h frank cervone
complexity and information organizations


On the intersection of complexity theory, social networks, and information organizations

Sunday, February 3, 2008

the power of "influencer"

Many books in the management sector are of dubious value given that they are filled with anecdotal information that has no real evidence to back up the findings. Thankfully, Influencer by Patterson, Grenny, Maxfield, McMillan, and Switzler doesn't fall into that category. Although laden with stories, their book is based on actual research into how people successfully influence situations. In our organizations, we'd do well to put into practice some of the advice in this book such as
  1. focus on the critical behaviors we want to change and not try to change everything at once,
  2. use experience to change thoughts and actions, and
  3. use multiple sources of influence to create an environment where change must occur.
Although much of the information in the book might fall into what many would call "common sense," it sometimes help to have that gathered up into a nice neat package that reminds of what we should "commonly" know.

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