Words That Change Minds: Mastering the Language of Influence 2nd edition [Paperback]

Shelle Rose Charvet (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 236 pages
• Publisher: Kendall Hunt Pub Co; 2 edition (June 4, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787234796
• ISBN-13: 978-0787234799
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #312,790 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Shelle Rose Charvet, president of Success Strategies, is perhaps best known around the world for her ground-breaking book "Words That Change Minds: Mastering the Language of Influence." It is used as a text book in several university business programs in the U.S. and the U.K., as well as at Coach University. It's currently available in several languages.

She has been asked by clients around Europe and North America to:

*Rewrite or create marketing pieces and sales processes for organizations based on the below-conscious motivation triggers of their customers and potential customers

*Create learning programs in negotiation, marketing and sales for clients in several industries

*Re-position product and services to take on very large competitors

*Assist in recruiting key executive positions

*Teach managers, team leaders and contact centre professionals to deal with upset customers and create customer loyalty

*Train front-line government employment centre staff in handling upset and potentially violent clients

*Assist in solving some of their most difficult communication problems

*Help experienced sales managers to negotiate long-term multi-million dollar contracts with their hard-to-handle customers

*Train labor negotiators, one group of whom obtained the first five-year agreement in the history of their company, avoiding an expected strike

*Help redesign marketing, sales and service strategies to develop answers to meet the deep unspoken needs of their customers.

People and organizations seek Shelle out because of her work developing applications for the LAB Profile, the psycho-linguistic tool for uncovering how people get motivated, how they think and make decisions.

Shelle's background is in social sciences and Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP). Shelle lived and worked in Europe as a communication trainer and consultant for clients such as the OECD, IBM Europe, the European Parliament and Commission, the Bank of France and the CERN (European Centre for Nuclear Research), amongst others.

She now travels worldwide to work with clients on their most challenging communication problems.

Shelle speaks, conducts learning programs and solves organizational problems throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. She is a Certified NLP trainer, and is invited to conduct programs for the top NLP Institutes world-wide. Shelle also served as the founding president of the Canadian Association for NLP (CANLP). She is the 2009 national president of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

94 of 99 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best guide to meta-programs available, July 30, 1999

By 

Andy Smith "Change specialist - coachingleade... (Manchester, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Words That Change Minds: Mastering the Language of Influence 2nd edition (Paperback)

This book presents meta-programs (the content-free filters we use to make up our model of the world) in a simple, understandable and highly readable way. It's based on the Language and Behaviour (LAB) Profile developed by Rodger Bailey - a simplification of the original 60 (!) meta-programs down to 14, along with the questions you can use to elicit them. This is a kind of psychometric test, although as people may have different meta-programs in different contexts, and they may change over time, it's not about pigeonholing people. Shelle also tells you the kind of language to use to reach particular kinds of people - useful in sales, negotiation, motivation and deciding who to hire for a particular job. The book is chatty with a good sense of humour. As an NLP trainer I recommend it!

117 of 126 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Way ahead of the "experts", June 10, 2002

By 

Karl (England, Great Britain) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Words That Change Minds: Mastering the Language of Influence 2nd edition (Paperback)

Only last year (2001), two members of the Harvard University Graduate School of Education brought out a book snappily entitled "How the Way We Talk can Change the Way we Work". It's an excellent book but it was a little strange to see it referred to by some critics as "new", and an example of "breakthrough thinking".

Why?

Because although the two books are not addressing *exactly* the same area, Ms Charvet's "Words that Change Minds", first published in 1996, can readily be seen as a precursor to the later book.

Although it is usually referred to in connection with Rodger Bailey's LAB Profile work, this book is in fact based on a subset of the "meta programs", or mental filters, first identified by Leslie Lebeau (formerly Leslie Cameron-Bandler).

What makes this book so valuable is that instead of simply describing the meta programs on a purely theoretical level (as many previous authors had done), Ms Charvet places each one in a very practical context. She tells us not only the basics of each meta program but also such practical details as:

- what questions to use to elicit a person's position on any of the meta programs discussed
- how to identify what meta program positions are best suited to a given job
- and how to frame a job or product advert so that it "speaks to" the optimum audience

There is also a wealth of anecdotes from real life that illustrate the meta programs at work - like why the US was never comfortable as members of UNESCO, why a single word undermined one of IBM's big advertising campaigns, and why a Jewish mother may recommend chicken soup because "it couldn't hurt".

And on top of all that, the book is written in an enthusiastic, flowing style that makes reading it both easy and enjoyable.

Highly recommended for *anyone* who wants to understand the practicalities of how language works.

60 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's subtle but powerful, April 3, 2004

By 

Joseph Judge (Harrisburg, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Words That Change Minds: Mastering the Language of Influence 2nd edition (Paperback)

As a teacher of business writing, I do not recommend this book to all my students; I only recommend it to the ones who are serious and want to take that extra step. I tell them that this is a book that shows you how to pay close attention to the words you use, whether speaking or writing, so that you maximize the impact you have on the specific person you are communicating with.

I applied some of the concepts in the book to a case study in a writing workshop I teach. Students are fascinated by it. They often say things like, "I can't believe something so subtle could be that powerful," and, "I wish I had known about this when I had so much trouble getting my previous boss to even listen to me."

The theories in the book result from research in neuro-linguistic programming. They use fancy concepts such as profiles, filters, and meta programs. But the author translates it all in a way that makes it easy to understand. And she gives hundreds of examples of how you can apply it to situations at work where you need people to listen to you, understand you, and even agree with you.

If you work in human resources, this book is especially valuable because the author provides many examples of assessing how people think. This can be used to match people to the right jobs and to help them improve their interpersonal communications.

I rated this book 5 stars because I think it is superior in all categories for a specialized communications textbook: powerful ideas, insightful author, meticulous exposition, and reasonable price.