Robert Cialdini – Influence book review

In a nutshell (320 pages), this is Cialdini’s seminal work on influence. Specifically, how to influence people and how to avoid being influenced by others by understanding their techniques. The research is very sound and his knowledge is tacit. He not only studied influence but practiced it by working for and learning from the best influencers, namely successful sales people.

What I got out of it

I’m biased because I work in sales and there’s little that I enjoy more professionally than negotiating. Sales, for me, feels like a hobby more than a job. That said, anyone will get a ton out of this book and will, at a minimum, learn to protect themselves from undue influence by either nefarious people or just well-crafted offers that go against your best interest.

What was difficult

While this is not a criticism of the book, some people deride the book for “teaching bad people to do bad things”. As far as I’m concerned, around the world, in every country, there are people doing bad things. This may also serve as an education for them, but it will definitely serve as an education to you so that you might protect yourself from these people. To me this criticism is naïve.

Recommendation

This is a must read and should be read cover to cover. There is good reason that a follow up wasn’t written for a few decades: it’s that good. Read this book and loan/git it to someone you care about.