This is a great follow-on book to the “Influence” book by Cialdini. It offers more practical solutions to merely identifying the subtleties in influencing others. The key concepts are: social proofing, loss aversion, perceptual contrast, choice reduction, reciprocation, emotional effects on decision making, and etc. The summary for each of the 50 proven ways are below:

1. Social proofing (following herds): “Operators are waiting, please call now.” => “If operators are busy, please call again.”
2. “The more similar that person giving the testimonial is to the new target audience, the more persuasive the message becomes.”
3. Focus the audience on all people who engage in positive behavior instead of negative one.
4. To prevent “magnetic middle” (norm), show appreciation (add a “smiley” face) or praise those whose behavior is desirable (e.g. consumers less electricity, arrives work on time).
5. Too many choices may be overwhelming. Reducing the choices may help.
6. The perceived value and desirability of the bonus gift as a standalone product can sharply decline, when consumers are offered a bonus gift. Show them the value of the gift.
7. When consumers must make a decision between two products, they often compromise by opting for the less-expensive version. Adding a higher-end products satisfy two purposes: meet the high-end needs of a small group of current and future customers and the next-highest-priced model will most likely be considered attractively priced, as a compromise.
8. Ad campaigns that inform potential customers of threats that a company’s goods or services can alleviate should be accompanied by clear, specific, effective steps that can take to reduce the danger.
9. You’ve offered a favor for a person, that person is going to feel obligated to return the favor. But follow through with your promise.
10. An ounce of personalized extra effort (like a hand-written post-it note) is worth a pound of persuasion.
11. Give a significant gift that is unexpected and personalized.
12. When we’re trying to solicit cooperation from other people, we should offer help to them in a way that’s unconditional and no-strings-attached. This ensures the cooperation you do receive is built o a solid foundation of trust and mutual appreciation.
13. What can be done to maximize the value of a favor we provide if its value might diminish in the eyes of the receiver over time? Gentle reminder like “How useful did you find the report I sent you?”
14. Start with a small step and gradually increase the request. “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
15. Labeling technique: assigning a trait, attitude, belief, or other label to a person, and then making a request of the person consistent with that label.
16. Ask for a prediction (“Will you please call if you have to cancel?”) whether they’ll engage in a socially desirable behavior in the future. They’ll most likely behave consistently.
17. Writing down the commitment helps to increase the probability that it will be fulfilled.
18. Focus your message on how purchasing and using your products consistent with the audience’s pre-existing values, beliefs and practices. Point out that previous choices they made were the right ones “given the evidence and information they had at that time.”
19. Benjamin Franklin’s “He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged.” People are motivated to change their attitudes in ways that are consistent with their behavior. Ask for a favor from a person who may not like you. You have nothing to lose.
20. Ask for donation, “even a penny will help.” Get the first little step.
21. On bidding, lower starting prices can actually lead to a higher final sale prices for 3 reasons: 1. more participants. 2. social proof for new bidders. 3. The early low bidders are more committed.
22. Get someone else to introduce you and your credentials to avoid self-promotion. Have the receptionist introduce the experience of the people he/she will be forwarding the call to. Have the credentials on the wall of the waiting room helps.
23. Leaders should seek input from all disciplines and make the final decisions but assures the team that each view will be considered in the process.
24. Pseudo dissenters (devil’s advocates) are not as effective as authentic dissenters. When coworkers and subordinates are not only feel welcome but are also encouraged to openly disagree with the majority viewpoint, the leaders create and sustain the best working environment for decision making. Have a little humility.
25. Training based on past errors is better than avoid negative consequences through good decision-making. Experience through simulation is better than just being lectured.
26. Turning weaknesses into strengths: Arguing against your self-interest (like Progressive Insurance, VW Beetle, Avis) create a perception of honesty and trustworthy. This puts you in a position to be more persuasive when promoting your genuine strengths. This works only if your weakness are genuinely minor ones.
27. Be sure to follow your discussion of a drawback with a positive aspect that’s related to, and that neutralizes, the drawback. When gate gives us lemons, we should try to make lemonade out it, not apple juice.
28. Organizations that attribute failures to internal causes (perceived to have greater control over its own resources and future) will come out ahead not only in public perception but in profits. Admit the mistake and come up with an action plan demonstrating that you can take control of the situation and rectify it.
29. We tend to feel especially positive toward subtle things that we associate with ourselves, such as our names. If you do share genuine similarities with someone, bring those to the surface in your discussions with that person before making your request of presentation.
30. If you’re designing a program, initiative, or product that being tailored for a specific client, you can harness the power pf people’s natural tendency to be attracted to things that remind them of themselves in the name, title, or label that you give it.
31. Mirroring the exact verbalization should result in better outcome for you both.
32. Authentic smile/attitudes result in better customer satisfaction. Following Benjamin Franklin’s “search others for their virtues” will help to make us like the customers/boss better.
33. People show a greater desire for an object (like Oldsmobile) or opportunity when they learn that it is unique, available in limited quantities, or obtainable for only a limited time. If you pass along information that is uniquely known by you, but fail to point out the exclusivity of the information, you could be losing an excellent opportunity to use an effective and ethical influence technique.
34. People tend to sensitive to possible losses than to possible gains – loss aversion. Point out what they will stand to gain in terms of opportunities and experience but also that they stand lose out on those very same factors. Instead of presenting an idea as a saving, you’re likely to be more persuasive if you frame the initiative in terms of losing the same amount of if it fails to get adopted.
35. “Because” is the magic word. Be sure to accompany your requests with a strong rationale, even when you think the reasons might be fairly clear. Ask your customers why they continue to use your business (saying “because to you), helps to strengthen the relationship.
36. Name one instead of 10 reasons to choose a BMW works better. Because the ease of difficulty of experiencing something as the “fluency” of that experience. Or oppositely, you can ask your audience to generate many reasons in favor of your rival’s offerings. The ease or difficulty of merely imagining using a product will also affect consumer’s decisions. Concrete images that affect the the target audience’s ability to visualize themselves using the featured product work better than abstract ones.
37. The power of simplicity in the naming of your product, your project, or even your company help you boost your performance and exceed your own earnings expectations.
38. Consider using rhymes in slogans, mottoes, trademarks, and jingles only not increase the likability of the message, but also its perceived truthfulness.
39. Prior experience colors perception – perceptual contrast. Be sure to discuss the merits of that better-fitting product at length after you’ve spent a much shorter period of time discussing another product, e.g. hot tubs vs. adding another room.
40. Customer royalty program: start with 2 stamps out of 10 possible stamps for a free one vs. 0 out of 8 stamps. One that has been started but not completed rather than one that has not yet begun meant that people felt more compelled to complete it. The closer people get to completing a goal, the more effort they exert to achieve that goal. People will more likely to stick with programs and tasks if you can first offer them some evidence of how they’ve already made progress toward completing them.
41. Products with unexpected descriptive (e.g. Kermit green) and ambiguous names (e.g. millennium orange) are regarded as more desirable than the common or common descriptive name.
42. Integrate the essential images, characters, or slogans of the ads into the in-store product displays and product packaging to avoid the Energizer/Duracell bunny confusion. Strengthen the message by placing the campaign’s logo on objects native to those settings (e.g. LED light ice cubes acts as a reminder of police car).
43. Use mirrors (or asking for name or picture of an eye) to persuade others in the most subtle manner to behave in more socially desirable ways.
44. Sadness activates the motivation in people to alter their circumstance, which might help them change their mood and get them out of their funk. Emotion lead people to become less sensitive to differences in the magnitude of numbers, but only the simple presence of absence of an event as opposed to the specific numbers that characterize the event. Take breaks if you experience emotionally charged. Offer to postpone negotiations with someone who has just had a negative emotional experience; you’ll strengthen your relationship by making yourself seem noble, caring and wise.
45. You’ll likely to make more accurate evaluations of others’ statements and will be generally more resistant to deceptive persuasion tactics if you minimize your distractions. Reduce multitasking when the stakes are high for these decisions and interactions with others are high.
46. You should make your presentations (with genuine, thoughtful, and well seasoned arguments) when people are most alert – shortly after they’ve had their morning coffee fix, and never right after lunch. But it takes 40 minutes for the full effect of caffeine to kick in.
47. Take time to disclose something personal about yourself and to learn something personal about your on-line counterpart, you’ll likely be able to benefit mutually in a negotiation. It’s okay to use a computer to persuade. Just don’t act like one when you do.
48. Individualism (US and other Western countries) vs. collectivism (Asian countries), affects the persuasion process. Campaigns should be tailored to fit the particular cultural orientation of the societies in which they take place.
49. People from individual cultures tend to give greater weight to their own personal experiences. People from collectivistic cultures tend to give greater weight to the experiences of close others.
50. Individualistic cultures place a greater emphasis on the informational function of communication, whereas collectivistic cultures place a greater emphasis on the relational function.

The voices on this audio seminar was too muffled to be a pleasant listening experience. And the British accent didn’t help.

Yes, Churchill was a great leader in planning and executing the plan in defending UK from German’s attack during World War II. He placed the big bet and invest on air force as the area needs the most focus due to the separation by the channel from the main European continent. He also invested in the secret gathering and deploy the civilian industries to complement that military might. Having a good PR with US helped to solidify the relationship with US and eventually pulling US to the war.

All these make good lessons for the business sector if business is like war, defending the invasion of another competitor. But it’s no better than Chinese Art of War by Shintzi.

This is an excellent, inspirational book for those talented artists. The author, Steven Pressfield, dives deep into Resistance: the definition, manifestation, and symptoms. Then he goes into the next step: overcoming Resistance and turning pro: what being pro is all about. Finally, he touts the opposing force of Resistance, Muse/Angeles that allows each artist to breakthrough, persevere and succeed. I saw many of “bad” habits and behavior in the “Resistance” and I’m hopeful that that the Muse/Angels will guide me through in the rest of my life. An aspiring artist should read this book at least once a year.

Below if a brief summary of the book.

Resistance: Defining the Enemy
Book 1 is on “Resistance, ” defined by author as the self-sabotage force that prevents us from living to our full potential.

Resistance is invisible, internal (arise from within – self-generated and self-perpetuated, the enemy within), insidious (protean, has no conscience), implacable (“an engine of destruction”), impersonal (acts objectively), infallible (like a compass), universal (everyone has it), never sleeps (doesn’t go away), plays for keeps (means business), fueled by fear, opposes in one direction (obstructs movement from a lower sphere to a higher one), most powerful at the finish line, recruits allies.

Symptoms of Resistance: procrastination (habit-forming), sex (preoccupation of, also drugs, shopping, TV, and etc.), getting in troubles, self dramatization (“evil twin to Santa Claus”), self-medication, victimhood (a form of passive aggression), choice of a mate (who has overcome his/her Resistance).

Resistances feel like unhappiness (bored, restless, unloved, unlovable, disgusted, hate our lives/ourselves).
The fundamentalist cannot stand freedom, experiences Resistance. It and art are mutually exclusive. When it wins, the world enters a dark age. “The truly free individual is free only to the extent of his own self-mastery. While those who will not govern themselves are condemned to find masters to govern over them.”

Manifestation of Resistance:
Criticism out of Resistance: “Individuals who are realized in their own lives almost never criticize others.”
Self-doubt as an ally: “The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death.”

Fear as an indicator, tells us what we have to do. Rule of thumb: “The more scare we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.”

Love, direct proportional to: The opposite of love is indifference. The more Resistance you experience, the “more gratification you will feel when you finally do it.”

Grandiose fantasies – symptom of Resistance and sign of an amateur.

Isolation – fear of being alone. Like a child at play, an artist is not aware of time or solitude.

Resistance loves “healing” – “the more psychic energy we expend dredging and re-dredging the tired, boring injustices of our personal lives, the less juice we have do our work.”

Support and rationalization (spin doctor) as Resistance. “It’s one thing to lie to ourselves. It’s another thing to believe it.”

Combating Resistance – Turning Pro
The amateur plays for fun. The professional plays for keeps. To the amateur, the game is his avocation. To the pro it’s his vocation. The pro loves it so much that he dedicates his life to it. The artist must be like a Marine. He has to know how to be miserable and love it.

Defining Pro: 1) show up every day. 2) show up no matter what, 3. stay on the job all day, 4, committed over the long haul, 5. the states are high and real. 6. accept remuneration for our labor, 7. do not over-identify with our jobs. 8. master the technique of our jobs, 9. have a sensor of humor about our jobs, 10. receive praise or blame in the real world.

The more you love your art/calling/enterprise, the more important its accomplishment is to the evolution of your soul, the more you’ll fear it and experience Resistance.

Aspects of a pro:
Patience: keep him from flaming out. Steels himself at the start of the project.
Seeks order: eliminates chaos from his world in order to banish it from his mind.
Demystifies: views his work as craft, not art. Masters how, and leaves what and why to the gods. The pro shuts up and doesn’t talk about it.
Acts in the face of fear – fear can never be overcome.
Accepts no excuses and plays it in the real world with adversity, injustice, bad hops and rotten calls.
Is prepared at a deeper level, each day, to confront his own self-sabotage. The goal is not victory but to handle himself.
Does not show off and dedicates himself to mastering technique. “By toiling beside the front door of technique, he leave room for genius to enter by the back.”
Does not hesitate to ask for help.
Distance herself from her instrument “Madonna does not identify with ‘Madonna.’ Madonna employs ‘Madonna.”
Does not take failure (or success) personally. “The professional self-validates and is tough-minded. In the face of indifference or adulation, she assesses her stuff coldly and objectively. Where it fell short, she’ll improve it. Where it triumphed, she’ll make it better still.”
Endures adversity: cannot allow the actions of others to define his reality. Blows critics off.
Recognizes her limitations: brings in other pros and treats them with respect.
Reinvents himself: does not allow himself to become comfortable or successful.
Recognized by other professionals.
Distanced from ourselves with a corporation, Me, Inc.

Beyond Resistance: The Higher Realm
Muses and angels: the forces we can call our allies
“When we sit down day after day and keep grinding, something mysterious starts to happen. A process is set into motion by which, inevitably and infallibly, heaven comes to our aid. Unseen forces enlist in our cause; serendipity reinforces our purpose.”
“Eternity is in love with the creations of time.” – William Blake.
“Chaos itself is self-organizing. Out of primordial disorder, stars find their orbits; rivers make their way to the sea.”
The ego and the self: angels make their home in the Self, while Resistance has its seat in the Ego. The fight is between the two. Ego believes in material existence, takes care of business in the real world. Believes in 1) death is real, 2) time and space are real, 3) Every individual is different and separate from every other. 4) the predominant impulse of life is self-preservation. 5) there is no God. But Self believes in 1) death is an illusion, 2) time and space are illusions, 3) all things are one. 4) the supreme emotion is love, 5) God is all there is.

Fear: Resistance feeds on fear. The mother of all fears: Fear that we will succeed. We fear discovering that we are more than we think we are. We lose friends but we find friends too. They’re truer, better friends.

The authentic self: we’re not born with unlimited choices. We come to this world with a specific, personal destiny. Our job is to find out who we already are and become it.

Territory vs. Hierarchy: Hierarchy breaks down when the numbers get too big. The artist must operate territorially. He must do his work for its own sake. “To labor in the arts for any reason other than love is prostitution.”

Being a Hack: condescends and panders to his audience, writes hierarchically.
Qualities of a territory: 1) provides sustenance. 2) sustains us without any external input, 3) can only be claimed alone. 4) can only be calimed by work, 5) returns exactly what you put in.

Difference between territory and hierarchy: ask yourself: If I were the last person on earthy, would I still do it? If yes, you’re doing it territorially. The supreme virtue for an artist: contempt for failure.

Portrait of the artist: “They know they are not the source of the creations they bring into being. They only facilitate. They carry. The are the willing and skilled instruments of the gods and goddess they serve.”

Very inspiration last chapter:
“Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.”

This is another book in the Rich Dad’s series. This one targets the real estates, strongly advocated by the Rich Dad organization. Summary below:

The key tax saving strategy: component (capital) depreciation and building depreciation as a phantom deduction/cash flow. Need to qualify as a real estate professional or get a sliding scale of $25,000 deduction between $100K and $150K income.

The book went to some gory details of tax-free 1031 exchange – not very interesting. But using the IRA money through a trust company and with the title held in LLC to buy real estate was an interesting concept. The UBIT (unrelated business income tax) tax (37.5%) may be applied for the loan portion of the net income less $1K exclusion. The balance remains in IRA tax-free and accumulated tax-free.

If one runs a business, consider owning the building through an LLC for protection and tax advantage. The other three tax strategies: installment sale, incomplete contract of sale, and charitable remainder trust.

On legal strategies: homestead exemption (Florida has the best exemption), insurance, and asset protection.

4 types of ownership: 1. fee estates, 2. life estates, 3. estates at will, and 4. leasehold estates (rental: fixed-term tenancy or lease, periodic tenancy/rental, tenancy at will).

Landlord liability: duty of care (public policy), duty to inspect (for unsafe conditions), duty to disclose a dangerous condition, implied warranty of habitability.

Insurance: first line of defense.

Asset protection: LLC and limited partnerships (LP) – cannot be forced to sell the property but only with charging order (right to receive distributions from the entity). Nevada and Wyoming have the best charging order. Land trusts can be used to hold title to the property of another person (beneficiary) for that other person’s benefit.

4 ways to protect your primary residence: 1. insurance, 2. homestead exemption, 3. debt, 4. single-member LLC.

Structures for holding your real estates: personally-held (no asset protection), partnership (LP or LLC, distribution comes out at basis), S corporation (flow-through entities, distribution at fair market value, no self-employment tax), C corporation (higher capital-gain tax).

Great case studies or stories sprinkled throughout the book to make the book interesting. This book serves as a comprehensive reference book who wants to invest in real estates. Excellent book.

After reading the “Liar’s Poker,” I was anxious to read this book. It was not disappointing, in fact, the book reads like a thriller and yet it’s a real life non-fiction narrative. The scary thing is that the bad guys (the ones caused the biggest subprime mortgage failures) are still out there with the 10’s and 100’s of millions of bonus they managed to extract along the way without suffering any penalty. Doomsday machine it was. Created by Wall Street firms motivated by greed to sucker the banks and investors into purchasing all the AAA and BBB high-grade CDO’s. The rating agency, whose rating algorithm somehow got gamed by the conspirators, contributed significantly to the calamity by rating the bonds much higher than they should have been. The inefficiency of the rating agencies’ models to treat all events as a statistics and normal distribution were simply wrong and fraud. These types of Black Swan events happen more often than we thought. All it took is one or two of these events to wipe out trillions from the economy.

I remember the house bubble started around 2005 when my house was purchased by a buyer with almost zero down payment. I was shocked how easy the credit was and I knew a house bubble was in the making when a renter can easily buy a home than renting/leasing an apartment. Why the bubble lasted as long as it did was beyond me. Who are to blame? Allan Greenspan? Or just the rampant greed on Wall Street?

Unfortunately, the bad guys were not any worse off. Many banks and firms collapsed as a result. Ultimately, the victims were 10’s and 100’s of thousands of the poor who got suckered into the subprime conspiracy and lost their homes. Because of the economic collapse, millions lost their jobs and the middle class and poor will bear the tax burden of the bail outs by the government. It’s an all around disaster that hurt the majority of the people and benefit very few people.

From the book, I have learned a lot about how the asset-backed bonds (CDO = Collateralized debt obligations) work and some of the derivative vehicles (Credit default swap) used to hedge the downside of the bonds but were used to short a CDO. Also, the work of the hedge fund manager is less than glorious. The constant need to justify their actions when things are going south was as unbearable to Michael Burry as I can imagine.

The unlikely heroes (Michael Burry, Steve Eisman, and the garage-band hedge fund managers) in the story, who had the wisdom to see the stupidity of the subprime mortgage and managed to short the market with courage and determination came out very wealthy. The author did a great job in narrating several people’s stories interesting enough and simultaneously that the readers don’t get bogged down by the gory details the financial instruments and the their tradings. Michael Lewis is a master to making a seemingly mundane theme like this subprime mortgage fiasco rather interesting. And it took a master like the author to tie the story back to the Liar’s Poker with the lunch with ex-Saloman Brother boss. This is a must read for anyone who wants to know how a civilization can be brought down by just a few greedy and selfish people who know very little about what they’re doing in building a doomsday machine.

This is a simple book. It’s got the recipes to “kick start” your success. After reading the physical book the second time following the audio book, I realized there are substances to what the author is proposing. Separating out the internal and external intent helps the balance out the goal and gives it a perspective of “serving” others. I like the idea of the Success Script and asking for help and feedback. I think I just might give it a try. The summary is as follows:

Step 1: Stating your intents ( the underlying emotional foundation of your goal. It gives you the personal focus, energy, passion and commitment you need to succeed): 1. Internal (why achieving your goal is important to you) and external (shows you why achieving your goal benefits other people). Write them down: 1. Internal Intent: Why do you want to achieve this goal? What do you love about it? How will your life change once your goal is achieved? 2. External Intent: How will achieving your goal help other people? How will it benefit the company you work for, your clients, or the world? Succeed by: 1. Push guilt aside. 2. Mentally re-prioritize often. 3. Revel in the small tasks of life. 4. Know you’ll succeed.

Step 2: Obtain focus on creating your instant impact message, a brief, personal, powerful statement based on benefit that you consistently repeat to everyone you meet. Revealing the benefit behind your goal to the world and asking for help when you need it builds self-confidence. To make a direct impression. Should be 10 words or less.

Step 3: Find your voices by using your success script. Kick start law of positive words. Always speak positively about yourself and your goals. A positive attitude attracts and a negative one repels. A success script is a page of information that allows you to control the flow of conversations and keep them moving in a positive direction. 1. Write the name of your goal and your instant impact message. 2 State how you deliver the benefit you offer. 3. 3x Delivery methods and associated instant impact message. 4. Show people what you can do, and the opportunities will come knocking! List 3 people you’ll approach for testimonials. 5. Connect with others by sharing your internal intent and experience. Create you bio by first stating your internal intent and then your experience (1st, 2nd, and 3rd areas of related experience). 6. Make it very easy for people to contact and refer you.

Step 4: Triumph by becoming inter”ask”ive. State your goal using your Success Script, and near the end of the conversation always ask a specific question that you feel you need answered. 1. Become inter”ask”ive with a question of the day. 2. Continually discover information. 3. Become open to suggestions. 4. Do more than expected. 5. Set you goal and let it blossom. 6. Life on your terms, 7. Engage naysayers! a. asking for their advice. b. Demonstrating that you want to hear their ideas, c. complimenting them on their suggestions. 8. Contact – Learn – Achieve Success on your terms. a. People who have achieve success. b. experts in your neighborhood. c. friends, family, and colleagues. d. the library. e. Dream like a child, decide as an adult, and go for it! 9. The Oh, so dreaded double no. Fear provides us the energy we need to achieve the impossible. a. Go for “yes.” b. Treat every “no” as a maybe, c. Achieve the dreaded double “no.” d. Be positively relentless.

Establish a firm foundation: hold a kick start success launch party. a. Invite 4 to 6 friends and family members to your home for a Kick Start Success Launch Party. b. Use your Success Script to introduce yourself and your goal. c. State your current challenge and ask for help. d. L-I-S-Ten (List all the ideas). e. Thank everyone for coming.

Energize your spirit: Form a success team. consists of 3~4 people. What matters is their ability to listen and motivate without interfering. Meet regularly to encourage everyone involved to keep working on their goals by celebrating recent successes, maintaining focus by discussing your next goal, kick starting action by asking about your next action steps, providing contacts or resources that can expand your possibilities, motivating by sharing their experience and ideas, stating “sounds great. Keep going!”