Elementy perswazji

by Richard Maxwell, Robert Dickman

Według mistrzów opowiadania, jakimi są Richard Maxwell i Robert Dickman, opowiadanie bardzo przypomina bieganie. Każdy wie, jak to robić, lecz mało kto przebiegł milę w czasie krótszym niż cztery minuty. Co różni znakomitych biegaczy od całej reszty? Ci wielcy nie tylko wiedzą, jak odbić się w każdym kroku, ale również — jak w każdym kroku dopasować do siebie pracę wszystkich mięśni, aby nie zmarnować żadnego wysiłku i osiągnąć cel. Najlepsi na świecie biegacze znają bieganie na wylot. Najlepsi na świecie przywódcy znają na wylot opowiadanie.

Genres: Business, Self Help, Psychology, Nonfiction, Communication, Writing

246 pages, Paperback

First published August 14, 2007

About the author

Richard Maxwell brings the skills he developed in his twenty-five-year career as a screen and television writer-producer to FirstVoice's clients. In addition to his produced feature films—The Challenge, The Serpent and the Rainbow, and Shadow of China—he has worked as a script doctor, writing or rewriting films for every one of the major Hollywood studios and many independent producers.

Reviews

[Heather Sinclair · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gotta say - there are a LOT better books on persuasion and storytelling out there. After reading Building a StoryBrand, this book was bush league at best. It's not really about "persuasion" so much as "storytelling" and the amount of long-winded case studies made it a chore to read.

Add to that, there was a lot of name-dropping of US presidents and presidential candidates that I honestly don't care about as I'm a Canadian. I'm not impressed by these people, I don't know these people. There was also an entire chapter devoted to the US Marines, which I also don't give a crap about. Also a chapter about the TV show "House" which is not, let's be honest, that great.

The author's bracketed quips weren't enough to save this book from being boring. It was trying hard to be "cool" but that's exactly what makes it NOT cool.

Recommended for patriotic Americans and fans of House.

[Milton Louie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was interested in storytelling. Good start and some helpful suggestions. But it was missing something.

[Sharon · Rating 1 out of 5]

After reading the first chapter, I immediately went to the dust jacket to learn more about the authors: a screenwriter, and a corporate communicator. Seems while they "work in" the business of persuasion, they cannot articulate with any specific uniqueness what "working on" the business looks like.

In other words it appears the authors have failed to do what they attempt to teach: be persuasive in conveying what Persuasion is. While titled "elements", it really is just a collection of anecdotal stories with generalised dot points at the end of each chapter. Hardly atomic. Perhaps they've seemingly fallen back to attempting to entertain the audience *ahem* reader.

Recommend you read the last 2 pages of each chapter (do-able in 10 minutes) if you bother at all.

[JP · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a concise and thoughtful introduction to communicating through storytelling. I found their framework and supporting examples - ok, stories - instructive. The authors also shared a lot of interesting insights. For example, memories are much more likely to be created when there is stress or other high emotion. There is biological evidence for this effect and we can use it to our advantage. They summarize stories as "facts wrapped in emotions" and successfully demonstrate the effectiveness of communicating through that type of support. There were points with which I didn't agree, and the attempts to tie their framework to Eastern philosophy (the 5 elements) only succeeded halfway for me. They open with a claim that previous generations didn't need to be storytellers to succeed as much as we do today, yet every single transaction then was a direct story, often involving trading and barter. The skills are different, but not new.

[Sue Bridehead (A Pseudonym) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not really done with this book yet... but I want it off my shelf. It's got some interesting principles and has opened my eyes to the idea that storytelling is an integral part of advertising, pitching, marketing, etc. I do now see that in almost everything I do. However, the book has a pretty blatant gender bias. I'm a few chapters in and, in the many, many instances where CEOs (both real and theoretical) are referred to with pronouns, not once has the pronoun been feminine. Any interest I had in finishing this book evaporated once I realized this.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first part of the book follows an outline well, but somewhere in the middle I get lost and then find my way again near the end. Interesting read and concepts are presented about how presentations are best done in a story format, but I'm not sure how helpful they are for those who are in a more traditional business setting. If you're in a creative field or in the nonprofit world, I would check it out. The concepts are a great way to tell a story to a donor or for for PR.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

an engaging read about hijacking storytelling to sell stuff.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

another good book with a lot of interesting and sometimes inspiring anecdotes, but not a lot of guidance as far as practical application of its ideas.

[Jared · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read first Dec 30 2007
2nd Jan 7 2008

[Patrice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starts off a bit slow but all in all a very interesting read. Particularly important material for anyone in business.

[Víctor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting overview of the narrative structure influence on the persuasive power of commercial discourse. Just a little buffed up, the authors could got to the chase a lot faster.

[Delhi Irc]

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