Wednesday 3 April 2013

Why You Should Read 'The Snowball Effect'




Andy Bounds' book, The Snowball Effect, is first class.

I very rarely say that. Seriously.

It is a book that you want to devour all at once and yet you also want to absorb it line-by-line.

It is a brilliant extension to his `Jelly Effect', a book that is in my top three recommended books! 

The Snowball Effect takes his assumptions about effective communication (start with the end in mind, people buy afters, see things through the reader's eyes, sell the benefit, be simple and clear about what you want people to do) and extends these themes.

Bounds has created a series of short chapters each with a precise purpose. This makes the book a great desktop bible to go back to and refer to as each event appears: writing a better email, getting people to act, preparing a better presentation and so forth.

What I like about the book is that

  • It is not just another presentation book banging on about using better powerpoint slides
  • Bounds' quietly humorous sense of humour comes through without getting in the way
  • He appears to talk directly to the reader without being patronising
I do recommend Andy's new book and will be recommending it to all my clients.


PS Having read the book, I have the vaguely irritating feeling that I read it much too quickly. What you need to do is take one idea/chapter (maybe 2-3 pages) and implement and embed it before moving on to the next idea.


PPS I am in no way connected with Andy Bounds and make no financial gain from this review!

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