Customer Reviews

The Personal Credibility Factor: How to Get It, Keep It, and Get It Back (If You've Lost It)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When I was a boy, my father gave me a few bits of advice to heed if I wanted others to trust and respect me: follow through on your promises. Don't rush to judgment. Match your words to your actions and your actions to your words. Show others the respect you'd like to receive. Treat your word as a sacred bond. Apparently Daddy was a smidge too circumspect, because Sandy Allgeier has spun those concise, durable little sayings into a full-length book that investigates Daddy's advice in truly exhausting detail.

Allgier takes the truths I'd like to think most of us grew up with and extrapolates from them three "secrets," seven "steps," and so many fortune cookie bromides that I lost count. Now I know that the tech stock bubble, Enron meltdown, and subprime mortgage crisis prove that not everyone listened to their parents as religiously as I did. But Allgeier says nothing between these covers that Dale Carnegie, Napoleon Hill, and generations of business book writers haven't already said at great length. It got to where, with each new page, I prayed for just one idea or piece of information I hadn't already heard. And with each finished page my prayers went unanswered.

Don't misunderstand me. I agree with all of Allgeier's points, and in the unlikely event that you haven't already heard these pointers from your parents, teachers, mentors, friends, bosses, Scout masters, random strangers, or thousands of prior business books, she expresses them well. But when I invest my finite time and effort into a book, I expect the author to respect me enough to tell me something I don't already know.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001U5VJMW/ref=cm_cr_rev_prod_img

This book fascinated me for one reason to begin with. About ten months ago I met a Mexican (legal resident, not yet a citizen) laborer in the doorway going into the bank. He's worked for us ever since. Now, what did Manny do to cause my husband and me to trust him instinctively? The author answers this question in the first few pages of the book, in his story of a man called Dan. First, Manny was wearing a shirt that had his business name and business license number stenciled on it. Second, he spoke with us cheerfully and cogently and agreed to meet us at our house in half an hour to discuss an urgent but small task. Third, he carried through. Fourth, he kept us from making a serious mistake that would have made the situation much worse.

This book, according to previous critics, is nothing but common sense. I agree. But in the last fifty years, common sense has become more and more uncommon. Do you want it back? Do you want your work superiors to have it? Do you want your subordinates to have it? What can you do to accomplish those goals?

I was reminded of two college students who had been put in basic writing when they should have been put in advanced freshman writing. They were disrupting the class, and finally I took the two of them out in the hall. I frankly acknowledged that they had been put in the wrong class, but pointed out that there was nothing that could be done about it now, and their shenanigans were causing trouble among the students who did need to be in the class I was teaching. I told them that clearly they were natural leaders, and asked them to help lead the others into learning, not into causing trouble for themselves and others. Both became ashamed of their actions, and for the rest of the semester they behaved very well, and did exactly what I had asked of them.

You can be that kind of parent, teacher, leader, or whatever. You can be the subordinate who stops the trouble rather than starts it. This book will help you in all phases of your life: personal, business, and recreation. It is well worth reading and owning.

This book was OK, pretty much in line with the many, many titles of similar theme. Most of the observations and/or suggestions included in the book are common sense, but it never hurts to refresh one's common sense thoughts from time to time...

Soon after I started reading this work I recommended it to several friends. I found the descriptions of how certain people gain or build credibility to be easily understood, and immediately actionable

Some people may find the content to be a review of many other personal improvement books, and others may want more depth. All skills are perishable, so I found benefit in the review, and the practical examples were very useful. Any similarities to other content gave context to the attainment of personal credibility, and the discussion of personality styles offered more depth and useful insight than most works covering the same topic.

Maybe I'm too busy to appreciate something more esoteric, and maybe I've read enough to stop expecting completely new material, even so, this work delivers on the title - I've already benefited from reading it.

They should file this under "self hurt" instead of "self help". If this book provides you a single insight, you need to look up the word "insight".