Influence is important. In fact, it can mean the difference between success and a mediocre career. This book, Influence: What It Really Means And How To Make It Work For You by Jenny Nabben is a good all-round book on influence. It starts of with what influence is. It is in-depth and fun to read. It includes lots of fascinating stuff about neuroscience and some excellent case study. There are also exercises, in this and the other chapters, making the book interactive. The chapters end with brain rules and top tips.
There is a chapter on different personality types, the language of influence and why stories change the world. The book has outlines and is a fascinating read. I love the quotes and case studies, in particular, the one about Bill Clinton. This is a great book which really informs and helps understand influence and lets you know how to make it work for you.

I can’t recommend this book enough. I raced through it but will also read it again as it has so much great information. Good stuff.

How can it be that some business leaders are so incredibly influential and persuasive when others struggle to enforce even the simplest request? And how can people harness those vital skills to get what they want in a corporate environment?

A new step-by-step business guide set to published by Pearson, the world’s largest education publisher, promises to help professionals gain the “ultimate” managerial ability — getting people to say ‘Yes’.

In Influence: What it Really Means and How To Make It Work For You, author Jenny Nabben — a leading business communicator who has worked with global organisations including Coca Cola Enterprises and the UN’s World Food Programme — divulges the critical “building blocks” of influence and the science of persuasion.

This unique and straightforward guide takes a “real-world tour” of influence, uncovering the scientific and cognitive drivers behind it and clearly showing how to develop this subtle skill   which is central to efficiency, productivity, team-building, the empowering of employees and achieving of results.

Across 224 pages, the book addresses all key business contexts where influence is most effective: managing, leading, coaching, negotiating, controlling difficult situations and handling change.

Nabben, who runs her own training company providing workshops on corporate messaging and influence for global businesses, reveals how simple changes in everyday leadership style can effect positive results for all personality types.

Chapter by chapter she helps readers develop a deeper understanding of influence and persuasion,

allowing them to apply their new abilities more naturally, fluently and to greater effect.

She also discusses the latest neuroscience insights into “brain plasticity” and emotional intelligence, and how listening and empathy are key skills for anyone who wants to tune in to, and modify, the ‘brain states’ of others.

By the close of this fascinating book, the reader will have all the tools necessary for building trust, respect and credibility, as well as advancing professional standing, integrity, presence and authority — all indispensable and powerful skills for every executive.

Nabben has been at the forefront of the UK’s corporate communications industry for more than a decade. Previous roles have variously included Vice President of Leadership and Internal Communications at Coca Cola Enterprises, Head of Communications at Lloyds General Insurance, and Head of Internal Communications at HSBC.

Speaking about influence, she said: “The skills of influence are built on finding the balance between heart and head, between using our intellect and using our emotional intelligence, between knowing when to push through and knowing when to yield to others.

“If building our confidence is about having a better sense of our self in the world, influence is about having a bigger effect ON the world.

“If you aren’t influencing, your competitors or colleagues probably are, and that’s driving increased attention and business for them.”

Packed with the latest scientific and psychological research, and reinforced by powerful case studies and practical exercises throughout, this must-have handbook is essential reading for managers and leaders looking to get the best out of their staff, and themselves.

Influence: What It Really Means And How To Make It Work For You by Jenny Nabben