Interesting (but slightly saddening) how our tendencies to seek mental shortcuts in decision-making are consistently exploited by marketeers. Many open doors, but well structured and with a lot of fascinating examplesAh the comforts of mindless consistencyDefinitely one of the most interesting and useful MBA reads! 👨🏽‍🎓📈💰This will be more a brain dump than a fully structured review but Robert B. Cialdini argues that there are 7 archetype ways in which people can influence each other:These 7...

"Click and the appropriate tape is activated; whirr and our rolls the standard sequence of behaviors."

Kind of scary how simple the principles of this one are... One of the main objectives of the books is said to be preparing the average person against compliance tacticians but I have a feeling that it's the latter who'll use the book more...

Review to come.

I do not read a lot of books about business/non-fiction but I sometimes find some really shinny gems. I had this book for a while but I kept avoiding it, thinking it is another of those badly written self-help books. How wrong I was. Influence is very well documented, thoroughly researched and well organised summary of what are the key factors that influence our decisions. The big five are: Reciprocation, Commitment and Consistency, Social Proof, Liking, Authority, Scarcity. Most of the examples...

ممتع ممتع ممتع لم استمتع بقراءة كتاب هكذا منذ مدة طويلة. لدى الانسان كما لدى الحيوان اليات استجابة تلقائية تجعله بدون تفكير يتصرف بطريقة معينة كرد فعل. وهذا يجعل المستغلين والملاعبين يستخدمون هذه الاليات لتحقيق الربح المادي او لتحقيق مصالحهم. وهذه الاليات هي-قانون التبادل. الانسان كائن اجتماعي يتبادل الخدمات والمساعدات مع الاخرين. لكن المشكل يكمن عندما تقدم له هدية او مساعدة هو ليس بحاجة لها لاشعاره انه مدين للاخر. وهذا يجعله يوافق على طلبات كان سيرفضها في حالته الطبيعية دون تاثير الدين-قانون ال...

Another one of those business books where it's a good read if you haven't read any others from the same genre but with the same basically formula where they keep repeating information that can be condensed down into a few pages and which every other business book will tell you but of course they'll rephrase it. If you haven't ever thought much about the influence of the way you talk to people and vice versa I'm sure this can be very eye opening. If you're pretty self aware or have contemplated h...

Six "weapons of influence"1)Reciprocation - People tend to return a favor. Thus, the pervasiveness of free samples in marketing. In his conferences, he often uses the example of Ethiopia providing thousands of dollars in humanitarian aid to Mexico just after the 1985 earthquake, despite Ethiopia suffering from a crippling famine and civil war at the time. Ethopia had been reciprocating for the diplomatic support Mexico provided when Italy invaded Ethopia in 1937. 2)Commitment and Consistency - I...

I don't understand why so many people rated this book so highly.--It panders to the audience by using overly simple language and repeating the same idea 5 times to make sure that the reader really understood. Example (from memory): "People are heavily influenced by society. Society shapes our choices. Our choices are influenced by the people around us. There are countless examples of one's choices being swayed by his or her peers." Thanks, I got it the first time.--The first and second "weapons ...

Required reading for all marketing professionals. The book details the most common approaches to influencing the decisions of others, backed up by the authors time spent infiltrating direct marketing companies and the like. Offers handy hints on how to spot when you're being manipulated and how to handle it.

A very enjoyable read, should leave you much more aware of how you're being played next time you're in the market for a used car.

Summary: This book can’t be summarized. It can only be very, very strongly recommended.Recommended? YES. Buy it now if you haven’t read it.Table of contents:1 Weapons of Influence2 Reciprocation: The Old Give and Take…and Take3 Commitment and Consistency: Hobgoblins of the Mind4 Social Proof: Truths Are Us5 Liking: The Friendly Thief6 Authority: Directed Deference7 Scarcity: The Rule of the FewNotes:Below are my key takeaways and some interesting points, but I’m telling you. Buy it. Read it. Tru...

I put this book under "dangerous knowledge." Cialdini, still a top consultant in this field, has a tiny disclaimer at the end of the book saying how he's aware that this knowledge could be misused, but doesn't go much further.

I see this stuff abused all the time, to spin democracies to go to war, to sell us products and services we don't really need and much, much more.

I've been wanting to start an ethics institute around this topic. Interested? Write me!