communication

Sources of Power – How People Make Decisions – 2

Note: as this book is dense and comprehensive, I am publishing its summary into two parts. This is the part two, part one is here.

Book Chronicle and Summary of “Sources of Power”, part two:

Chapter 9: Non-Linear Aspects of Problem Solving

The leverage point concept (see previous chronicle) leads to thinking about problem solving as a constructive process. It is constructive in the sense that solutions can be created from leverage points and that the objective’s profound nature can be clarified whilst the person solving the problem is trying to develop a solution.

The leverage points of problem solving require a non-linear approach rather than a linear approach. Problem solving undergoes four stages:

Problem detection
Problem representation
Options generation
Evaluation

There is no output stage as each one of these stages can generate a different type of output.

Problem detection is in itself an output, for example in military or health and safety radar surveillance stations of a country.

Problem representation is another output, sometimes sufficient for determining how to proceed: there are certain medical diagnosticians whose job consists mainly of providing an excellent problem representation. Producing forecasts is in itself a professional specialism in many jobs.

Generating an action plan is the step many people consider to be the output of problem solving. But whatever way options are generated, they will have to be evaluated, often through mental simulation.

The evaluation process can lead to adopting an option, or to identifying new barriers and opportunities, which require further problem solving.

The pattern shows why the process is interactive and non-linear. The objectives affect the way in which we evaluate the action plan, and evaluation can help us determine better objectives. The objectives determine the way in which we evaluate the situation, and the things we learn about the situation change the nature of the objectives. The objectives determine the barriers and the leverage points we are looking for, and the discovery of these barriers and leverage points alter the objectives themselves. The way we identify the causes leading up to this situation also affect the types of objectives that are adopted. Moreover, the leverage points we become aware of go beyond our own experience and our own abilities – on another interaction level.

Let’s see through a concrete example how a business has changed its objectives because of the way it evaluated its business plan. By evaluating an action plan, managers discover a leverage point opportunity. This information makes them revise their objective and lead them to synthetize a more extensive action plan:

A parent company has a network of franchises. Each of these franchises uses telemarketing to get customers and each must hire, train and manage telesales staff, which the franchise managers find hard going and annoying.

The marketing director of the parent company identifies this as a problem, but with an obvious solution: the parent company can centralize telemarketing onto one site. The head of the business is not too keen on the idea, as it requires a large investment. He then realizes that, with a centralized team of telesales staff, he could develop his idea of taking orders directly over the phone. At this point, he becomes even more enthusiastic about this project than the marketing director himself.

Whilst the marketing director and the chairman were doing a mental simulation of the proposed telesales center, the chairman noticed a new possibility. The idea to use telesales staff for sales increased the aspiration level of the chairman and changed the nature of the objective he wanted to pursue. This opportunity also suggested additional series of actions, which can easily be integrated into the original objective to help the franchises.

Chapter 10: The Power to See the Invisible

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Sources of Power

Oct 10th, 2011

by Olivier Roland.

2 comments

How People Make Decisions

Sentence summarizing “Sources of Power” : We all have to make decisions, and sometimes these decisions have important – or even dramatic – consequences, which must be taken into account at difficult times and within strong time constraints; how do firemen, soldiers and doctors take split-second decisions when lives are at stake? This book tells us about it, detailing various theories illustrated with stories and case studies.

By Gary Klein, 1998, 300 pages

Chronicle of “Sources of Power”:

In 1984, Gary Klein carried out his first case study to try and understand how people make decisions, particularly under heavy time constraints. The task was to study how firefighters make choices in the heat of the moment, as part of a contract struck with the US Army. Amongst the predictions suggested at the start of the study, the author and his team thought that the firefighters would only have little time on the field to think of all the options and that they would only consider two options: that which was intuitively their favorite and another, which would be used for comparison to demonstrate why the favored option was the best.

This hypothesis was based on the work of Peer Soelberg in 1967. He was a professor at MIT and taught his students how to make decisions using a rational choice strategy consisting of five stages:

Identify the options
Identify the means for evaluating these options
Ponder on each dimension of the evaluation
Calculate the score
Take the decision with the highest score

For his hypothesis, Soelberh studied how his students made a natural and determining choice: choosing their first job whilst they were still finishing the course. He discovered that his students did not use the rational choice strategy, but instead followed their instinct and made the choice they felt the most attracted to. After interviewing his students, Soelberg was able to identify their favorite job and predict their final choice with a success rate of 87%, 3 weeks before his students would announce their decisions.

When Soelberg asked them if they had reached a decision, they would deny it, claiming that a choice is made by studying several possibilities, just as Soelberg had taught them. However Soelberg noticed that students, in order to feel like they had made a decision, tended to take another offer, compare it with their favorite choice, and then tried to demonstrate how much the latter was preferable. Then they would declare it to be their decision the instinctive choice Soelberg had previously identified. They were therefore not making a decision; they were constructing a justification.

Gary Klein and his team hence suggested that the firefighters would do likewise. But strangely, as they were interviewing Fire Officers, it appeared that they never seemed to simultaneously compare two options. Some Fire Officers even insisted on the fact that they never actually made decision, in the sense of studying two or several options at once in order to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each. They simply did not have the time. Everything would have burnt before they’d had the time to study all the options, never mind weighing and comparing. Let’s find out the decisional system firefighters actually use.

Chapter 3: The decision making model based on the first observation

Studying deeper, the researchers realized that Fire Officers did not refuse to compare options: they didn’t have to do it. Fire Officers are experienced firefighters. Even faced with a complex situation, they are able to see what is familiar to them and how to react. Their experience allows them to immediately identify the first thing to do to respond to a situation, therefore they do not bother thinking about other ones. They are not stubborn. They are competent. This is what the researchers call recognition-primed decision-making, or RPD model.

So does this mean that firefighters systematically implement the first thing that comes into their heads? No. They evaluate the feasibility and the chances of success of the first option that comes to mind. If these two parameters appear too weak, they then reject this first option and evaluate a second one, and so on, without comparing two possibilities at the same time. This is what the researchers call singular evaluation approach, to differentiate it from the comparative approach.

These are not easy to differentiate: when you are ordering a meal, you are probably going to compare all the dishes on offer to find the one you like the best. If you are in an unknown city and you are almost out of gas, you are going to look for gas stations and stop at the first decent one, without comparing all of the city’s gas stations in order to find the best value for money. Singular evaluation approach is therefore a strategy that makes you opt for a satisfactory decision. It is very different from making an optimized decision: in order to be satisfied, you only need to make the first decision you deem suitable, in order to optimize you need to consider a large number of choices and only select the best one. This satisfying decision strategy obviously makes sense in an emergency situation such as those firefighters encounter.

In his case, however, how can firefighters rule out or select an option, if they’re not comparing it to another? They use mental simulation: they mentally picture the scene from the option they are considering and can see the consequences happening in their heads. If these consequences appeal to them, they select the option. Otherwise, they mentally simulate the outcome of another decision.

As we will see below, mental simulation is not free of failures. But it is often the best available tool usable within the allocated time.

Before he began his study, the author thought that novices were jumping more impulsively on the first option they could think of, whereas the experts would carefully study the merits of each option. It in fact appeared that the opposite is true: experts know what to do and therefore immediately think of a viable solution faced with a problem, whereas novices have to compare various approaches, when they sometimes do not have time to do so.

Finally. Gary Klein and his team sorted the 156 decisions they collected during these studies into 4 categories:

Choosing from options they are given	0
Comparative Evaluation	18 (half come from a case where the firefighters had no experience)
Creative Decision (imagining solutions which had never been used before)	11
RPD, based on singular evaluation approach	127

Therefore, almost 80% of decisions were taken using singular evaluation approach based on the RPD model.

Applications

One of the first lessons to draw from this analysis is to be skeptical as to the formal decision methods. These are methods that are rarely used.

Chapter 4: The Power of Intuition

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Made to Stick – Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die – 2

Oct 3rd, 2011

by Olivier Roland.

1 comment

Note: this book being also very comprehensive, I am publishing its summary in two parts. This is Part Two. Part One is here.

Made to stick

Book review and summary, Part II:

Chapter 5: Emotion

“If I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will.”

Mother Theresa

Scientific research shows that Mother Theresa’s precept is true for most of us. Charity organizations have known this for a long time: we do not give to “poverty in Africa”, but we sponsor this or that child. It is very difficult for us to feel compassion for statistics. Although we are aware that the economical situation in Africa is dreadful, we often do not feel concerned enough to act. Seeing an individual suffer, and knowing that we can do something to soothe their ordeal, is quite different.

Charity organizations are not the only ones needing to make people feel concerned. Managers, teachers, politicians and many others need to motivate their colleagues, their pupils, their troops.

What should you be looking for in order to motivate human beings? Appeal to what matters to them. And what matters to them? What are they concerned about?

The answer is simple: themselves. You therefore need to appeal to… their personal interest, and explain: “what can you gain from it” in the messages and ideas you want to convey. How many teachers have heard their pupils ask “But what’s the point of it?”. Do you think pupils are motivated to learn if their teacher cannot answer this question? And what if we could tell them that algebra improves your video game performances, would a teacher hesitate to say it? Would any teacher doubt that it would make the pupils more attentive?

If you have their personal interest on your side, don’t hesitate. Don’t beat around the bush. Don’t say: “People will feel safe with GoodYear Tires”, say: “You will feel safe with GoodYear Tires”.

There is however a more subtle way to appeal to the people’s personal interests. In 1982, psychologists carried out a survey on persuasion: students visited homeowners and asked them to answer questionnaires for a presentation. At the time, cable TV was only just beginning and most people had only vaguely heard of it. The survey was meant to compare the efficiency of two different approaches to make people subscribe to cable television, which was to be rolled out a month later.

In the first approach, the following text was presented:

“Cable television will provide its subscribers with more extensive news and entertainment services. Used appropriately, it gives the viewer freedom to plan in order to enjoy the programs on offer. The subscribers may spend more time at home with their family, on their own or with friends, thus saving the hassle of a night out, as well as babysitting and petrol expenses.

In the second approach, the homeowners were asked to imagine a precise scenario:

“Take a few moments and imagine how cable television is going to allow you to enjoy more extensive news and entertainment services. When you know how to use it, you will be able to plan ahead the events you want to watch. Think about it: no more hassle for a night out, not to mention the savings on babysitting and fuel. You will be able to spend time at home, with your family, on your own, or with your friends.”

The differences between the two texts may seem minor. But count the number of times the word you is used in both samples.

One month after the survey, cable television was rolled out in the city and the researchers analyzed the homeowners’ subscriptions. Result: 20% of the first group had subscribed, in keeping with the subscription rate in the area; on the other hand, in the second group, 47% of the homeowners had subscribed.

The subtitle of the article the researchers published was “Is imagining making things happen”. The answer was: it is.

The benefit to the buyer here was not indeed all this valuable. The main argument was: “by subscribing to cable TV, you save yourself the hassle of getting out of your house” (!). These results suggest that – more so than their importance – it is in fact the tangible and concrete aspect of the benefit that clearly comes out when people imagine them, which make them feel concerned.

There is indeed no need to promise the earth: it is often enough to promise reasonable benefits people can easily imagine themselves enjoying.

Personal interest, however, does not explain everything, as Abraham Maslow attempted to demonstrate in his famous pyramid. A recent study presented the following scenario to a selection of people:

Imagine a company offering its employees a $1,000 bonus should they achieve a number of objectives. Here are three ways of presenting the bonus to the staff:

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Made to Stick

Sep 23rd, 2011

by Olivier Roland.

1 comment

Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die.

One sentence-summary: Some ideas influence their audience, making a mark on their memory for a long time and even making them act; whilst others are forgotten having hardly been heard. The authors study the ideas which do stick and explain their adhesion mechanisms.

By Chip Heath and Dan Heath, 2007, 285 pages.

Note: this book being also very comprehensive, I am publishing its summary in two parts. This is the first. I’m afraid this will be the case for many books in the Psychology & Communication section .

Summary of “Made to Stick”:

You will never guess what happened to one of my friends’ friend – Frank, not to name him. He was in Seattle for an important meeting with a client. Once the meeting over, as he still had time before catching his flight home, he went to a bar for a drink.

He had just finished his first glass when an attractive young woman came by and offered him a drink. Surprised, but nonetheless flattered, he accepted. She returned with two drinks. Thank you, he said, and took his first sip. After this, it was a total blackout.

When he woke up, comatose, he was lying in a hotel bathtub, his body covered in ice. He looked around him, panicked, trying to remember what he was doing there. His attention was then drawn to a small piece of paper:

DO NOT MOVE. PHONE 911.

There was a cellphone on a small table beside the bathtub. He struggled to reach, his fingers numbed with the cold, and dialed the emergency number.

At the other end of the line, the switchboard operator did not sound surprised. “Sir, could you please reach your arm behind your back? Can you feel something? A catheter in your lower back?”

Worried, he did as she asked. There was indeed a catheter.

“Do not panic, Sir, said the young lady. You have just had a kidney removed. You are the victim of an organ trafficking network wreaking havoc in the city. The ambulance is on its way.

Congratulations.

You have just read one of the most popular urban legends of the past fifteen years, which has gone round the Internet in every language and in many forms. A story easily remembered, a striking story, a story that sticks; albeit a completely fake story.

Let’s now look at an article published in the newsletter of a charity organization:

The communities’ make-up in the broader sense lends itself by nature to an equation of return on investment, which can be reproduced by referring to existing practices. [...] The fact that, in order to maintain transparency, the donor organizations often have to target or classify into categories the donated sums, is a factor limiting the flow of resources towards our organization.

Now, do something for ten minutes, anything, and then call a friend and tell him the two stories. Which one do you think you will remember the best? And which one will you be able to explain to your friend in simple terms?

An urban legend on the one hand, a few lines from an article out of context on the other: the comparison between the two is indeed biased. However, it perfectly demonstrates the two extremes of what the authors call “the scale of memorability”. And it also perfectly illustrates that some stories stick and others don’t.

We could be led to believe that some ideas are inherently interesting – a gang of organ thieves – and others inherently boring – the financial strategy of a charity organization. This is certainly partly true. But in this nature/nurture debate as applied to ideas, Chip Heath and Dan Heath gamble on nurture: ideas are made to be interesting rather than interesting by nature.

In 1992, Art Silverman, an employee of the Center for Science in the Public Interest – a non-profit making organization aimed at educating consumers in the field of nutrition – was contemplating a packet of popcorn.

He had just received the test results of popcorn packets collected at a dozen cinemas in three major American cities. Everyone had been surprised at the results: a bag contained on average 37 grams of saturated fat. The recommended maximum amount was 20 grams per day.

The coconut oil, which was used at the time, was to blame, as it was full of saturated fat.

Something had to be done. This bag, which could easily be eaten between meals, contained in itself almost two day’s worth of saturated fat. But how was the public going to be informed? For the majority, “37 grams of saturated fat” does not mean much. Is it good or bad? And even if it were bad, would it be “bad bad”, like tobacco, or “normal bad”, like a biscuit or a treat?

And of course, the phrase “37 grams of saturated fat” is boring enough to make the consumers run a mile. No one is turned on by saturated fat.

There were many means of transmitting the message to the public. But it had to be something extravagant to match the extravagance of this nutritional aberration. So the CSPI organized a press conference delivering this message:

An average portion of popcorn sold at a local cinema contains more dangerous fat for the arteries than a breakfast with bacon and eggs, lunch with a Big Mac and fries, and dinner with steak and all the trimmings – all in one!

And this message was reinforced with visuals. A table crammed with all these fatty foods. An entire day of unbalanced diet on a table; beside it, a bag of popcorn.

The story was a hit and got the honors of television channels. Very soon, the consumers stopped buying popcorn and cinemas, hand on heart, declared that they would no longer use coconut oil to make their popcorn. The idea had stuck.

Note: I did some research on this precise point and it appears that the opinions are far from being unanimous on the actual harm caused by coconut oil and the scientific value of the CSPI. As is often the case, it is hard to find a unanimous opinion concerning nutritional recommendations, as the experts and organizations do not agree with one other and individual interests are hidden and nebulous. For examples of articles against the CSPI or the noxiousness of coconut oil, see here or there.

Looking at the stories that stick and the ones that don’t, the Heath brothers set out to search for the common characteristics which could explain why some stories stick and others don’t, studying in particular hundreds of urban legends and widely spread proverbs.

They drew six determining principles from their research. In order for a story to stick, it requires:

Simplicity. A great barrister claimed: “If you put forward ten arguments, even if they are relevant, the jury will have forgotten them all when they return to the deliberation room.” In order to be simple, an idea must be stripped down to its core, relentlessly excluding superfluous elements.
The unexpected. In order to draw attention, intuitions must be challenged.
Something practical. The ideas that naturally stick are full of concrete images. This is where business communication often stumbles.
Credibility. If a Health Minister talks about a health problem, we are prepared to believe him. But we are not always given such a position of authority. Our ideas must therefore themselves bear their own letters of credit.
Emotion. In order to inspire passion for our ideas, the audience or the readers have to feel something. We are made to feel things for individuals, not for abstractions.
A story. Listening to a story or an anecdote is like a flight simulator, preparing us to react more quickly and more efficiently when a similar situation occurs.

Having read this list, you may think that these principles make sense. We all more or less know that we ought to “be simple” and “tell a story”. Do you know many soporific gibberish enthusiasts?

But if it were that simple, why are we not flooded with brilliantly designed sticking ideas?

Well, there’s a real baddie. Not Dark Vador, but a natural psychological tendency, which makes the application of these principles very difficult: the curse of knowledge.

In order to fully understand this principle, let’s look at a scientific study carried out in 1990 at Stanford University. It featured two groups of participants: “drummers” and “listeners”. The drummers were given 25 famous songs – such as The Star-Spangled Banner or Happy Birthday. They had to choose one and beat the tempo with their finger on a table to a listener. The listener had to guess which song it was.

The results were edifying: over the 120 songs played, the listeners identified on average 2.5%, i.e. 3 songs. But this is not what was edifying: before the drummers would play, they were asked to predict the success rate of the listeners: they estimated it to be 50%.

The drummers therefore managed to convey their message once in every 40 times, but thought they would manage it once every two times. Why?

They had knowledge the listeners did not have: the tune playing in their heads. For the listeners, the beats may as well have been Morse code, but for the drummers they accompanied the tempo of the music. And this knowledge made them almost impervious to the listeners’ incomprehension.

This is a perfect illustration of the curse of knowledge. You can try the experiment for yourself at home .

We will see this curse again in all the above principles detailed below. Follow the guide.

Chapter 1: Simplicity

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How to Win Friends and Influence People

Mar 15th, 2009

by Olivier Roland.

3 comments

How to Win Friends and Influence People

One Sentence Summary: To make friends, influence others and get them in our corner, it is important to know how to look after their ego; this happens after an important change in our everyday behavior, which consists of never criticizing, being genuinely interested in others, smiling, remembering the first name of the person we are speaking with, making them feel important, never telling them they are wrong, talking about our own mistakes before talking about theirs, motivating, sincerely complimenting, and generally always looking after their self esteem.

By Dale Canergie, 1936 (first edition), 1981 (most recently revised edition), 250 pages.

Summary and Book Review:

After GTD, this book is the second best seller of my crazy personal MBA challenge and it is certainly one of the best known. It has sold over 45 million copies around the world since it was first published – a modest printing run of five thousand copies – in 1936. The book has undergone several revisions since the death of the author in 1955, primarily by his wife and his daughter in order to update examples given by the author about famous personalities who were known in 1936 but forgotten since – without changing the heart of the book itself.

The author starts out by entrusting us with 8 rules for getting the best out of the book, which seem to me to be highly relevant and applicable to any number of non-fiction books:

Have a great desire for learning and applying the principles that drive communications and relationships between human beings.
Read every chapter twice before going on to the next one.
Interrupt our readings frequently to ask ourselves about our personal possibilities for applying every principle.
Underline the important ideas.
Re-read the book every month.
Practice the principles whenever the opportunity presents itself.
Transform the book into a fun game: ask our friends to pay a penalty whenever they surprise us by breaking the rules.
Monitor the progress that we make each week. Ask ourselves what mistakes we have made, what progress we have made, what lessons we have learned.

Part One: Three fundamental techniques for handling people

Chapter 1: If you want to gather honey, don’t kick over the beehive

In 1931, Francis “Two Guns” Crowley, a gangster and assassin who was known for having killed a police officer in cold blood after he asked him for his driving license, was arrested in his girlfriend’s apartment after a siege in which one hundred police officers were mobilized! He was taken alive, but, believing he was as good as dead, he had taken the time to write a letter. Was it a letter of repentance, a letter of remorse for the crimes he had committed? No, it said “Under my jacket beats a weary heart, but a good one that would not hurt anyone.”

He was condemned to the electric chair. When he arrived at the execution chamber, was he full of excuses, did he declare that he was experiencing remorse? No. He said “This is my punishment for wanting to defend myself.”

Al Capone, the most notorious gangster of all time, himself said: “I have spent the best years of my life giving pleasure to people and amusing them, and what has been my reward? Insults and the life of a hunted man.” Often, gangsters, criminals and wrongdoers justify their behavior with a whole lot of logical or fallacious reasoning.

If criminals as notorious as Francis Crowley or Al Capone consider themselves innocent, what do the people we meet every day who are just like you and me think of themselves?

This is a universal law that is sometimes difficult to accept: 99 times out of 100, man considers himself innocent, no matter how serious his crime. Criticism is therefore useless because it puts the individual on the defensive and forces him to justify himself, and it is dangerous because it damages their self esteem and causes bitterness. Criticism is like a carrier pigeon: the person we want to blame and correct will do anything to justify himself and will condemn us in return. Or, often, they exclaim: “I don’t see how I could have acted any differently!”

When you study the lives of those considered great leaders of men, like Abraham Lincoln – who Dale Carnegie studied in a very thorough manner, even wrote a biography, Lincoln the Unknown – you generally notice that they handle criticism with extreme caution and do everything to preserve the self esteem of those they reproach.

Rather than condemn people, it is better to try and understand them, to discover the motive for their actions. This is much nicer and more productive than criticizing, and it makes us more tolerant, understanding, and good.

Principal # 1: Don’t criticize, don’t condemn and don’t complain

Chapter 2 : The big secret of dealing with people

There is only one way in the world to get someone to do something: you must excite in them the desire to do it. Obviously, it is always possible to use force, authority or blackmail, but these methods have way more disadvantages than advantages. It is only by giving you what you want that I will manage to get you to do something.

So, what are our needs? In a list that somewhat resembles Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Dale Carnegie lists the different needs that we claim with ceaseless insistence:

Health and preservation of life
Food
Sleep
Money and the means to procure it
Future survival
Sexual satisfaction
Our children’s happiness
A sense of being important

Very often, most of these needs are met, but there is one that is rarely satisfied, because it is just as deep, and just a imperative as hunger. It is what Freud referred to as “the desire to be recognized,” what William James talks about as “the deepest principal of human nature,” and that is the thirst for appreciation, recognition, to be considered important. This desire distinguishes man from the animals, in which it does not exist.

It is this desire for importance that has driven many men who were poor at birth, to realize a glorious destiny, like Lincoln, Dickens or Rockefeller, it is this desire that drives men to buy cars that are too big for their needs or a house that is much to huge for them.

Tell me how you fulfill this need, and I will tell you who you are. The way in which we fill this need is one of the traits that best characterizes our personality. Some people fulfill it by turning to crime, like the notorious French Bonnot Gang, others write great works of literature, or build commercial empires or help others with all their might, until their dying breath. History is full of amusing details about famous people who try to show their importance, from George Washington, who demanded to be called the “Greatest President of the United States,” to Victor Hugo who wanted to donate his name to the city of Paris.

Note: And you just have to stroll through the Père Lachaise cemetery and read the epitaphs to understand that this need for importance accompanied many men even in death.

So, what is the best way to give a person the importance they seek so much? It is by complimenting them. It is not a matter here of flattery, false or otherwise, which is dangerous and often ends up coming back to bite the sycophant. It is a matter of a new mental attitude, of a new way of life: finding the good qualities in others and sincerely complimenting them, making them aware of the admiration we have for them. Sincere praise is the honey of human relations – everyone seeks it and deeply appreciates it.

Principal # 2: Compliment sincerely and honestly

Chapter 3: He who can do this this has the whole world with him. He who cannot walks a lonely way

Why are we always talking about what we want? It’s vain, childish and absurd. Obviously, each of us is interested in what we want. We will be interested in it for eternity. But we will be the only ones thinking about it. Everyone else is just like us in this regard and worry only about what they think.

That’s why the only way to influence your neighbor is to talk to him about what he wants and show him that he can get it.

This is the secret of success: putting yourself in someone else’s place and thinking about things from both his point of view and ours. Because action is born out of our fundamental desires, and to influence others you must first excite in them an ardent desire to act.

Principal # 3: Motivate often to do what you propose.

Part Two: Six ways to make people like you

Chapter 4: Do this and you’ll be welcome anywhere

Do you like dogs? If you do, why? Does it by any chance have something to do with the fact dogs are completely loyal, love you spontaneously and sincerely, and make a big fuss over you when you come home? Do you like it when they jump up on you wagging their tail, with their tongue hanging out, before the door is fully open, losing themselves completely in welcoming you?

We all know people who try their whole lives to get people interested in them. Wasted effort! People are only interested in themselves. They think about themselves morning, noon and night. When you look at a photo of a group that you are part of, who do you look at first?

If you want people to be interested in you, you must first be interested in them. Whether we are a beggar or a king, we like those who admire us.

Do you want people to like you? Then write down anniversaries on your calendar and send a card, welcome people with warmth and enthusiasm on the telephone, show your admiration and your sincere interest when opportunity presents itself. Publius Syrus said it over two thousand years ago:

We are interested in others when they are interested in us.

As with all the advice in this book, this must be applied with total sincerity. This way you might even touch the the heart of the most powerful and unreachable person.

Principal # 4: Be genuinely interested in others

Chapter 5 : A simple way to make a good first impression

Actions speak louder than words. A smile says: “I like you,” “I am happy to see you,” “Your presence makes me happy,” etc. Obviously, it needs to be a sincere, wide and spontaneous smile that seduces and comforts, not a mechanical and false smile that irritates instead of pleasing.

The most striking example of the effect of a sincere smile is the smile of a child :

Smile of a children

Photo by Julien Lagarde

Often it communicates to us and can change our grimmest mood in an instant, whenever we smile back.

A smile is so important that it is can also be heard in our voice. Your telephone voice will change if you smile; try it and see

Try this: For one week, once an hour, smile your widest, sincerest smile possible, be nice to others, appreciate their company, because we must be happy in the company of our peers if we want them to be happy in ours. If this is difficult for you, tell yourself that it is just one week and you can stop after that if you don’t like it

Principal # 5 : Have a smile

Chapter 6 : If you don’t do this you are headed for trouble

James Farley, a famous American politician, has succeeded in becoming a cornerstone of American politics, depended on for decades, even though he was born to a poor family of farmers, even though he lost his father at age 10 and had to start working at that age on a construction site, pushing wheelbarrows full sand and letting bricks dry in the sun. When Dale Carnegie asked him his secret, he replied that he could remember the first name of over five thousand people, as well as the details of each of their lives.

He was Roosevelt’s electoral agent. He had a simple and remarkable system: whenever he met a new person he researched their first and last name – with its exact spelling – and carefully engraved the details in his mind, then he was able to greet this person by his first name by cross-referencing them later – sometimes years later.

Jim Farley knew that everyone likes his own name better than any other name on earth. If you can remember someone’s name, you pay its owner a subtle and appreciated compliment. But if you forget it, mispronounce it or misspell it, you might upset someone or greatly displease them. Men are proud of their name and try to perpetuate it at all costs.

In general, if we forget names, it’s because we simply don’t take the time to write them down, repeat them, and engrave them permanently in our minds. This takes work and requires a certain amount of time, but the reward is definitely worth the effort.

Principal # 6: Remember a person’s name so that they are important

Chapter 7 : An easy way to become a good conversationalist

How do you succeed with the person you are talking with? How do you convince him and reach a good understanding with him? It’s no mystery: to win someone over, put him in a good mood, and get him in your corner, you must give him your full attention when he expresses himself. Nothing is more flattering.

To do this, you must know how to listen sincerely, and show it.

This also works with unhappy people, including customers. Often, unhappy customers who complain are deeply hurt themselves because someone has made them feel one way or another that they are not important. If you succeed in showing them that they are important in your eyes, then often their complaint will go away by itself.

On the other hand, if you want to know what to do to get people to run from you, mock you behind you back, or despise you, it’s easy: don’t listen to what other people say; only talk about yourself. If an idea comes to you when someone else is talking, don’t wait until they are finished. What good will it do anyway? In any case, what they are saying can’t be as interesting and brilliant as what you are going to say. Go on, really, cut them off mid-sentence.

But if you want your conversation to be appreciated, learn how to listen: to be interesting, be interested. Ask stimulating, agreeable questions, ask them about their life, what they have done. Remember that the person you are talking to is a hundred times more interested in his toothache than in the famine that was responsible for thousands of deaths in China.

Principal # 7: Learn to listen. Encourage others to talk about themselves

Chapter 8 : How to get people to like you instantly

To find the way to man’s heart you must bring him what he prizes the most

To discover what interests someone, what he is passionate about, all you have to do is stop and listen with interest while he explains to you everything you want to know.

Principal # 8 : Talk to people about what they are interested in

Chapter 9 : How to make people like you instantly

There is a primordial law that we must respect in our relationships with others. If we observe it, we will win friendship and happiness. If we violate it, we will give rise to numerous difficulties in our wake. Here it is: Make others feel important.

You respect those around you, you wish them to do justice to your merits, and you like very much feeling important in your own circle. You hate excessive flattery, but adore sincere praise, you want to be respected, encouraged, complimented. We all aspire to that.

Principal 9 : Make others feel important and do it sincerely

Part Three: Twelve ways to win people to your way of thinking

Chapter 10 : You can’t win an argument

In his youth, Dale Carnegie adored controversy.

He studied logic and argument in college, never missed the opportunity to participate in contradictory debates, and even directed a dialectic course as a result, and made the project about writing on a subject… Then, after having attended and participated in thousands of discussions, he analyzed them and drew one conclusion: the best way to carry on a controversy is to avoid it. Nine times out of ten, everyone leaves the debate being even more certain that they are right.

Effectively, nobody wins these battles! Because if you lose, you lose and if you win, you also lose because you have proven to your adversary that he is wrong, you have made him feel inferior, you have hurt his self esteem and his pride. So,

A man convinced against his will
Always keeps his own opinion.

You must therefore choose: a spectacular and theoretic triumphant, or sincere agreement. The two rarely go together. You may well be right, a hundred times right, if you have to fight prove it and change your adversaries mind, your efforts will as useless as if you were wrong.

But what should you do then if there is disagreement? The idea is to welcome the dispute. The dispute is an opportunity to enrich yourself, to discover a new point of view that had not occurred to you before. Here is advice in such a situation:

Don’t give in to your first impulse.
Overcome your anger.
Begin by listening.
Find common ground.
Be honest.
Promise to think about the ideas of your adversaries, and study them carefully.
Sincerely thank your adversaries for their interest.
Adjourn your actions to allow both parties present the time to examine the problem in detail.

Principal # 10: Avoid controversy, unless you can come out on top.

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Chapter 11: A sure way of making enemies and how to avoid it.

When Theodore Roosevelt was the President of the United States, he admitted that he couldn’t be sure he was right more than 75% of the time. That was the outer limit of his potential. If that is the degree that such a successful man could attain, then what is it for you and me?

Actually, if we could be sure of being right even 50% of the time, all that would be left to do would be to install ourselves on Wall Street and earn a million dollars a day. But if we can’t achieve this percentage, why do we allow ourselves to state that others are wrong?

So don’t ever begin a sentence with “I will prove that to you” or “I can show that…” because that comes out as “I am smarter than you, and I am going to change your mind,” that can only hurt someone’s self esteem without changing their mind. It is actually difficult, even under favorable conditions, to change other people’s opinion, so why present obstacles and add even more difficulty?

If someone states something that you think is wrong, wouldn’t it be better to start with: Listen, I don’t see it the same way as you but I might be wrong. That happens to me a lot. If I am wrong, I will change my mind… Let’s take a look together, would you mind?

This type of phrasing is magic because no-one can object to “I might be wrong, let’s take a look together.” Who can find anything to say about that? Therefore no-one will ever be annoyed with you if you promptly admit that you are subject to error.

Here is an excerpt from the book “The Mind in the Making” by James Harvey Robinson to learn more:

[Translator’s note: The book excerpt is translated from the French version, so the text may not match the English version of the book exactly]

We can spontaneously modify our opinions effortlessly and without emotion. But if someone tells us that we are wrong, we revolt against the accusation and instantly adopt a defensive attitude. We form our convictions lightly, but the instant anyone threatens to snatch them from us, we develop a fierce passion for them. Obviously, it is not so much our ideas as it is our self esteem that we fear is in danger…

Principal #11: Respect others’ opinions. Never tell people they are wrong.

Chapter 12: If you’re wrong, admit it.

One day, the author was walking his dog off the leash in a park, which was not allowed. He came face to face with a mounted policeman who, after a sharp reprimand, told him never to come back. A week later, Dale Carnegie came across the same policeman, in the exact same circumstances. What did he do? He rushed up to the policeman and overwhelmed him with apologies, and reminded him that he had promised to fine him if he did it again. The policeman’s reply was mellow, Dale Carnegie insisted that he was at fault, and finally the policeman let him off the hook.

Because the policeman, like all of us, was only a man; what he wanted was confirmation of his own importance. When Dale Carnegie confessed, the only thing left for the policeman to do to maintain his own self esteem was to adopt a magnanimous attitude.

When we know that we deserve a dressing down, isn’t it better to take the initiative bravely and make our mea culpa? If we inflict blame on ourselves, isn’t it more acceptable that way than from someone else’s mouth?

Principal #12: If you are wrong, admit it promptly and energetically.

Chapter 13: A drop of honey

Aesop, a greek slave from the seventh century BC, has explained the point of this chapter once before:

One day, the wind and the sun were arguing over who was the strongest. The wind said:
- I am going to prove that I am. You see that old man down there? I bet that I can make him take his coat off faster than you can.
Upon which the sun disappeared behind a cloud and the wind started to blow like a hurricane. But the harder it blew, the more the man cinched his coat around him. Finally, the wind became tired and stopped blowing. Then, the sun came out from behind a cloud and smiled gently to the traveler. Soon he started to feel warm; he wiped his forehead and took off his coat.
The sun then remarked to the wind that sweetness and kindness are always stronger than violence and fury.

Principal #13: Begin on a friendly note.

Chapter 14: The Secret of Socrates

When you want to win someone over, avoid raising issues that you don’t agree with, from the very start. Focus instead on things you identify with and emphasize those. The point is to show that you have goals in common, and disagree only on the means to reach them, and to do that, say “yes” as early as possible, and above all try to avoid having them say “no.”

Because as Dr Overstreet says in his book “The Art of influencing the human condition:”

A negative response is a difficult obstacle to overcome. When someone says “no,” his pride causes him to remain steadfast in his opinion[...]. Later, he may figure out that it was an unjustified no. Too bad! He cannot retract it; he must above all look out for his self esteem. That’s why it is extremely important to start out, from the beginning, with the person you are talking to in the right direction: that of agreement.
[...]
When someone says “no” sincerely and with conviction, they can do no more than articulate those two letters. [...] Their whole being is on the defensive, the whole neuro-muscular system is alerted against agreeing.
On the other hand, when someone says “yes,” their body takes on a consenting, receptive attitude. Consequently, the more we can get people to say yes, the more we succeed in putting someone in a favorable mood towards our proposition.

Principal #14: Ask questions that will lead to saying yes immediately.

Chapter 15: The safety valve in handling complaints

Most people say too much when they are trying to persuade someone. Let the other person vent. He knows his problems and his business better than you. Ask him questions and let him express himself. This produces good results in professional relationships as well as between friends and family.

Principal # 15 : Make the person you are talking to feel completely comfortable speaking.

Chapter 16: How to get cooperation

Don’t we trust the ideas that we think of by ourselves more than those are handed to us ready to go on a silver platter? If that’s true, isn’t it clumsy to try and impose our opinions at all costs? Isn’t it wiser to make some clever suggestions and leave the other person to draw his own conclusions?

Twenty five centuries ago, Lao-Tsu, a wise man from China said that the reason why rivers and seas are graced with certain mountain streams is because they keep a low profile. They can thus reign over all the mountain streams. The wise man, who wants to be above others, puts himself below them; if he wants to be in front, sets himself behind. Thus, if his place is above others, they don’t feel his weight; if his place is in front, they are not hurt.

Principal #16: Allow the person you are talking to the pleasure of thinking it was his idea.

Chapter 17: A formula that will work wonders for you.

Even if your neighbor is wrong, he doesn’t think he’s wrong. Don’t condemn him. The first fool that comes along can condemn him. Rather, try to understand him. Those who would be wise are tolerant and even exceptional.

Actually, your neighbor has a reason for thinking and acting as he does. Find out the hidden reason and you will understand the secret to his behavior, and probably to his personality.

Think about the difference that exists between the passionate interest that you have for your own business and the luke warm attention that you pay to the rest of the word. Ponder, and ponder deeply on the fact that everyone in the world experiences the same thing as you. If you can understand that, then you can considerably perfect the art of leading men.

Principal #17: Make a real effort to see things from the other person’s point of view.

Chapter 18: What everybody wants

Wouldn’t you like to know a magic phrase that lets you avoid arguments, dissipates bitterness, stimulates good will and motivates others to listen to you carefully?

Yes? Well then, it does exist. Here is it:

“I understand completely where you are coming from, if I was you I would probably feel the same.”

Try it and you will see

Principal #18: Welcome kindly the ideas and desires of others.

Chapter 19: Appeal that everybody likes

Everyone we meet has a high opinion of himself and wants to appear noble and generous in their own eyes. Therefore, individuals generally have two reasons for their behavior: one which makes him look good, and the real one. An individual understands the second one very well, but he prefers to put his most worthy reasons out in front.

So, to influence others it is better to appeal to their most noble intentions. For fear of shattering the idealist image they have of themselves, they will be more motivated to respond to your pleas.

Note : The desire to show only the most noble motivation is not only strong to protect their self image, but also the image they wish to project to others.

Principal #19: Appeal to higher feelings.

Chapter 20: The movies do it. TV does it. Why don’t you do it?

At the beginning of the last century, a newspaper was the object of vicious rumors that effectively said that the paper had too many advertisements and not enough text; that it was no longer interesting to its readers, etc. They needed to act fast to halt the devastating rumors. But how? The staff of the newspaper had a good idea: they would cut all the text that wasn’t advertising from one edition, and publish it in the form of a book, they would call it “One Day.” The book, which was 307 pages long, would go for average price, because the paper was sold at only a fraction of the usual price of a book.

The publication highlighted the lies and rumors, and appealed to people in a more convincing and more attractive way than a whole pile of figures and arguments.

Principal #20: Show off your ideas spectacularly. Appeal to both sight and imagination.

Chapter 21: When nothing else works try this

The need to excel and compete are two extremely powerful drivers for the human spirit. To get results, create competition, not for the sake of winning, but to lubricate in a noble way the desire to do one’s best, to outdo others and to excel.

Principal #21: Present a challenge.

Part Four – Be a leader: how to change people without living offensively or arousing resentment

Chapter 22: If you must find fault, this is the way to begin

It involves an obvious process, but it gets results; it less painful for us to receive unpleasant comments after a compliment about our ability.

Principal #22: Start out with sincere praise.

Chapter 23: How to criticize and not be hated for it

One day, a senior person in a steel factory was walking the floors. He ran across a group of workers smoking. Just above their heads was a sign on which was written “no smoking.” What do you think the person did? Did he mouth off at these people yelling “Don’t you know how to read?” No. He approached them, offered each of them a cigar and said “I would like it if you went to smoke these cigars outside.”

How do you think the workers felt? They were in violation and they knew he knew it. Instead of punishing them, he offered them a gift and didn’t say a thing to reproach them. He had made them feel important. Who couldn’t like a man like that?

With reasonable people who would suffer under direct criticism, draw attention to their mistakes indirectly, and you will work wonders.

Principal #23: Comment on mistakes or errors indirectly.

Chapter 24: Talk about your own mistakes first

By acknowledging our own mistakes, even if we have not corrected them, we can help others to change their behavior. A few humble words can greatly help to deliver the bitter pill of criticism .

Principal #24: Mention your own mistakes befote correcting those of other people.

Chapter 25: Nobody likes to take orders

An order which is too brusque can cause someone longlasting offense, even if the order is justified. Instead, ask questions such as “Could you take a look at this?” or “Do you think this would be okay?” or “Would you do this?” Asking questions doesn’t just make orders more palatable, it also stimulates the other person’s creativity. People accept orders more readily if they have been part of the initial decision.

Principal #25: Ask questions rather than giving direct orders.

Chapter 26: Let the other person save face

Here is how Saint Exupéry put it:

I don’t have the right to say or do something that diminishes a man in his own eyes. What counts is not what I think of him, but what he thinks of himself. Hurting a man’s dignity is a crime.

Principal #26: Let the person you are speaking with save face.

Chapter 27: How to spur people on to success

Psychologist Jess Lair wrote the following:

Praise is like sunshine for the human spirit. We cannot flourish without it. However, most of use are ready to blow the cold wind of criticism on others, rather than warm their heart with a compliment.

So, let’s acknowledge the progress, however slight it is, of those we wish to encourage. That’s how we will motivate them, how we will get them to pursue their efforts.

Principal #27: Praise the smallest progress and praise any progress. Do it warmly and generously.

Chapter 28: Give a dog a good name

For this, there is nothing better than complimenting someone on their potential or their past coups, and asking them if they think they will get back to that initial level or reach their full potential.

Principal #28: Give a good reputation to the deserving.

Chapter 29: Making the fault seem easy to correct

Tell your colleague, your child or your coworker that they are stupid, that they are not cut out for such work, or such a game, that they are doing badly, that they don’t understand anything, etc, and you will destroy any desire they have to excel. But try it the opposite way: Give generous encouragement; make it so the task to be accomplished appears easy, let them know you are behind them, that you have confidence in their abilities, tell them they have untapped talent… and they will use it all day long if necessary.

Principal #29: Encourage. Make errors seem easy to fix.

Chapter 30: Making people glad to do what you want

To change someone’s attitude or behavior, it is useful to keep the following points in mind:

Be sincere. Don’t make false promises. Forget your own interests and focus on the interest of the other person.
Make sure you know exactly what you want the person to do.
Put yourself in the other person’s place.
Think about the benefits that the other person will get out of doing what you want them to do.
Make sure these benefits line up with what the other person wants.
When you make an offer, structure it in such a way that the other person understands that he will benefit personally.

Principal #30: Make others happy to do what you suggest.

Book Review:

I am pleased that I read this book. It has been on my list of books to read for years (which has become significantly larger since my Readers have been sending me suggestions! and I finally found the opportunity to pick it up. As to the format, this book is written in a simple, accessible way. Dale Carnegie seems to write as he Speaks, staying very concrete, concise and relevant, and using many examples from real life – what am I saying? – a plethora of examples – of which you have only a small sample in this summary. These examples might seem dated – they date from the Civil War to the Second World War for the most part – but they are extremely varied, from a president, a king and an emperor, all the way to factory directors, finance magnates or workers. They allow us to get into the concepts very easily and understand how to apply them on a daily basis.

Regarding content, I found this book extremely interesting, because of the primordial importance it accords to the ego and self esteem. Dale Carnegie puts the deeply emotional nature of human beings first, and the whole book is centered on these two primordial concepts:

1. No matter what they say, men and women are above all emotional beings with a vital need to look kindly on themselves.

2. No matter how rational an argument might be, they will reject it most of the time if their self esteem is hurt.

Once you understand these two concepts, most of the principles of the book are simple to understand. All you have to do is apply them. The eight pieces of advice that Carnegie gives at the beginning of this book – and that could easily be applied to almost all the Personal MBA books – are, I think, a good beginning for implementing. As with everything, this advice must be applied in moderation, otherwise I think we could become machines generating consensus, which would be a bit bland and hypocritical. I also think that a good Kick in the rear can produce better results than all the diplomacy in the world. But Carnegie’s approach doesn’t consist of adopting mechanical tricks to artificially increase his influence, it consists of understanding the two concepts presented above, and internalizing them to transform our point of view with regard to human relationships and remaining watchful so that the other person comes out on top, or at least free, in our arguments, confrontations and other issues.

It’s a huge program. I am sure that human relationships would be a bit smoother if everyone applied the principles in this book. What’s more, it’s an excellent introduction to the ideas of ego and self esteem, and a point of departure for me with certain questions: why is it so important to us to maintain the vision of ourselves intact, and the way that we think of ourselves even though very often we “form our opinions lightly?” Why do we favor a comfortable vision even though it is false, to the truth? What is ego? Self esteem? Are they deeply human and therefore universal, greatly influenced by society or not? In short, great, interesting questions but which require sometime to be understood J

I therefore recommend this book. It’s excellent, may change the way in which we look at human relationships and is easy to read. A must have.

Strong points:

Clear and concise
Written simply and is easy to read
Numerous examples covering a wide variety of situations
Strong, relevant, fundamental concepts
Many principles that can be applied or internalized

Weak Points:

The examples are a little dated (from the Civil War to the Second World War primarily)
A little redundant at times

Translated by www.DeansResource.com

My rating:

Have you read this book? How do you rate it?

Mediocre - No interest Reasonable - One or two interesting paragraphs Intermediate - Some goods ideas Good - Had changed my life on one practical aspect Very Good - Completely changed my life ! (4 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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PMBA Challenge:

Cost of book: € 5

Total cost of project: € 222.77

Number of pages: 250

Total number of pages: 3311

Time to read book: 3H

Time to write this article: 6H

Total time for the project: 123H30

Buy this book on Amazon :

Making Things Happen – 2

Feb 15th, 2009

by Olivier Roland.

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Note: because this book is both heavy and complex, I am publishing the summary in two parts. Here is the second part, the first part is here.

Summary and Book Review, second part:

Chapter 9 : Communication and relationships

For a long time during our civilization, the slowness of communications posed several problems. Many disasters and misunderstandings arose from this situation. Today, communication is still important, but two things have changed:

Speed is no longer the main problem (what could be faster than an instant message?) Instead, it is quality and efficiency of communication that have assumed primary importance.
Communication is not enough for complex work; you also need effective relationships between people who work together.

Even though there are often clearly defined leaders who sometimes give orders, projects depend heavily on the team’s ability to use each other’s knowledge, to share ideas and to work in a synchronized way, as opposed to being based on overly strict lines of authority, rigorous discipline and the need to follow orders without asking questions.

Because project leads spend a lot of time communicating with individuals and groups, they have more responsibilities that require them to communicate effectively with respect to the team. This does not require the extrovert personality of a TV presenter, an extraordinary sense of humor or magical powers (although they may help). Rather, it starts by admitting that communication and interpersonal skills are critical for success, and that there is room for improvement for you and your team.

Additionally:

Projects are not accomplished by communication alone. In these modern times, speed is not the Achilles heel of communication. Quality is.
Interpersonal relationships improve and accelerate communication.
There are several types of communication that people use to communicate with each other. Project managers must be familiar with them in order to be able to diagnose and resolve communication problems.
There are numerous common communication problems, like assumptions, lack of clarity, not listening, personal attacks or blame.
Role Definition is the easiest way to improve interpersonal relationships.
Ask people what they need to do a better job. Ways of doing so include: listening, removing barriers, teaching and reminding them of the objectives.
Relationships between people and communication are not low priority efforts. They are essential to all individual activities that take place during a project.

Exercise :

Make two ordered lists, one with the most important people on your team, the other with those on your team with whom you have the best relationship. Find opportunities in the two lists to improve your relationships; if you could improve your relationships by 25%, what would be the biggest impact to your project?

Chapter 10 : How not to annoy people, process, email and meetings

The bigger your team, the more likely the chances of annoyting someone. Whenever you are following someone else’s work, or making decisions that impact others, you have the potential to annoy them. If you are smart, you will find ways to minimize disagreements. People will be happier, the project will go more smoothly, and you will have fewer black looks when you pass people in the hallways.

The three activities that annoy people the most are email, meetings and team processes (like build or specification procedures).

Additionally:

Project managers are inclined to annoy others. Some things could be avoided.
People get annoyed for many reasons. Often it when they believe their time has been wasted, when they are treated like idiots, or when they are expected to put up with a prolonged annoyance or poor treatment.
Good processes have many positive effects, which include accelerated progress and the prevention of problems. But they are difficult to develop.
An email which is not annoyting is concise and actionable (it contains an action), and it quickly allows readers to figure out if they care enough to read more than the email header or the first sentence.
Meetings are conducted well when someone runs them.
Frustrating meetings result when the objectives are not suited to that type of meeting.

Exercise:

When was the last time you complimented someone for their clear, simple emails? Next week, every day, thank the person who sends you the clearest, most effective email.

Chapter 11 : What to do when things go wrong

No matter what you do, no matter how hard you work, or who you work with, things will sometimes go wrong. The best team in the world, with the best leaders, workers, resources and the best morale, will find itself in difficult situations. The only way to completely avoid difficult situations is not to do anything important or to put yourself permanently into situations or projects in which you are protected from all forms of risk – two things which rarely contribute to success.

Good project managers must therefore be prepared to manage difficult situations. That requires a certain amount of wisdom to understand that when bad things happen, it is what it is. There is nothing you can do after the fact to change it. Instead, how the team reacts to adversity can be a more important factor to success than the team’s ability to prevent problems. Both are important but resilience and recovery are the abilities that give you the ability to manage the possible unknown. Without them, the best team and the best plan can spiral out of control with the slightest push in the wrong direction.

Additionally:

If you can remain calm and break the problem into smaller pieces, you can manage many difficult situations.
There are some actual situations that you can anticipate, like errors due to not paying attention, being forced to do stupid things, lack of resources, poor quality, a change in direction, personnel problems, and the desire to mutiny.
Difficult times are learning opportunities. Make sure that you and your team take the time to analayze what happened and how it could have been avoided.
Taking responsibility for situations, without worrying about who caused them, always helps to resolve them more quickly.
In extreme situations, put yourself in “damage control mode.” Do whatever is needed to get the project back into a stable state where it is understood.
Negotiations are not only useful in crisis situations, but also for managing. Good negotiators work towards people’s interests, not their own positions.
Keep a clear perspective on who has what authority at all times. People need to know who has the power to make decisions before a crisis occurs.
People react to pressure in different ways. Be observant and open in how you help your team manage different types of pressure.

Exercise:

Go into the office and find five things that could go wrong. For each one, describe how you are going to manage the problem if you are assigned the task to fix it. Who needs to be in the room to manage the problem? What will you do if you are not in a position of power?

Part 3 : Management

Chapter 12 : Why leadership is based on trust

As far as leading your team is concerned, everything depends on the assumptions that people make about you. When you say “I will make sure that gets done tomorrow” or “I am going to speak to Carol and get her to agree,” others will silently calculate the probability that what you say is true. Over time, if you are serving your team well, the probability will be perceived as very high. They will believe your work and trust you.

Even though in the movies leaders are portrayed as having a dramatic role – such as throwing themselves into burning buildings or bravely fighting alone against a whole host of enemies – true leadership is based on very simple and practical things. Do what you say you will and say what you mean to say. Admit when you are wrong. Incorporate the opinions and ideas of others in decisions which impact them. If you can do these things, more often than not you will earn the trust of those you work with. When the time comes for you to ask them to do something unpleasant or which they don’t agree with, their trust in you will make your leadership possible.

Therefore, to be a great leader, you must learn how to find, build, earn and give trust to others – as well as learn to cultivate trust in yourself.

Additionally:

Trust is built on effective commitments.
Trust is lost through inconsistent behavior towards important issues.
Use authority and trust to allow people to do a good job.
Institutional power comes from the company organizational structure. Power of recognition comes solely from people’s response to your actions. Recognition power is the most useful institutional power, although both are necessary.
Delegate in order to build trust in your team and to assure yourself that your team is united in the face of adversity.
Deal with problems in a way that will keep people’s trust. Be supportive during crises so that they will tell you problems rather than hide them from you.
Having confidence in yourself is the foundation for leadership. Self-discovery is the way to learn who you are and to develop a healthy independence.

Exercise:

Make a list of the 5 people that you work with the most. Who do you trust the most and why?

Chapter 13 : Making things happen

The ability to make things happen is a combination of knowing how to be the catalyst in a variety of different situations, and having the courage to do so.

Additionally:

Everything can be represented in an ordered list. Most of the work of project management is assigning the right priority to things and leading the team to get them done.
The three basic ordered lists are: the project objectives (vision), the list of functions and the list of work items. They must always be synchronized with each other. Each work task contributes to a function and each function to an objective.
There is a bright yellow line between the priority of what I am working on and all the rest.
Things happen when you say no. If you don’t say no, you have not effectively prioritized.
The project manager must make it so that the teams stays honest and close to reality.
Knowing the path of least resistance in engineering and in team processes allows for efficiency.
You must be both tough and smart to make things happen.

Exercise :

Who in your organization has the reputation for making things happen? How did they earn it? And who are the people with a reputation for not making things happen? Is there a relationship between their position in the organization and their ability to make things happen?

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Chapter 14 : Middle-game strategy

Just as in the middle game when playing chess, the middle of a project is the moment when a lot of things happen at the same time, and it’s difficult to keep a clear perspective about what is going well and what is not going well. To fight this inevitable fog that surrounds the team and makes inexperienced people get easily lost, you must apply these three simple principles:

If things are going well at the end of the first day, the objective for the next day is to make it so that things continue to go well.
If on any day the project is not going well, it’s your job to figure out what the problems are and to act so that the project goes well again. This can take hours, days or weeks.
Repeat until the project is finished.

The problem is that you only have a limited amount of time to understand what the problems are and even less time to solve them. Not to mention the effort needed to protect the healthy parts of the project from the problems. For these reasons, and more, stress and energy levels in the middle of the game are very high. The team is moving at an ever increasing pace, and the acceptable margins of error are going down on a daily basis.

Additionally:

Projects are complex non-linear systems and have significant inertia. If you are expecting to wait until problems are serious before acting, you will be late and might make things even worse.
When your project is out of control, you are flying behind the plane, which is a bad place to fly. There are both tactical and strategic points to be verified.
Think about how to act to correct a situation in the best possible way. The bigger the action, and the further along the project, the more dangerous the action can be.
Schedules based on milestones provide opportunities to make corrections for project paths that are more certain.
Configuration control is how you manage change acceleration from a low level and an intermediate level on the project.

Exercise:

If you are in the middle of a project now, take five people at random from your team and ask them to describe their confidence in the schedule in the form of a percentage. Do the same thing with five managers. Compare the results and present them at a team meeting. If it’s useful, do it every week. Make it so that the descriptions are anonymous so that people will be honest.

Chapter 15: End-game strategy

When the end of the project is near, someone must find a good way to apply the brakes in order to slow down the progressive movement so that things end well.

Additionally:

A big target is a series of little targets.
Every milestone has three smaller targets :
- Design complete (specifications complete)
- Functions complete (implementation complete)
- Milestone complete (quality assurance and refinement complete)
Defining the exit criteria at the beginning of the milestone increases the ability of the team to finish on time.
Being on schedule is just like landing an airplane: you need a long, wide approach. And you better be ready take off again quickly, without having to make major repairs..
You need metrics to track the project. Common metrics include day to day work, bug management and the business charter [?].
You need control elements to adjust the levels of a project. Common elements include review meetings, tries, and centralized decision making at the end of the project.
The end of the game is a slow and difficult process. The challenge is to reduce the scope of the changes until you have a satisfactory finished product.
Now is the time begin the postmortem process. Give yourself, as well as your team, the benefit of learning from what went well and what didn’t go well.
If fortune is smiling on you, and your project works out, be happy. Very, very happy. A lot of people, even though it is not necessarily their fault, don’t get that far. Look forward to a great night out. Do something fun and extravagant (like inviting the author of the book to a party). Provide stories that will be told for years to come.

Exercise:

You are two days away from a major news release on your news site, used by millions of people. The champagne is ready and waiting. But an engineer discovers a major problem which is going to take three days to fix. The problem is the 10 million dollars spent on publicity for the launch date and the time already spent. What will you do?

Chapter 16 : Power and Politics

Every time you try to organize people to do something, whether it is to get ready for a party or start a business, the people concerned have different attitudes, skills, and different desires. This means that it doesn’t matter how talented the leader of a project is, there will always be people who won’t get what they want. Therefore, there is a natural instinct in ambitious and motivated people to try and get what they want by influencing the people with the power to get things done.

The fuel that propels politics is power. Someone who can influence the right person at the right time, and who uses his knowledge to resolve situations to everyone’s satisfaction, can be more powerful in an organization than those who are at the top – sometimes without even knowing it.

For project managers this means two things:

There will be political influences that impact you, whatever your power or your personal ethic.
Power and politics are an inherent part of management.

You must therefore at least be conscious of how political systems work if you want to reduce their negative effects, not to mention if you want to increase their positive effects.

Additionally:

Politics is a natural consequence of human nature. When people work together in groups there is a limited amount of authority which can be distributed amount different people with different wishes and different motives.
All leaders have political constraints. Every executive, CEO or president has peers or superiors who limit their ability to make decisions. In general, the more power someone has, the more complicated are the constraints upon it.
There are many different types of political power, like rewards, coercion, knowledge, references, and influence.
Power is misused when it is applied to things that do not further the objectives of the project. A lack of clarity with respect to the objectives, loosely allocated resources, or unclear decision processes can contribute to this misuse of power.
To resolve political problems, be clear about what you want. Identify who has it, and then evaluate hoq you can get it.
If you are involved in project management, you lay out a political playing field around you. It’s up to you to decide up to what point it is honest or unfair.

Exercise:

Is it possible to work with other people and have nothing to do with politics? Think of a work environment with the healthiest political environment possible. What makes it possible?

Book Review:

This book is heavy. Very heavy. 370 wide pages, full of text, with some diagrams here and there. Fortunately, the author takes his work very seriously, but he doesn’t take himself too seriously, which means that his book is sprinkled with nice, humerous sentences which lighten it all up somewhat.

In the end, I have trouble judging because, other than directing a small business, I have never managed projects of the human and technical complexity levels that the author is talking about. Furthermore, this book is clearly geared more towards people who work in large organizations, just like Results Without Authority, and even more specifically to people who work in the software development field, even though the author visibly does his best to be as general as possible – but there are so many references to the software industry that he does not achieve his objective.

I would say, therefore, that it is obvious from reading this book that Scott Berkun is someone who has a lot of experience in this subject and that he has mastered it exceedingly well. I know that one day I will have to manage more complex development projects than those in my current company, and I won’t hesitate to dive into this book to pull out the tricks and ideas or find answers to specific problems. This book therefore has a place on the bookshelf for all project managers who work in large organizations. Once again, for $39.00, if this book only gives you one good idea, it will largely pay for itself. If you are a project lead in the software industry, dig in. This book is made for you ;

Strong points:

Very thorough
Sprinkled with humorous phrases which lighten it up
The author has obviously mastered his subject down to the tips of his fingernails
Geared towards the software industry, but contains advice and methods applicable to the management of any project in a large organization.

Weak Points:

Very, very heavy
A little too geared towards the software industry
A little too geared towards large organizations

Translated by www.DeansResource.com

My rating: (if you are called to lead projects in large organizations – add a star if your company is in the software industry)

(if you are called to lead projects in another field)

Have you read the book? How do you rate it?

PMBA Challenge:

Cost of the Book:	€ 31.24
Total cost of the project:	€ 217.77
Number of pages:	370
Total number of pages:	3061
Time to read it:	3H
Time to write this article:	8H
Total time for the project:	114H30

Buy this book on Amazon:

Making Things Happen

Feb 9th, 2009

by Olivier Roland.

3 comments

One Sentence Summary : Project management is a complicated art which requires you to master a number of things such as planning, understanding what needs to be done, writing a good overall vision statement, understanding where ideas come from, understanding what to do with ideas, writing good specifications, understanding how to make good decisions, communication and interpersonal relationships, what to do when things go badly, understanding why leadership is built on trust, making things happen, managing the strategy in the middle and at the end of the project, or understanding questions of power and politics; this book describes in detail each of these components and gives us numerous methods and tricks for mastering them.

By Scott Berkun, 2008, 370 pages.

Note : Since this book is both thick and complex, I am publishing the summary in two parts. This is the first.

Summary and Book Report:

Scott Berkun is an author and speaker who has worked at Microsoft for 9 years as a project manager going from Internet Explorer (1 through 5), Windows and MSN. In 2005 he published the first version of this book, The Art of Project Management, which was centered more around project management in the area of software development and the phenomenal success of which, for a book of this type, led to this revision, in which the subject is more general and touches on general project management, for any sector.

Every chapter ends with a list of exercises – extremely relevant – to reflect on the subjects dealt with and put them into practice. I am giving you one at the end of each chapter summary.

The author begins by telling us that the idea of project management goes back a long way in human history. Everything that humanity has built, from the Egyptian pyramids or the Roman aqueducts up to a Boeing 777 or the Hubble space telescope, have been designed and then implemented. Between these two stages is found the art of leading long and complex projects to fruition.

The author wonders if there were points in common between all these projects, if he could find common denominators. He did not always find obvious answers, but each time that he returned from his quests into the past to dive into the world of software development, his own tools and processes appeared differently to him. And there were three lessons that he drew from these expeditions:

Project management is not a holy art. All modern engineering work is a new foray into history and things already realized. Technology and skills might change, but the central challenges remain the same. Everything is both unique and derived from something else. In order to be able to re-use past knowledge, you must be open to both.
The simpler your vision of what needs to be done, the greater your power of concentration to accomplish it. If we keep a simple vision for our work, we can find useful comparisons with other ways of doing things all around us. It’s a similar concept to what the Japonese call shoshin, or keeping a beginner’s mind - an open mind – which is an essential element in martial arts. Staying open and curious is what makes growth possible. In order to continue learning, we must resist the temptation to succomb to the safe and narrow visions with regard to what we are doing.
Simple doesn’t mean easy. The best writers, athletes, programmers, and managers tend to be people who see what they do as simple by nature and difficult at the same time. For example, it is simple to run a marathon. You begin running and you don’t stop until you have completed 40 kilometres (26 miles). What could be simpler than that? The fact is that the difficulty of it does not reduce its simplicity. Leadership and management are also difficult, but their nature – making it so that things happen in a specific way towards a specific objective – is simple.

Additionally:

Project management might be a job, a role or an activity.
Leadership and management require understanding and intuitive knowledge of numerous common paradoxes, such as:
- Ego/No-ego: The ego can be a driver for managers, who often derive great personal satisfaction from their work. However, managers must avoid placing their own interests above those of the project, and must delegate important and fun tasks, and share the rewards.
- Autocrat/Delegator: In certain situations, the most important things are strong and clear authority and a quick response time, and the manager must have the necessary confidence and the will to take control and force certain actions. However, the general objective must be to avoid these situations.
- Oral/Written: Even though many organizations today are email-centric – notably software development companies – oral communication is still important, there are always meetings, negotiations, hallway discussions, and brainstorming sessions. In general the larger the organization or project, the more writing skills are important. But a good manager must recognize when written or oral communication will be more efficient.
- Courage/Fear: One of the biggest misconceptions of our culture is that people who are brave don’t experience fear. That’s a lie. A brave person is one who feels fear but chooses to act anyway.
If you are a dedicated manager, find ways to capitalize on your unique perspective of the team and the project.
In the end, all projects use similar processes; they all allow time to plan, implement and refine.

Part 1: Plans

Chapter 2 : The Truth About Schedules

(more…)

communication

Sources of Power – How People Make Decisions – 2

Book Chronicle and Summary of “Sources of Power”, part two:

Chapter 9: Non-Linear Aspects of Problem Solving

Chapter 10: The Power to See the Invisible

Sources of Power

Chronicle of “Sources of Power”:

Chapter 3: The decision making model based on the first observation

Chapter 4: The Power of Intuition

Made to Stick – Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die – 2

Book review and summary, Part II:

Chapter 5: Emotion

Made to Stick

Summary of “Made to Stick”:

Chapter 1: Simplicity

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Making Things Happen – 2

Making Things Happen

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Cost of book:	€ 5
Total cost of project:	€ 222.77
Number of pages:	250
Total number of pages:	3311
Time to read book:	3H
Time to write this article:	6H
Total time for the project:	123H30