A short and concise story about persuasion.

Though this book is rather short, the amount of information that it holds is large. Many sentences I found myself rereading, and chewing on them until I could fully process the depth of just one line.

As someone who is very direct, the art of a silver bullet- something that has cause and effect, was fascinating to me. I thought of how not only in business, but in life, when presenting ideas and "selling" others on them, it is best to capture everything with one memorable line. This line encourages the other party to think, and then to expressly want to build more context around what you have presented.

The main take away is that in order for someone to be persuaded into anything really, is that it must be presented as a way to solve a problem which they have. This inherently means people are more likely to engage with you and feel enthusiastic about being included.

A great read, that I think all senior management as well as marketing departments could greatly learn from

What I Loved/Enjoyed About The Book:

Story/Writing/Structure:

* Simple while effective style of writing throughout, with short chapters which was nice and easy to follow
* No jargons


Background/A Bit Of The Plot Without Giving Anything Away:

* Story about actual individuals who helped each other get better and effective at their job roles
*Explains how just by changing mentality and applying simple logic and concept to your daily life can have a major impact

I Highly Recommend This Book I Will Give This 5 Out Of 5 Stars

I got a digital galley copy of this book via Netgalley to read and review.

What I liked:

- I have always had a soft spot for business books written in the form of a fable. So, this book was already going to be a favourite.
- The concept that the author shares in the book - The Silver Bullet, is impactful. I have seen it in my own experience. I may not have known it to be a silver bullet but whenever I've been able to articulate something simply and in a way that emotionally resonates with people, I have had a great response.
- The language is simple and easy to read. I was able to read the entire book in 2 sittings. It took me 2 because I had a pre-booked appointment that I couldn't miss.

What could have made it better:

- Frankly the only thing that could make the book better is if Neil is able to also break down the mechanics of why this formula works in a bit more detail but weave it in the parable itself.

Amongst the plethora of book covers with the blues and greens and mountains and islands, the stark, bare cover of this book stands out. And then there is the book title. What on earth is the most powerful sentence of all time and how do I get hold of it? How could I not read this book!

Neil Gordon is a persuasion expert and has worked as an editor at Penguin Random House and as a faculty at the New School of University. In his new book, Gordon aims to help readers improve their communication and persuasion skills to convey their ideas effectively. Books about communication and persuasion can be dry or patronizing, but this book has a fresh approach: Gordon shares his wisdom via a fictitious story, which could be a very common occurrence in the corporate world.

Gordon narrates a story about Barbara, a CEO who is struggling to sell her idea and product. She happens to meet Otto by chance who helps her nail her messaging and she has her first win in a long battle. She goes on to hire Otto to refine her proposal to a big customer and Otto works with her team to align them on their company’s goals. Instead of telling the readers what the challenge was and how it was resolved, Gordon chooses to let the readers be a fly on the wall while Barbara and her team work through the steps to find the most powerful sentence for her company.

Gordon calls this a fable about persuasion and this charming book does read like one, even with a moral of the story at the end. “Charming” is not an adjective I ever imagined calling a book on persuasion. If you are someone who often needs to “sell” ideas to upper management or to customers, then this book is definitely for you.

I'm not a huge fan of business fables. Of course, they can be useful in creating new frameworks for thinking. And, people love stories. After all, who did move the Cheese?

I read this book expecting some practical instructions to follow the concepts making up The Most Powerful Sentence of all Time. While there is a summary of each principle I really wanted some sentence stems or a bit of how-to. There is none unless you pick it from the story by yourself.

I don't want to claim it's not worth reading: the 4th principle about appealing to people by making it relevant to them was a timely reminder. That set me thinking about my own project. But you'll need to substitute extra reading to get the most out of this book.