Customer Reviews

Becoming a Person of Influence: How to Positively Impact the Lives of Others

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

How will you impact the lives of others?

For anyone who works with groups of people (and especially youth) you will find this book to be a great addition to your library. I especially enjoyed the worksheets at the end of each chapter as they were tangible ways of putting theory into practice.

This book is very easy to read, but as with most good books in this category, take notes or be willing to re-read chapters as there is almost too much good information. Most books offer nuggets--this one is a serious gold rush.

The leadership team I work with spent two weeks on Chapter 3 (A person of influence has Faith in People). I thought this was one of the best chapters in any of Maxwell's books and this will become a permanent part of our leadership program.

A great gift for graduating college students or folks newly elected to positions of leadership.

Please consider my suggestion before you decide to buy this book.
I recommend you consider buying his other two books instead of this one.
"The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership"
"The 21 Most Powerful Minutes In A Leader's Day"

|-POSITIVE-|
I can't say anything positive about this book, I was shocked to see this author repeat same information written in other Maxwell books.

|-NEGATIVE-|
I read 5 of his books on leadership, and they all share very similar information. If you read his other books, you will not find any new ideas here. This book badly repeats what's in his other books, and its written by some guy Jim. The writing style of his other books are much better as well. I advice that you don't buy it, just look into his other books I mentioned above.

For all of you people out there who want to be an excellent mentor, coach, friend, teacher, manager, peer, team mate, I highly recommend this awesome book of how to motivate and inspire others towards personal development and excellence. As a Training Manager, I found that the suggestions and principles mentioned in this book are things that I do in my job each and everyday...what a joy it was to read that these principles that I incorporate on the job everyday, are great habits, perspectives and behaviors that I should be doing....all nicely laid out and spelled out in this book! I found myself constantly saying things like, "Hey, I do that...Wow! I do that too!" And if you are not doing some of the things they recommend already, the book gives you a real genuine, no-nonsense approach of how you can....starting with little baby steps and working your way more until you reach your comfort zone! I am a strong proponent of mentoring, coaching, and empowering others toward personal development and excellence and I would strongly recommend this book to others who find themselves in the same roles, or to anyone who really wants to make a difference in making an impact & being a person of influence to others....:-)

I purchased and read this book a couple of years ago, only a few days before interviewing for a promotion at work. It caught my attention from the beginning and I couldn't put it down. During the interviewing process I answered many of the questions from info. that I had read out of (Becoming a Person of Influence.) I feel it was a major part of my getting the promotion. There were two others being interviewed that already had titles above mine and later ended up working for me. I have since purchased a number of copies of this book. I give one out to every new employee I hire, in which I'm putting in a supervisory role. It is an inspirational book along with educatinal. I would recommend it to anyone in a leadership role, work or otherwise. It is also a good rescource to go back & review now and then. It helps you stay on track as a supervisor or manager in business.

I just bought two more copies of this book. One is for my boss, who is a great boss, but will still benefit from the examples and lessons of this text. The other copy is for friends that I have told can borrow my copy of the book. This is too valuable a book to lend out, so I am buying another copy to lend to friends.

You will be encouraged, challenged and uplifted intellectually and emotionally by the sound advice and warm examples shared by these authors.

The book may be the sleeper in the line of "In Search of Excellence," and "Seven Habits of Successful People." It will help you sort through the goals of your life and help you create a legacy no matter your position in any organization.

John and Jim have written a great book for self improvement. I am preparing to read this book for the 3rd time - as they say in the book - it takes repetition to change your thoughts and actions. Anyone who is looking for improving their life and attitude BUY this book and study it - reading is not studying.

Sometimes leadership books get touchy-feely and we get lost in the rhetoric. With Maxwell's assistance, Dornan stays at the information, not rhetoric, level. Straight shots, concise examples. Rarely does a book like this hold me for the duration. I'm on my 2nd reading now. If you're building a business and want to develop leaders who can run without you.....read this.

This is the first book I ever read of the author. Therefore, my comment might look more positive than other reviewers who had read the authors' other books. In fact, when I bought it, I took it as a book of communications. Of course I was wrong and it is a book about "leadership". As a middle aged mid-tier manager who had read many books about leadership, I am obliged to say that this is not outstanding. However, I must give my praise to the part devoted to the importance and practice of "listening". The author gave interesting messages about it and presented even more interesting sayings, such as:-

""
No man would listen to you talk if he didn't know it was his next turn. - Edgar Watson Howe

You aint learning nothing when you're doing all the talking. - Lyndon Johnson

Big people monopolize the listening. Small people monopolize the talking. - David Schwartz

After watching the novice take several swings at the tennis ball, the pro stopped him and suggested ways he could improve his stroke. But each time he did, the student interrupted him and gave his opinion of the problem,...and the coach began to nod his head in agreement. When the lesson ended, a woman who had been watching said to the pro, "why did you go along with that arrogant man's stupid suggestions?" The pro smiled and replied, "I learned a long time ago that it's a waste of time to try to sell real answers to anyone who just wants to buy echoes."

Beware of putting yourself into a position where you think you know all the answers. Anytime you do, you'll be putting yourself in danger. It's almost impossible to think of yourself as "the expert" and continue growing and learning at the same time. All great learners are great listeners.

A funny thing happens when you don't make a practice of listening to people. They find others who will. Sometimes the consequences can be disastrous.

The friends who listen to us are the ones we move towards, and we want to sit in their radius. - Karl Menninger
""

To me, the 20 pages in Chapter 4 "Listens to people" already pays back the price of the book. Of course, if you deem the above copy and paste "uninteresting", you'd better get another book. Otherwise, this book is not a bad choice.

This book was incredible and very insightful. It was written by two of today's premier leaders: John Maxwell, world renouned minister, and Jim Dornan, international business leader. These two authors not only provide an excellent model for bringing out the best in people around you and people that you hold dear to you in your life, but they also provide the individual reader with a great way for them to improve their life. They stress many principles that can not only help you influence people in a positive way, but also help you as a person to become a better citizen. If you would apply these basic principles to your every day life, you could not only improve your professional life, but your personal life as well. Both of the authors have been very successful in their professional lives, as well as their personal lives. They have chosen to share the knowledge they have acquired over the years of their successful careers with us, the readers. They have done a great job conveying their message to the readers. I would highly recommend purchasing this book because it lays out an excellent model for anyone who is looking to get an edge in the business world of today. It would also be a great book for anyone who is just starting a business and is learning how to manage their employees for the first time. It has some great pointers on how to treat your employees and how to get the most out of them. The book provides great tips on bringing the people around you to their highest potential. By getting the people around you to reach their highest potential, not only will they benefit from your knowledge, but they will become happier more productive people. So if you are interested in improving your life or business and taking the people around you with you, this is the book for you.

The reason I bought the book is to quench my crave in understanding of what human psychology is, in order to better (postively) influence. What I got was another pep-talk! The problem with this book is that the author somehow wanted to describe each letter in INFLUENCE with some stuff, but right after the third letter ran out of good ideas, so the rest of the book was filled either with repetition or some obscure stuff.
If you have not read any basic leadership management books, this may be okay, but not sure if I would recommend other to pony up dollars for this!