Max Mednik

I recently listened to a summary of Influencer by Kerry Patterson. The book was alright, and I'm not sure if it was the summary or the book, but the content didn't seem as unique as I would have hoped (a lot of the same material as in other psychology/influence books I've read). That's not to say it wasn't a good introductory/summary book for the topic.

The book started with the two most basic questions people ask: Am I able? and Am I motivated? The book's goal was to demonstrate six steps to influencing people's attitudes towards those two questions.

1. Make the undesirable desirable

• Create new experiences and new motives.
  
• Create a game: use the concepts of challenge and frequent feedback.
  
• Connect to person's identity: Apple iPod.

2. Surpass your limits

• Deliberate practice
  
• Feedback and a clear standard/goal
  
• Mini goals along the way
  
• Prepare for setbacks.
  

3. Harness peer pressure

• Go after early adopters, not innovators (who are shunned by others as outsiders).
  
• Get the socially-connected and respected opinion leaders to get behind your product.
  
• Find who is most admired and connected; ask around for people like this.
  

4. Find strength in numbers

• NQ = network quotient (quality and quantity of connections a person has)
  
• Get immediate feedback from coaches
  

5. Design rewards and demand accountability

• First go for intrinsic satisfaction, then social support, then extrinsic rewards.
• Extrinsic rewards can backfire sometimes.
  
• Award ceremonies: both winners and losers don't like them.
  
• Individual rewards can kill teamwork.

6. Change the environment

• Make the invisible visible.
  
• Add cues in your environment to promote the right behavior.
  
• Put people physically close for collaboration.