes to the requests of people we know and like."

5. Authority - we have a deep-seated sense of duty to authority

6. Scarcity - something is more valuable when it is less available

I find that in my own life, these 6 principles are remarkably powerful and have the ability to explain a lot of the behavior I observe as a father, teacher, and priest. We would all benefit from memorizing and mastering these six principles. They are simple but extremely powerful. My daughter read this book when she was 14 or 15, and I had to wrestle with her to get it back because she loved it so much! I only hope she doesn't begin using the principles against me!

One of the best parts of the book is the wonderful examples of each principle that Cialdini provides. An experiment to demonstrate the principle of authority, conducted by Stanley Milgram, is the classic example. In this experiment, two volunteers show up to help with an experiment, purportedly to test the effect of punishment on learning and memory. A researcher in a lab coat with a clipboard explains the experiment to the volunteers and that one is to take the role of the Teacher, who will administer increasingly higher levels of electric shock to the other volunteer, the Learner. Every time the Learner got a question incorrect, the Teacher was to administer a higher level of shock. However, the real experiment was to test how willing the Teacher was to administer pain to the innocent Learner, who was not really another volunteer but an actor pretending to be in increasing stages of pain. The results shocked everyone, for Milgram discovered that about two-thirds of the subjects were willing to administer the highest level of electric shock. The reason? Their deep-seated duty to authority.

Influence is filled with many such fascinating and useful examples of how our lives are influenced by others. I highly recommend the book to all readers, for influence is something common to us all, for good or for evil.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful.
5Each edition sells
By Tony DeFrancisco
Isn't it amazing how each new edition of this great book sells even better than the previous one? And it does so for for one reason, the information works.

"Influence" by Robert Cialdini teaches us the basics of how people are influenced. It breaks influence into six key factors:
1. Reciprocation
2. Consistency and Commitment
3. Social Proof
4. Authority
5. Liking (the person who is trying to influence us)
6. Scarcity

Each of the above points is detailed in a chapter. Academic studies and examples are given in a very engaging fashion. Some of the studies are for the birds. For example, mother turkeys, who are known to be caring parents (as far as birds go), tend to respond only to the "cheep-cheep" sound of their chicks.

Hearing the cheep-cheep, the mother turkey coddles and cares for the young turkey chick. It is a short-cut response that nature has given turkeys to know how to behave. It tends to work well in nature. But, tricky scientists recorded the cheep-cheep sound and placed the recording into a stuffed Polecat, the natural enemy of the turkey, and found that the mother turkeys adopted the stuffed polecat. Coddled it and cared for it.

That was quite amazing, as the usual response of a mother turkey to a stuffed Polecat without the cheep-cheep recording is an outright assault on the Polecat. This reflexive behavior tends to work most of the time, but sometimes is inappropriate. The mother turkey is responding in what Cialdini refers to as a "click, whir" method. Once some reactor sets off a signal (click), the mother turkey plays its own internal tape (whir) which signifies the appropriate response.

Only, sometimes, the response is not appropriate. And, some predators have learned the mimic strategy to trick their prey. Now, this may be useful if your goal is to be adopted by a turkey (or maybe its something that could protect you from a wild turkey attack!), you say, but how does this apply to me?

The answer is that people themselves have "click, whir" behavior. Because people wish to avoid the work of making decisions, they have internal tapes they run which tell them how to respond under various conditions. Most of the time our internal tapes are appropriate. But, sometimes, they are not. And some human predators have learned to exploit our "click, whir" behavior. Often, these predators come in the form of salespeople.

Cialdini discusses how to say "No" to each of these six influence factors by being aware of how influence works and reading your internal gut feeling.

This book is excellent reading for anyone who wants to learn how to influence others. Job hunters, managers, and marketers will benefit from reading this book. Although I do not suggest you try to use this knowledge in a devious way, knowing how to approach asking for a request is useful. Investors can benefit also.

For example, "social proof" states that we often look to others to determine what is correct behavior in a situation. We most look to others to deem what is correct in times of uncertainty. This can lead to "pluralistic ignorance." Everyone is assuming that the other guy knows what he is doing and we follow. Manias and gross overvaluation of publicly-traded stocks come to mind. And, this is why publishers of bestselling books are quick to point out "Over 1 million copies sold!" on their book covers. One million readers can't be wrong, can they?

In an attempt to avoid the hard work of thinking, we follow the herd off the cliff, blindly assuming where everyone else is going must be safe. As stated in "Influence" 95% of people are followers and only 5% of people are leaders.

Often, we are most likely to follow "experts." This is the authority factor above. We tend to believe and follow anyone who we assume is an expert. However, following experts can also lead to problems.

"Influence" points out that about 10% of medication administered by hospitals may be in error. This is a serious problem and can obviously lead to death.

Why is it that hospitals have such a problem with errors in medication? Despite the training and knowledge of R.N.'s, they tend to unquestioningly follow the instructions of the doctors. Even if the instructions don't make sense.

Cialdini tells the story of a man who complained of an earache. He had an ear infection and the doctor prescribed eardrops for him. On the prescription, the doctor wrote, "Place drops in R ear." As the doctor was in a hurry, he abbreviated "Right" with R.

Sure enough, the trained nurse obediently followed the instructions and placed the required number of drops in the patient's anus. Neither the patient nor the nurse questioned the instructions, as they came from an authority.

Cialdini's website InfluenceAtWork.com also has great information. I couldn't stop reading. I learned that the brain waves of most people engaged in difficult thinking mirrors the brain activity of having your hand thrust in ice-cold water.

Even if you never feel the need to be adopted by a mother turkey, maybe Cialdini's "Influence" will keep eardrops out of your anus, help keep you from buying things you later regret, and help you understand how influence works. I highly recommend this book.

http://astore.amazon.com/amazon-book-books-20/detail/0205609996

 
 

The Wide Lens: A New Strategy For Innovation By Ron Adner

The Wide Lens: A New Strategy for Innovation

The Wide Lens: A New Strategy For Innovation By Ron Adner

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How can great companies do everything right - identify real customer needs, deliver excellent innovations, beat their competitors to market - and still fail?

The sad truth is that many companies fail because they focus too intensely on their own innovations, and then neglect the innovation ecosystems on which their success depends. In our increasingly interdependent world, winning requires more than just delivering on your own promises. It means ensuring that a host of partners -some visible, some hidden- deliver on their promises, too.

In The Wide Lens, innovation expert Ron Adner draws on over a decade of research and field testing to take you on far ranging journeys from Kenya to California, from transport to telecommunications, to reveal the hidden structure of success in a world of interdependence.

A riveting study that offers a new perspective on triumphs like Amazon's e-book strategy and Apple's path to market dominance; monumental failures like Michelin with run-flat tires and Pfizer with inhalable insulin; and still unresolved issues like electric cars and electronic health records, The Wide Lens offers a powerful new set of frameworks and tools that will multiply your odds of innovation success.

The Wide Lens will change the way you see, the way you think - and the way you win.

Product Details
  • Amazon Sales Rank: #15317 in Books
  • Published on: 2012-03-01
  • Released on: 2012-03-01
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Dimensions: .0" h x .0" w x .0" l, 1.00 pounds
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 288 pages
Editorial Reviews

Review

"Ron Adner is a breakthrough thinker. He zooms out to see more clearly how -- and why -- some innovations take hold, and others do not. Adner''s core insight is profound, that an innovation''s success depends on its place in an entire ecosystem, and his concepts can help people turn inspired creativity into practical impact and market success. A significant contribution."
(-Jim Collins, author of Good to Great co-author of Great by Choice )

"This is a path-breaking perspective on innovation. Adner''s tools guide you to ask the right questions to protect you from making mistakes that condemn so many innovations to failure."
(-Clayton M. Christensen, Kim B. Clark Professor, Harvard Business School, autho )

"The Wide Lens will change the way you think about innovation. Adner shows why and how you must adapt your approach to innovation in today''s interdependent world. This is highly useful reading for anyone whose success depends on collaboration."
(-John Donahoe, President and CEO, eBay, former CEO, Bain & Company )

"The Wide Lens is an important new book on innovation. Ron correctly identifies the important challenge of recognizing market ecosystem and competitive strategies. His framework for innovation is contemporary, teachable and practical. Growth is today''s big challenge. The Wide Lens will help big and small companies grow faster."
(-Jeffrey R. Immelt, Chairman and CEO, General Electric Corporation )

"Engaging, insightful, and immensely practical. Success in today''s economy requires mastery of your innovation ecosystems, and The Wide Lens is the definitive guidebook to this new landscape. Adner''s innovative tools and insights will make your strategy more robust and your organization more effective."
(-Kevin Sharer, Chairman and CEO, Amgen )

"''What is the big picture?'' This is a question that haunts every business strategist --- reflecting the fear that our analysis of the landscape has missed the larger threats or opportunities in front of us. Based on years of research and teaching, The Wide Lens gives a brilliant answer. Ron Adner describes the landscape of innovation in the most complete terms ever achieved. The arrival of this book is a major event for leaders everywhere."
(-Adam Brandenburger, J.P. Valles Professor, NYU Stern School of Business, co-au )

"As Ron Adner makes crystal clear, when it comes to proliferating a successful innovation, "it takes a village!" And if you do not think about the needs of your co-innovators, or the chain of adopters that helps it get all the way into the hands of your end users, you are likely to find yourself stranded on the wrong side of a chasm, looking longingly at the customers that could have been yours."
(-Geoffrey Moore, author of Crossing the Chasm, and Escape Velocity )

About the Author

Ron Adner has spent the last decade studying the root cause of innovation success and failure. An award winning professor of strategy at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, and previously at INSEAD, he is a speaker and consultant to companies around the world. His writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Forbes, and the Harvard Business Review.

Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful.
5The Wide Lens - A Must Read
By Vijay Govindarajan
Ron Adner's The Wide Lens is a welcome addition to the important topic of innovation. Everyone agrees that in a fast changing world, innovation is the key. Yet, most companies struggle to innovate. Why? One reason is that they tend to focus on their own innovations but fail to leverage innovations outside the company's four walls. Competition for the future depends upon collaboration among an eco-system. Ron Adner shows how to do it. This is a must read.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful.
5An Essential Look at 21st Century Business
By VTReader
I was fortunate enough to take Ron Adner's class at Tuck as a student and it was far and away the best class I took. To this day I still apply his teachings on a daily basis working in the startup world.

Adner challenged students to think beyond the standard strategy frameworks and view success or failure with a "wide lens." It was an eye-opening experience. Once you get used to this way of viewing the world, it's impossible not to see innovation ecosystems cropping up everywhere. And it frequently leads to counterintuitive conclusions!

In this book Adner highlights the best of his teachings and punctuates each concept with vivid case studies of Apple, Michelin, Nokia, Pfizer, and more.

As an MBA student I was required to read many, many books on strategy and innovation. I could have saved a lot of time by just reading The Wide Lens and skipping the rest. If only it had been available back then!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful.
5Game-changing strategic frameworks
By Ken Fraser
The strategic frameworks developed in the Wide Lens have changed how I think about the world. I have little doubt that this ecosystem perspective will pervade managerial thinking and business school training for future generations of leaders throughout the world. For now, these ideas offer a distinctive, practical and ground-breaking view on innovation strategy. This work is at the forefront of business thought and Ron Adner is on a climb that will see him join the highest echelon of business strategists, alongside FW Taylor and Michael Porter. This book is a must read for any serious or aspiring executive.

http://astore.amazon.com/amazon-book-books-20/detail/1591844606

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Reverse Innovation: Create Far From Home, Win Everywhere By Vijay Govindarajan, Chris Trimble

Reverse Innovation: Create Far From Home, Win Everywhere

Reverse Innovation: Create Far From Home, Win Everywhere By Vijay Govindarajan, Chris Trimble

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The gap between rich nations and emerging economies is closing. As a result, the global dynamics of innovation are changing. No longer will innovations traverse the globe in only one direction, from developed nations to developing ones. They will also flow in reverse.

Authors Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble of the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth explain where, when, and why reverse innovation is on the rise, and why the implications are so profound—for nations, for companies, and for individuals. The authors focus in particular on a traditional pillar of rich-world economic vitality: successful and long-established multinational corporations. All are now seeking explosive growth in emerging economies, and all must learn new tricks in order to succeed.

Reverse Innovation shows leaders and senior managers how to make innovation in emerging markets happen, and how such innovations can unlock opportunities throughout the world. The book highlights the tribulations and triumphs of some of the world's leading companies (including GE, Deere & Company, P&G, and PepsiCo), illustrating exactly what works and what does not.

The new reality is that the future lies far from home. Whether you are a CEO, financier, strategist, marketer, scientist, engineer, national policymaker, or even a student forming your career aspirations, reverse innovation is a phenomenon you need to understand. This book will help you do that.

Product Details
  • Amazon Sales Rank: #861 in Books
  • Published on: 2012-04-10
  • Released on: 2012-04-10
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Dimensions: .0" h x .0" w x .0" l, .0 pounds
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 256 pages
Editorial Reviews

Review

"…a book that offers provocative insights into the quickly changing dynamics of the global economy." "The book is rich with examples…" — The Wall Street Journal

"In Reverse Innovation, [the authors] argue that…western businesses must similarly learn new tricks from their emerging markets. It is an idea that they have been championing for years and which has become increasingly fashionable." — The Financial Times

"The book, an extension of a 2009 Harvard Business Review article that Govindarajan and Trimble co-authored with General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt, reads like a how-to guide for executives looking to innovate beyond the U.S. and Europe." — Fortune.com

"Govindarajan [and Trimble] writes about how reverse innovation is rapidly changing the way companies think and how that's affecting the way they look at markets." — Fortune (India)

"This insightful book makes a compelling case for the developing world supplying the strongest emerging market of the new century." — Publishers Weekly

"This book shows how, counter-intuitively, there are many circumstances when business models and products developed in emerging markets can provide new opportunities in rich economies also." — Forbes.ru

"Govindarajan and Trimble offer a framework for the next phase of globalization." — Jeffrey R. Immelt, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, General Electric

"Reverse Innovation is a playbook for leaders who want to unlock growth in emerging markets." — Robert A. McDonald, Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Procter & Gamble Co.

"Innovation knows no geographic boundaries. This book is a defining work on how we invest and engage the future." — William D. Green, Chairman, Accenture

"Unique and important work, hard-hitting examples, detailed and actionable steps, and clear explanations." — Omar Ishrak, Chief Executive Officer, Medtronic, Inc.

"As the world's economic center of gravity continues to shift—and as new consumers continue to emerge—it's clear that the logic and business practices that drove yesterday's success won't drive tomorrow's." — Ajay Banga, President and Chief Executive Officer, MasterCard

"I wish I had this book ten years ago." — Peter F. Volanakis, Former Chief Operating Officer, Corning Technologies

About the Author

Vijay Govindarajan is the Earl C. Daum 1924 Professor of International Business at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, and the first Professor-in-Residence and Chief Innovation Consultant at General Electric. He ranked third in the recent Thinkers 50 list of the greatest management thinkers in the world. Chris Trimble, a well-known innovation speaker and consultant, is also on the faculty at Tuck.
Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful.
5"Reverse innovation is not optional. It is oxygen."
By PV
World-class open-heart surgery for up to 1% of the costs of rich world comparables...: `Reverse innovations' - innovations developed for and adopted first in developing countries - have shown major potential in both emerging and, increasingly, developed markets.

The authors clearly outline why multinationals everywhere must and how they can learn to develop such compelling reverse innovations, in order to compete both far from home in vast and fast growing emerging markets, as well as in their own backyards.

A very exciting must-read for both those who are interested in sustaining business viability, as well as academics interested in exploring a rather new and stirring field of innovation sciences.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
5A simple and hugely important idea
By john moran
Great business books tend to either explain world-changing phenomena (e.g., Steven Johnson's Where Good Ideas Come From) or prescribe steps to become more successful (e.g., Jim Collins' Good to Great).

Reverse Innovation does both. It builds on groundbreaking earlier frameworks (including Clay Christensen's theory of disruptive innovation and Govindarajan and Trimble's own models of innovation execution) to both describe, and explain how to make use of, an astonishing phenomenon: emerging-market innovations that "defy gravity" to gain traction in developed economies.

This trend is real, and the authors have the examples to prove it - from John Deere and GE to numerous small companies and entrepreneurs you've never heard of. But the best part of the book is the combination of practical, how-to advice (they provide counterintuitive organizational steps to "create far from home and win everywhere") with the illustrations of how this trend is literally changing billions of lives.

The potential to win in rich markets as well as poor will attract every major corporation to solve the problems of those not at the "top of the pyramid." This is capitalism at its best: the profit motive as a phenomenal engine for the welfare of the entire world. Kudos to Govindarajan and Trimble for both uncovering the trend and providing a playbook for everyone to take advantage of it.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
5Reverse Innovation
By Abhijit
Another gem from VG and Chris Trimble after the Other side of Innovation.

Why do we need to start from a clean slate in the developing world even if we have mastered the developed world in comparable categories?

Why would the developed world be interested in a product originally conceived in the developing world?

Traditionally it has always been the other way round.

And why ignoring these questions can cause incumbent corporations to lose in the long term?

A must read for innovators, strategists and business leaders.

http://astore.amazon.com/amazon-book-books-20/detail/1422157644

 
 

Standing Up For Your People

Showing Support When It Matters

"If we don't stand up for others, who will be left to stand up for us?" ~~~ – Karen Traviss, author

Have you ever worked with someone who defended you when you made a mistake, or, for honest reasons, performed badly on a task?

Perhaps she put her own reputation on the line, and defended your actions to a senior manager or a customer. Or, maybe she took responsibility for your mistake herself, or defended you from unjust criticism.

If you have experienced this, it probably made a very deep impression on you, and strengthened the relationship you had with that person.

What if this is reversed? Do you feel comfortable standing up for your own people in this way? And do you know when you should and shouldn't do this?

In this article, we'll look at how to defend people appropriately. We'll look at why you should; explore when you shouldn't; and think about how you can stand your ground diplomatically and effectively, without damaging your reputation.

Why Stand Up for Others?

When you stand up for people, you show that you're "on their side" when they need help. This builds long-term loyalty, trust, credibility, commitment, and morale in your team, and it gives your people a confidence boost.

It also shows that you are focused on your team's well-being and interests, rather than on yourself. This helps to create a positive working environment and shows everyone that you're a leader worth following.

After all, your responsibility as a leader is to support your people appropriately, and to make sure that they have everything they need to do their jobs effectively. When things go well, you all share the credit and rewards. The same should be true when things don't go well.

However, you shouldn't defend your people's actions in all circumstances. For instance, you can end up looking foolish if you jump to the defense of someone who has done something genuinely bad or unethical, and you should avoid defending your people as a way of manipulating them to "pay you back" for your loyalty in the future.

How to Stand Up for Your People

It can be difficult to know when you should or shouldn't stand up for your people. Let's look at a common-sense approach for doing it:

1. Know Your Values

It's important that you start out knowing what you'll stand up for, and what you won't. This means knowing your own values, and fully understanding your organization's values and mission.

For instance, what standards of behavior are really important to you? What if your team member did something that seriously breached these standards - would you still stand by her? And what if a colleague violated your organization's core mission? Should you defend his actions?

Although you can't plan for every situation, you can prepare yourself mentally by thinking about what you'd do in certain situations.

2. Analyze the Situation and Assess Risks

You may have to decide at a moment's notice whether to speak up in someone else's defense. In these cases, you'll have to trust your own good judgment to make the best decision. However, it's best to take some time to analyze the situation first, if you can.

Start by gathering the facts about the situation. Are you relying on one side of the story, or have you taken time to speak to everyone involved?

Then explore the behavior. Does it contravene important values and standards, does it undermine the team's mission, or does it unnecessarily impact the well-being of the team or of an individual team member? Or is it actually OK when you look at it using these criteria?

Another part of your analysis has to do with the person you're defending. Has she done all that she can to avoid or remedy the situation? Did she truly do her best? Does she deserve your support?

3. Decide on Action

Once you've analyzed the situation, you can decide on the action that you'll take.

For instance, if you believe that your team member was justified in what he did, or that he made an honest mistake, you'd probably decide to support him fully.

Or, as his manager, you might take responsibility for his actions, and take appropriate steps to make sure that the problem doesn't happen again. (This might involve reviewing processes and procedures, making sure that he has the resources needed to avoid problems in the future, or outlining a performance agreement.)

If you decide that the person doesn't deserve your support, it's important to explain to him why you're not going to defend his actions, using the information that you gathered in the previous step.

4. Defend Appropriately

When it comes to defending team members to others, plan what you're going to say in advance, if you can.

Explain why you're standing by them, and highlight the steps they've taken to remedy the situation, if appropriate.

If you've taken responsibility for their actions as their manager, explain what you're going to do the make the situation right, and to make sure that it doesn't happen again.

You need to maintain good working relationships with the person you're speaking with, so be diplomatic at the same time that you're assertive, and do your best to use empathy to see things from his or her perspective.

Communicate clearly and calmly, and stay professional, even if criticism is unjust.

Tip 1:
Make sure that you stand up for everyone on your team when appropriate, not just the team members you have a good connection with.

Tip 2:
If you defend your people after they've made mistakes or performed poorly, make sure that they understand what they did wrong, and that they commit to ensuring that this doesn't happen again.

Tip 3:
Our article on Dealing With Unfair Criticism has more on responding diplomatically to unwarranted criticism.

Key Points

As a leader or manager, there will likely be times when you need to defend your people from criticism, or stand up for them if they've made a mistake.

If you defend your team members, it will not only increase the sense of loyalty that they feel for you, but it can also boost their self-confidence and contribute to high morale.

Stand up for your people effectively by:

  1. Knowing your values.
  2. Analyzing the situation and assessing risks.
  3. Deciding on action.
  4. Defending appropriately.

If the problem arose because of a mistake or poor performance, make sure that you take appropriate steps to remedy the situation.

Thanks to Mind Tools / Mind Tools Ltd
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/standing-up-for-your-people.htm#np

 
 

Questions Employers Ask In An Interview

With the current economic climate and changing job market, employers have now started to alter the types of questions they ask in interviews.

With hundreds of Internet pages dedicated to types of interview questions and all listing the same "general" type questions (what are your strengths, where do you see yourself in 10 years, etc.), employers are now steering away from these types of questions and introducing a new set of questions that test your creativity and flair.

Below is a list of questions which you may not have thought about previously. Think about how you would answer these questions if faced with one of these in a job interview:

  • If you had the option, would you change your college career?
  • How do you go about deciding what to do first when given a project?
  • What are the most important rewards you expect in your business career?
  • Provide an example of how you are a risk taker.
  • If you could have any job in the world, what would it be?
  • Why do you want to work for us and not for our competitor?
  • What did you think of your previous manager/supervisor?
  • What did you do in your last job to increase value?
  • What are some of the things that bother you?
  • Tell me about the last time you felt anger on the job.
  • Do you need other people around to stimulate you or are you self-motivated?
  • What management style gets the best results out of you?
  • How can our company offer you what your previous company could not offer?
  • How long do you think it would take before you were making a significant contribution to our business?
  • How ambitious are you? Would you compete for my job?
  • What do you like and dislike about the job we are discussing?
  • Why did you choose a career in… ?
  • What do you think is the most important dilemma facing our business today?
  • How much does your last job resemble the one you are applying for? What are the differences?
  • Why did you decide to join your previous company? Did the job live up to your expectations? Why are you leaving now?
  • Explain the organizational structure and hierarchy in your last company and how you fitted into it. Did this suit you?
  • Do you prefer to work in a small, medium or large company?
  • What interests you about our company, product or service?
  • You have not done this sort of job before. How will you cope/succeed?
  • Do you consider yourself successful in your career to date?
  • What was your greatest success in your professional career? How did you achieve it?
  • What has been your biggest failure in your professional career?
  • Did you feel you advanced and progressed in your last job?
  • How do you handle criticism?
  • What would you like to avoid in your next job?
  • How did you get on with your previous manager, supervisor, co-workers and subordinates?
  • What will your referees say about you?
  • Fantasy question… what would you do if you won the lottery? Would you come to work tomorrow?

Thanks to RedStarResume / Careerealism
http://www.careerealism.com/questions-employers-ask-interview/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+careerealism+%28CAREEREALISM%29

 
 

Stress Is Not Your Enemy

How often do you intentionally push yourself to discomfort?

I know that sounds a little nutty, but here's why I ask: Subjecting yourself to stress is the only way to systematically get stronger — physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. And you'll get weaker if you don't.

We live by the myth that stress is the enemy in our lives. The real enemy is our failure to balance stress with intermittent rest. Push the body too hard for too long — chronic stress — and the result will indeed be burnout and breakdown. But subject the body to insufficient stress, and it will weaken and atrophy.

Few of us push ourselves nearly hard enough to realize our potential, nor do we rest, sleep, and renew nearly as deeply or for as long as we should.

This is easiest to see at the physical level. In the absence of regular cardiovascular exercise — a form of stress — the heart's ability to efficiently pump blood drops an average of 1 percent a year between the ages of 30 and 70, and faster after that. Likewise, in the absence of strength training — literally pushing weight against resistance — we lose an average of 1 percent of lean muscle mass every year after age 30.

But those effects can be dramatically reversed, even very late in life. In one of a series of studies, a group of nursing home residents with an average age of 87 were put on a strength training program 3 times a week for 45 minutes a session. They were given plenty of time to rest between sets and to recover between sessions. On average, they more than doubled their strength in just ten weeks.

The principle is simple, but not entirely intuitive. The harder you push yourself, the more you signal your body to grow. It's called supercompensation, and the growth actually occurs during recovery. The limiting factor is mostly your tolerance for discomfort.

Think for a moment about attention. Absorbed focused lies at the heart of great performance. Unfortunately, our minds have minds of their own — they flit from thought to thought. It's also more difficult than ever to stay focused in this digital age. Never before have we had to deal with so many seductive distractions.

Training your mind operates by the same principle as training your body. By focusing on one thing for a defined period of time — say by counting your breath, or working at a demanding task, or even reading a difficult book — you're subjecting your attention to stress.

As your mind wanders, the challenge is to return your focus to the breath, or the task, or the book. Effectively, you're training control of your attention. The more intensely you practice, even for short increments of time, the stronger you'll get.

The alternative is shallowness. So much of what we do all day long requires little real effort, but yields only the most fleeting gratification.

For me, writing this blog is one way I intentionally push myself to discomfort for several hours every week. I don't relish pain any more than the next guy, and so to get past my resistance, I write at a set time, for 90 minutes at a stretch before taking a break. Working at a piece of writing forces me to think hard and searchingly, about a subject that matters to me, and then try to compose sentences that are lean, crisp, and clear, and say exactly what I mean them to say.

It can be frustrating and uncomfortable to think hard — especially early in the process. I often feel compelled to get up from my desk and eat something, or check my email, or do anything but keep writing.

Occasionally I succumb, but mostly I've learned to put off these indulgences, comforted by the knowledge that staying the course will ultimately make me feel more alive, more productive, and better about myself than I ever will by flitting between the day's more trivial tasks.

Completing a challenging piece of work, or a tough workout, or an intellectually demanding book, frees us to truly savor and enjoy the period afterwards — to experience time off not as slacking but as a fully earned opportunity for restoration.

Most of us instinctively run from discomfort, but struggle equally to value rest and renewal. We operate instead in a gray zone, rarely fully engaged and rarely deeply relaxed.

What practice could you add to your life to regularly push beyond your comfort zone — and then deliberately renew? Increasing the amplitude of your wave — from intense effort to deep renewal — is the surest path to a more fully realized life.

Tony Schwartz is the president and CEO of The Energy Project and the author of Be Excellent at Anything.

Thanks to Tony Schwartz / Blog HBR / Harvard Business School Publishing
http://blogs.hbr.org/schwartz/2012/04/stress-is-not-your-enemy.html?referral=00563&cm_mmc=email-_-newsletter-_-daily_alert-_-alert_date&utm_source=newsletter_daily_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alert_date

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Friday, April 27, 2012

Job Description Handbook, The By Margie Mader-Clark

Job Description Handbook, The

Job Description Handbook, The By Margie Mader-Clark

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Product Description

Managers are asked to write job descriptions every day, but receive little or no guidance on how to do it or what to include. Done right, job descriptions will help managers hire, evaluate performance, discipline, and plan for future growth.

Product Details
  • Amazon Sales Rank: #27859 in Books
  • Published on: 2008-06-01
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 2
  • Dimensions: .68" h x 7.02" w x 9.00" l, 1.14 pounds
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 304 pages
Editorial Reviews

Review
Can help you turn a tedious task into a valuable management tool for hiring the best possible people.
(Accounting Today )

From the Author
Define the job and hire the right person!

About the Author
Margie Mader-Clark has worked at the highest levels of the HR profession for more than 15 years, primarily in the fast-paced world of Silicon Valley. She has experienced the power of good management -- and the devastating impact of poor management. Mader-Clark has worked with numerous companies to develop commonsense HR principles to guide their employment policies.

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5Awesome Book
By Honey Mcpherson
I received this book before the estimated time. Was a great price! I am very pleased! Thanks!

http://astore.amazon.com/amazon-book-books-20/detail/1413307574