I first encountered Sally Hogshead when attending the 2014 Corporate Researchers Conference in Chicago. She was the keynote speaker and we received free copies of her book "How to Fascinate" for attending.I am OCD and still haven't read How to Fascinate, by the way, because I felt like I needed to start with the first book in the collection, Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation.
One of the cool things about this book is that you are able to take a quiz when you buy the book on Sally Hogshead's website to figure out your fascination type. When this book was originally written it was to determine which of the 7 triggers you gravitate to, but as her fascination research has evolved, you now take a quiz to determine which of your fascination archetypes you can leverage to become "more you."
It's a pretty good deal- you get your archetype and a 30 page report on what that means, what it means to others, and your strengths and weaknesses. Also, Sally sends out some pretty decent information on an on-going basis once you subscribe to the newsletter.
In case you are wondering, I am The Provocateur.
So, let's get this party started. Here are my overall ratings:
Readability: A
Creates Consistent Interest: A
Applicability: B
Design: B
Differentiation: A
Some of my favorite takeaways were:
1. On a first date? Measure his elbows. Sally kicks off her book with a pretty decent description of the biological roots of fascination. How your brain keys into fascination, how you become attracted to certain people and certain brands. This isn't immediately applicable to the book, but it provides the most fascinating (haha) "bet you didn't know that" type facts. Things like you are most likely to attract a person with a favorable genetic profile if you are NOT on birth control. Fascination is a complicated subject!
For more on the elbows, read the book. But FYI, it isn't the size of the feet!
2. Why is the Mona Lisa fascinating?
"The Mona Lisa was recently analyzed with cutting edge software developed to recognize facial emotion. Mona Lisa, according to the program, is 83 percent happy, 9 percent disgusted, 6 percent fearful, and 2 percent angry."
So, the Mona List is fascinating because we can't quite figure her out. I wonder what the software would have to say about RBF. (Resting Bitch Face)
3. Trends Driving a Distracted World
The book had an interesting point about in the past you spent money to go to the movies and you were essentially "paying" attention. Now, people are so inundated by choices for entertainment, even in your free time it is hard to make a decision. Why all this clutter? Sally indicates that you have to deal with an overload of distracting choices, the rise of ADD culture, and people have become more skilled at blocking out messaging. Now if only I can figure out how to block out my incoming e-mail!
4. So what makes a message fascinating?
There is an easily, digestible list! The Gold Hallmarks of a fascinating message include:
- Provokes strong an immediate emotional reactions
- Creates advocates
- Becomes "cultural shorthand" for a specific set of actions or values
- Incites conversation
- Forces competitors to realign around it
- Triggers social revolutions
6. Lust: "The pursuit of pleasure is often more fascinating than the pleasure itself. Keeping that desire unfulfilled, or at least never entirely satisfied, is the key to long-term fascination through lust... Lust engages our imagination. It allows us to participate in the process, filling in the possibilities. As with the mystique trigger, lust makes us want more, yet once we experience the complete truth, our desire might weaken."
7. Completely random fascinating fact from Fascinate!: In 1636 there was a huge economic bubble driven by high demand for tulips. Many economists consider this the very first economic bubble and subsequent burst. At this point in history, a single tulip bulb was sold in exchange for four fat oxen, twelve fat sheep, four tons of butter, a thousand pounds of cheese, a complete bed, a suit of clothes, a silver cup, and large measures of rye, wheat, beer and wine. No wonder tulips are my favorite.
The end of the book includes some pointers regarding how to create your own fascination plan of attack... I thought the recommendations were kind of one-size-fits all, regardless of whether you were talking about becoming more fascinating, or whatever else you wanted to do to improve your company.
Overall though- it was a good read. Definitely will read the second book, to understand some more about "personal" fascination.
No comments:
Post a Comment