Customer Reviews

How to Get Anyone to Do Anything

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

There are many good books available that contain information that is about self motivation. This book is primarily a recollection of memories with a few good nuggets of information thrown in. While I do not dispute any of Hanes ideas, I found the constant walk down memory to be distracting from the good information that is available within the book.

If you are looking for fundraising ideas, this may be a good choice for you, as one-third of the book is about fund raising. There is also some good information about interviewing for high level positions in the appendix of the book.

If you are looking for a book about motivating yourself and others, I would highly recommend another book. If you are looking for insight about fund raising, and interested in preping for a tough job interview I would suggest this book. Information contained in the book is quality, and solid, but there are many long passages to read inbetween the nuggets of knowledge that were intended for you to grasp from this book.

This book is ostensibly a how-to manual of persuasion, but the instructional part takes up about three paragraphs and can be summed up as: networking is good.

Thanks for the huge insight.

The rest of the book is a series of self-glorifying stories about how rich Hanes is and how many famous people he knows. The moral of all the stories boils down to this: when you need to raise a few million for your next project just call up that newspaper editor/Cabinet member/Congressman/university president/CEO that owes you one and pull some strings. How to go about collecting these people? They're the ones you went to Yale with and sip cognac with at the Club. This is a masturbatory autobiography with no educational or instructional value whatsoever. Read Cialdini's "Influence" instead.

A quick and very interesting read, especially for folks from Winston-Salem, NC. I wish I had gotten an opportunity to meet this interesting and powerful local figure during his incredible journey here.
JMS

I have to agree with the last review. The priciples Hanes claims in the introduction he'll be expounding upon cannot be argued against (though fund-raising has very limited relevance when considering all applications of persuasion, and the concept of problem solving is trite, to say the least). But what in fact follows is a 200-page list of the rich and powerful that run in Hanes' circle and a pat on the back for each of the good deeds they have done together (which are noteworthy, admittedly). Even the jacket blurbs reek of people with attention-catching names or titles returning a favor.

As a how-to this book is a complete failure. But it does have value as a case study. After all, Hanes was able to get it published, and published with a misleading title, and was able through continual reinforcement to convince at least ten Amazon reviewers that he's a great man and quality writer. Anyone who can pull that off with this material is worthy of consideration in the field of persuasion.

In addition to Cialdini's work mentioned by the previous reviewer I'd recommend Bandler's work and Greene's "48 Laws of Power" for those interested in persuasion.

R. Philip Hanes believes there are four steps to accomplishing your dreams..

The CEO of Hanes Companies, whose personal mission statement is "You can accomplish anything you dream, if you can get someone else to do it" believes the keys are,

1. Networking,
2. Risk-Taking,
3. Fund-Raising,
4. Problem-Solving.

As the sponsor, he states, you have responsibility to:

1. Identify the project,
2. Indicate the path to follow,
3. Enable the participants,
4. Remove obstacles that may impede progress.

Writing in a folksy manner that often masks the book's deep insights, Hanes distills his keys for a lifetime of success with humor and uncommon common sense.

I loved this book. As a regional director for an international telecom company and having worked in International Telecom for 16 years, I thoroughly enjoyed the candor and humor in the creative problem solving and risk taking stories. The fund raising world is foreign to me, I was intrigued by those chapters and found I have a lot to learn. The full and fabulous life Mr. Hanes is living is a great inspiration. He really makes it sound easy with his humility, confidence and charm and I am blessed to know from experience, when you love and have a passion for what you do, great accomplishments do feel easy.

I have chatted with the Author and he seems like a great guy. I went back and reread the book and it just isnt for me. He and I are from two different worlds and thats great because that is what makes the world go round. But try as I might the book and its advice didnt work for where I come from in life. Not sure those tips are applicable to most of us out here working in the world. It could be me but just didnt connect with the principles outlined in this work.

Philip's approach to leveraging your network works! Recently I asked Philip (who lives in Winston-Salem, NC) to write a letter of recommendation on my behalf. You can imagine how surprised I was to learn during my interview that the President of the New York City organization was one of Philip's many friends. To quote Phil, "So often it is not what you know, but who."

The techniques revealed in this book will help you build and utilize your network. In addition, you will find Philip's life story is full of personal anecdotes and clever insights. We can all benefit from Phil's inspirational direction in order to "GET MOVING."

Philip Hanes is clearly a "can do" guy. His insightful book on networking, and the human nature therein at work, is a must for anyone who wants to get things done. This is an entertaining read and an engaging look at a successful man and his approach to the art of positioning people to help him and his causes. The lessons are invaluable.

James Houlik, Pittsburgh, PA

The shared wisdom and experience of the author made this a valuable read. The fact that there are a number of varying examples from real life experience and success at getting people to do things for the arts or the environment among many other activities provided different scenerios to learn from and to apply.

I felt that the personal accounts or stories of his interesting experiences made it a good read in addition to useful advice.