Just finished Sway
August 29th, 2008
Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori BrafmanMy review
rating: 4 of 5 starsGreat book. Quick read, and you learn about about psychology that you can apply to life or business.
A few notes:
- All about first impressions. First impressions can sway our opinion of something for years to come regardless of subsequent performance.
- Labels matter. If you label someone as a higher performer, top of class, leader, having command potential, etc - it will translate into them actually having it. My high school motto was Principes Non Homines (leaders not men) - now I know why they thought that would work.
- When we brand or label people they take on the characteristics of the diagnosis.
- People are easily swayed when other people they deal with are decent or nice or fair to them. You enjoy a restaurant 10 times more if the waiter is really nice, regardless of the food (the product). Same goes for any service or business relationship.
- Heightened adrenaline levels lead to higher levels of romantic interest
- We have "two engines" running in our brain that don't operate simultaneously. So we usually approach things from either an altruistic perspective or a self-interested one. Money (self-interest) is not always the best motivator - sometimes pride (in your country, your city, what you do) will inspire people much more.
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1 Response to “Just finished Sway”
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August 30th, 2008 at 01:31 AM I read it recently too. Loved it, so I called the author and interviewed him for Mixergy.com. If you're ever looking for someone to post author interviews on goodreads, I'd love to do them for you. I do interviews to learn directly from some of the smartest people I can find. If I post on goodreads, I'll have access to more authors and I'll broaden my audience.