Buy-In

Saving Your Good Idea from Getting Shot Down

By: John P. Kotter, Lorne A. Whitehead

Narrated by: Tim Wheeler

Length: 4 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

You believe in a good idea. You know it could make a crucial difference for you, your organization, your community. You present it, hoping for enthusiastic support. Instead, you get confounding questions, inane comments, and verbal bullets. Before you know what’s hit you, your idea is dead, shot down.

It doesn’t have to be this way, say John Kotter and Lorne Whitehead. In Buy-In, they reveal how to protect good ideas and win the support needed to deliver valuable results. The key? Understand the unfair attack strategies that naysayers, nitpickers, and handwringers deploy with great success time and time again:

• Death by delay: Endlessly putting off or diverting discussion of your idea until all momentum is lost
• Confusion: Presenting so much distracting information that confidence in your proposal dies
• Fear mongering: Stirring up irrational anxieties about your idea
• Character assassination: Undermining your reputation and credibility

Through the device of a fresh and amusing fictional narrative, the authors vividly show how avoiding or attempting to quash attackers doesn’t work. According to their counterintuitive approach, it’s far better to respectfully engage these adversaries and stand your ground with simple, convincing responses that save the day.

©2010 John P. Kotter, Lorne A. Whitehead (P)2010 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Practical!

A fantastic book. Using a story to illustrate the concept follow with analysis. Like other business fable, the concept is clear and easy to follow.
The performance is clear, and slightly on the softer side for my preference. Yet, considering persuasion pitch by this book is not hard sell by also on the softer side, hence I will still think it is appropriate.

Practical Application

This book was a good one. The first half is written in story format which gives the reader a chance to hear the concepts in action. It also provides examples of results to expect if you handle a situation one way or another. The second half is loaded with practical applications using real life examples of the concepts being taught.

One thing at a time

Since the subject is interesting, in some aspects falls as "cooking receipes". It will hwlp to those looking for strengthening their abilties to keep on the point, fight in a constructive maner the "no sayers", providing with tips for keeping the mind upright. Good, but not impressed.

Not a good book for audible

There is a lot of great content and stories; however, being in audible format keeps it from being easily referenced. Book best served in readable format.

Good book with great talk on applications

Good read. Used an effective, detailed story/example for the first half of the book to relay the concepts, then took the principles one by one and discussed them in further detail. Great book for those who present ideas to large or small groups and want to know how to effectively prepare a defense so your ideas aren't shot down by petty arguments.

Buy-In John P. Kotter, a review

Would you listen to Buy-In again? Why?

I would listen to Buy-in again when I would myself try to get an idea accepted.

What did you like best about this story?

I really liked the way the methods to respond to verbal attackers are described in the story. Although it was a bit cheesy and cliché it made it easier to form an idea in my head about this book.

Which character – as performed by Tim Wheeler – was your favorite?

I especially liked Hank, the brother in law, who gave you all the helpful information and guided you trough the process of using this method.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

To kill or be killed, what to do?

Any additional comments?

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Brief, fascinating, memorable

WHAT IS THIS BOOK'S FOCUS?
Leadership and change management, but also about anything having to do with getting, you guessed it, buy-in

DID THIS BOOK CHANGE THE WAY I VIEW THE WORLD?
Yes, it’s a great book. Not only is it worthwhile to read, but it’s engaging and easy to remember. I’d highly recommend it!

John Kotter, one of the Harvard Business School scholars who has made his way into the mainstream by way of years of research and more than one HBS grad’s book recommendation, herein presents an entertaining and enlightening discussion of how to build and maintain buy-in.

So when was the last time you had a good idea? Were you able to accomplish it by yourself? Most of the the ideas we have rely on input from others, whether at home, at work or with friends. How do you react to situations where people undermine your ideas? Character assassination? Rude… but effective. Death by delay? Ugh… and it works!

The best (and worst) part of the book revolves around how it progresses. Kotter and Whitehead depart from the typical business school or management text by putting the reader in the role of the protagonist in a protracted negotiation. Congratulations: now every annoying, frustrating, undermining attack you can think of is presented in first-person!

As with many other titles, I listened to this as an audiobook. This probably accentuated the “frustrating” aspect referenced above, but, WOW, it sticks! The emotional connection that’s made this way (see Brain Rules and probably Made to Stick) really cement the lessons in the mind. There really were some good psychological forces behind the book’s approach - that the “feeling of participation” follows principles of the case method is really no surprise: it’s part of the HBS model. That said, it works for anyone who might read the book… which is great, because anyone could learn something and stand to benefit from the investment.

Given the way that the duo goes about sharing some of their prescriptive recommendations I would feel that I cheated the creativity of the book if I listed them all out. That said, this is a book about creating buy-in in an ethically-sound manner: no manipulation. For me, this was the icing on the cake, because I feel rooted in both the process and the purpose. Oh, and I remember it - I was in a staff meeting the other week and started laughing out loud because the character types discussed in the book are ABSOLUTELY real. So check it out!

a must read for project managers and all leaders

this should be required reading for project managers. any leader is responsible for implementing change at some point during their career, therefore this is a great read for any leader.

Good concepts

If I were to listen to this on regular speed I would’ve had great nap material. WAY TOO SLOW! Thank goodness for the ability to speed it up!

Boring

What disappointed you about Buy-In?

I was looking for something educational and inspirational and this did not meet my expectations. It is a long winded story about a meeting with a he said, she said, then he said, then she said, then he said, etc. The characters have silly names too - they make a point about who the character is, but it is hard to listen to. I got through about 3/4s of it and have given up.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Frustration. I was waiting for it to get to the point and that didn't come.