Control the Conversation: How to Charm, Deflect and Defend Your Position Through Any Line of Questioning

by James O. Pyle, Maryann Karinch

Where were you tonight? How did that meeting go? Are you seeing someone else? What qualifies you for this job? These are just a few of the usual questions we might answer in a day. A typical answer to the last question would include a series of "whats": what experience you have, what you studied in school, and what you do well. In Control the Conversation , the authors guide you in crafting a response to a question, not just an answer. A response should be multi-dimensional and include relevant and compelling information that goes beyond a mere answer. The authors help you build and apply this skill set. You will learn how to manage the four areas of disclosure--people, places, things, and events in time. You will also develop competence in techniques that will help you take control and get your message across in any kind of interview. You will discover how With these skills as part of your repertoire, you'll also learn apply them in specific applications such No matter the question, Control the Conversation will show you how to steer every exchange in your favor.

Genres: Nonfiction, Business

224 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2018

Reviews

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good information on conversational dynamics and I liked how they break questions and responses down into a system of categories. Listened to this on audiobook, and I feel like I might have to give it a second or third pass to start to really memorize the different techniques, maybe even purchase a hard copy and take notes - this is all stuff that's only useful if you are studious with it to the point of being so fluent and familiar with the advice to that you can seamlessly integrate it into conversations or job interviews.

[Ridge · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's fine.
Maybe I've been in sales for too long, and read to many books like this, but I don't feel like I'm walking away from this with anything useful. And perhaps even worse, it's boring.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short and to the point, just what you'd expect. Awesome audio.

[Joseph Carrabis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure what I expected from this book (read for research purposes) and am sure I didn't get whatever it was I did expect.
Using the tools presented in the book, this would be categorized as a failure to correctly phrase the question on my part (which, in some sense, smacks of blaming the victim).
There's possibly some good material in here for people who've not had previous training in personal communications, and the examples and exercises provided are reasonable.
I expected something with more depth, heft, and meat, I suppose.
I'll cop my dissatisfaction to my fault, too. I believed the promotional material. Bad move, that.

[PRJ Greenwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable and often revelatory - this book contains some extremely useful information, especially on the subject of the Prisoner's Dilemma. However, like a lot of works of this nature, there is too much emphasis on body language and its interpretation. Body language has no basis in fact, folks, and is pure supposition. Treat it as such.

[Ben Lobaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of data in this book. It has good information but seemed poorly written to me. I often found myself zoning out as the words passed by me without grabbing my attention.

[M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author did a pretty good job introducing the world of conversation. Bringing the reader from the passive (limbic) mode to active (frontal) one!

[Maciej · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ciekawe, lecz nie tak samo jak poprzednia część o manipulacji.

[Natalia Tomczyk · Rating 1 out of 5]

Jak dla mnie kompletne dno

[Don · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is nothing horrible in this content. It is not my favorite, however.

I do not think the author is wrong, far from it. He is one of the most advanced in his field.

Asking questions using the techniques and strategies in this book can be effective. The problem is that there are so many steps and so many different strategies that an effective conversation could not occur for the first years you practiced this.

Several times in the book, the reader is reminded to use active listening. Few know what that is. Even fewer still know how to do it. I think that is my most significant criticism of this book. It tells you a lot about what to do but not enough about how to implement it.