Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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75 of 77 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lots of New with a little of the Old - ONE EXCELLENT BOOK!, January 20, 2005
I've been reading Ringer since his first infamous book "Winning Through Intimidation".
I just recently reread "Looking Out for Number One" and was astonished at how it had influenced me in the last 15 years. That book is a real lesson in how to get a reality based viewpoint on life and how to recognize that most of the social engineering and the propaganda we are subjected to daily is a negative influence.
Which leads to the review of this book. Some have said that it covers no new ground. That be hogwash, in my opinion.
The first 70 or so pages is virtually all new material, created from Robert"s investigation into the value of action and the amazing things action will bring into your life. He explains why action always works - even if it doesn't lead you the direction you thought it would. He offers many new and original insights and will get your brain working on steroids as he shatters so many of your pre conceptions about everything from wealth to spirituality.
After the first third of the book, he does do a bit of rehashing of much of his previous writing, although in many cases he puts a new slant on it based on the action concepts. This is not really a critisism as any book must be written for a first time reader, an author can't work from the assumption that a reader knows their previous material.
I give this boook 5 stars because of the power of his analysis and the inherant truth in all he says. You should buy it and read it, that is for sure.
That said I do have a minor critisism. You can almost feel 2 Robert Ringers in this book. He has, whether he really wants to admit it, gown kinder, gentler wiser and more spiritual as he gets older, like many of us. That is a good thing and you can hear the more spiritual side in most all of his new material.
He does a brilliant fable about the state of the world (Two Tribes Story) that perfectly demonstrates the folly of our violent ways. I will be using a version of that fable in my story telling.
When he bases parts on his old material, his older more abrasive Ringer comes out, including his statements such as "all lawyers aren't bad, only 97% of them" and pointing fingers and denigrating "long haired, ring in the nose" young folks.
Which, in my opionion is pointless judging and actually doesn't agree with the voice that wrote the first part of the book, which advocates a "live and let live" attitude towards those different from you.
That said, buy it (even if you are a long haired, ring in the nose youth). This is one book purchase that I cannot imagine NOT improving anyone's life tremendously.
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62 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good introduction to Ringer, and a great book, December 29, 2004
The problem with many business books is that they seem to describe a world that's totally unlike the real world of business. Richard Branson's autobiography is fun to read, but completely worthless to someone who's a budding entrepreneur, for instance. Typical business books are exciting, but also sort of useless, even damaging. A lot of them are sort of like reading twenty copies of Playboy back to back. It's fantasy, and after a while, it gets to be a little much. It also screws up your understanding of the real world.
This book is sort of a distillation of the key themes in Ringer's other books, and the great thing is that it's all about the real world, beginning to end. It's very unsentimenal, and baloney-free. I think Jack Welch said once that the key to business success is understanding the difference between what's really going on and what we wish/think/hope is going on. Ringer takes that basic point and builds on it, both with respect to interpersonal issues and business matters.
Much of what he writes about is so painfully obvious that it's amazing it has to be written down. But Ringer's genius is that he's a master of the basics, and in fact, the painfully obvious stuff is typically what everyone gets wrong. Now that I think of it, this book is part of a toolset of concepts that can be used to see through the smoke of day-to-day business to the underlying truths that are really driving everything.
It's amazing that his books are best-sellers, because they don't provide a lot of fun illusions. Tony Robbins makes you feel like success is a function of sheer enthusiasm; Ringer, the self-described Tortoise, takes the opposite position. Success is the result of steady, disciplined, organized effort and thought. Robbins is more fun, but he's also wrong. Ringer is right, and if you listen to him, you can avoid learning a lot of business lessons the hard way.
As an example, one of his points is that if a contract is too one-sided, it's not going to be executed. Or, to put it another way, if you really take someone to the cleaners in a deal, they're not going to do their part, no matter what the agreement says, if they believe they're getting taken. Lots of business books glamorize negotiation, and make it seem like striking a deal is a battle, and winning means really sticking it to the other guy. But in the real world, the one I inhabit, the other guy is going to stop and say to himself something like "Wait. I know there's a contract and everything, but why am I doing all this work for nothing? What's in this for me?" If the answer is "nothing" he won't do it. Ringer's point is that fantasy aside, a contract is worthless if it isn't executed, and you have to make a deal that the other guy feels is reasonable to him as well. Simple, right? But nobody actually takes this position, meaning that an awful lot of deals get made but never happen. The Harvard Business Review made the exact same point in their November, 2004 issue, in an article entitled "Getting Past Yes: Negotiating as if Implementation Mattered." Ringer got there first, and says the same thing in far fewer pages.
This book is a good introduction to his thinking, and a particularly useful tool for someone who would like to understand how the real world of business actually works. When you're ready to outgrow pretending you're Gordon Gekko, and you actually want to start making things happen in the real world, this is the book for you. Especially recommended for entrepreneurs.
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A life changing experience!, November 12, 2004
This is the first book I have ever reviewed. It's also the first book I've ever read in one sitting. I simply could put it down because every sentence set off flashing bulbs in my head. Once you read the first chapter -- perhaps the best insight into life I've ever read -- you're hooked. Everyone pays lip service to action, but Robert Ringer makes you see action in ways that are new and powerful.
What I thought was especially remarkable though is how he explained the relationship between action and so many basic principles and problems we experience in our day-to-day lives...things like truth, creating value for others, virtues, self-discipline, and more. The killer chapter is the one on "people taxes" where the author explains how problem people rob you of time, energy and other personal resources and get in the way of your taking action. That one really hit home with me.
People with serious physical handicaps will especially appreciate the chapter on adversity and action. Ringer gives a unique perspective in that he makes the point that everyone has many handicaps, because a handicap is really anything that makes achievement more difficult. And since so many people with serious physical handicaps have found ways to overcome them and lead meaningful lives, the minor handicaps that most of us have to deal with are relatively easy to handle. Again, this one really got to me. It made me realize that I have to stop thinking in terms of "problems" and start focusing on taking the kind of action that will assure that things will come out right.
Don't miss this book! It has everything you need to get where you want to go in life. Ringer even ties in some key material from his other books to show their relationship to the phenomenon of action. I'm going to reread it this weekend...and probably many more times after that.
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