Reviewed by Will Phillips

Many great ideas and a good deal of human energy is lost every day because people have not figured out how to work well with other people. We focus on the problems we see, and the solutions we propose. Too infrequently we address the issues of the problems "they" see and the solutions "they" propose. Yet, without linking these together we often fail to implement much. If you find you need to influence others or get others help in implementing your solutions, this book is for you.

In this day and age of knowledge-based organizations the command and control hierarchies of the industrial revolution are proving inadequate. The emergent leadership model is a networked structure with distributed leadership. This means that differences can't be resolved by appealing to the czar. We must decide among and for ourselves. And just how do we do that? Read this book.

Winning Ways present four fundamental tools to enable you to more successfully influence others in a positive and effective manner. The tools are simple to describe, but challenging to apply. The reward for applying them is that you gain and your organization gains.

The four tools? Make people feel stronger rather than weaker, camels are OK, avoid two valued thinking, and influence for the future. These titles may be a bit arcane until you read the book. They are not new or revolutionary. They are presented in an easily readable format. The book is just over 90 pages.

P.S. For those who find a 90 page book too simplistic, this reviewer and the author of Winning Ways collaborated with Gerry Faust on an earlier book—Responsible Managers Get Results. This is a more complex book with 300+ pages, published by the American Management Association. It covers much of the same message. However, Winning Ways is a winner in addressing a serious shortfall in most organizations and providing proven and sophisticated tolls to cover the shortfall in very simple ways.