Devoted to WAHMs -Work at Home Moms

Influencer: The Power To Change Anything is a new book by a team of authors (Al Switzler, Kerry Patterson, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, and Joseph Grenny) from the consulting group, Vital Smarts. Lately, this book has been a topic of discussion around KnowMoreMedia.

Will this book be the next best business seller, as some seem to expect? Or, will this just be another in a long list of highly hyped business titles?

The Influencer book deals with a difficult subject: changing other people's behavior. If you've ever had a psychology course or attended any kind of counseling, then you've probably been taught that "before someone will change their behavior they have to want to change," OR that "you can't change someone else's behavior, but you can change how you respond to it." Are these adages correct, or is there another, unknown, method to effect change?

As an author at Know More Media I've been given a chance to receive and review the Influencer book for you, which I will certainly take advantage of.

In the meantime, I've read the preface and first chapter of the book in .pdf format and I can form a few preliminary opinions from that.

(If you're interested, you can read these preliminary sections too. E-mail me before October 1st, 2007 at laura [at symbol] workfromhomemomma [dot] com and I'll send you the preface and first chapter of Influencer: The Power To Change Anything in .pdf format.)  

The first chapter of Influencer: The Power To Change Anything gives examples of many progams that are changing lives, including the example of Delancey Street, a program that is rehabilitating gang members, drug addicts, and hardcore criminals. Another example from the first chapter is The Carter Center in Atlanta, which mapped out a strategy for eliminating the Guinea worm (a particularly nasty parasite native to Asia and the sub-Saharan regions of the world). The examples are impressive, but the first chapter didn't exactly explain how these things were accomplished.

The key claim of the first chapter was this: "if you want to change how they [people] behave, you have to first change how they think."

Fair enough ... but, everyone from Madison Avenue to politicians to parole officers has been trying to change the way that people think for decades with mixed results. Education doesn't completely address how to change others either. I've known even well-educated and intelligent folks, people who should have known better, who made absolutely horrendous decisions.  

So, I remain somewhat skeptical about this particular book. Can it deliver what it promises?

Personally, it seems to me that what helps one person influence others may not work for another person. It seems unlikely that there can be a one-size-fits-all, easy method of building influence that really works.

Also, from a certain perspective, we are all already influencers to some degree and extent. Nearly everybody has somebody who listens to them. As a work at home momma my sphere of influence might include my kids, my clients, my friends, or my spouse. This isn't exactly news ...

If you want to learn more about this book you can view the trailer on YouTube. You can also receive a 34% discount on this book by pre-ordering it online through Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com. As an added bonus, if you do preorder the book, then you can access a free case study video about Influencers around the world by going to back to the book offer site and entering your order confirmation number.

Other Know More Media posts on this topic include:

• "Influencer -- The Power To Change Anything" -- The Next New York Times Business Best Seller

• Anticipating the Release: "Influncer: The Power To Change Anything"