Improving Our “Signals” and “Beings”

This is a book review of John Maxwell’s Winning with People: Discover the People Principles that Work for You Every Time.

Some people are born with great relationship skills that do these people wonders in their personal and professional life. However, the majority of people do not have and are not taught these skills. Winning with People provides you with the secrets most “naturals” have who are successful with people. It is a book with emphasis on developing great friendship skills that are applicable for all types of relationships.

The author, John Maxwell, is a specialist in leadership training. What he advises in Winning with People feels to be an interesting extension from his experiences as a leader and developing relationship skills. A lot of his insightful experiences, teachings, and lessons were from his former role as a pastor.

The 25 chapters are each based on a specific principle for winning with people in any situation. Some principles are obvious yet they will provide a good reminder to implement them in your life. You can learn how to get more friends, business partners, and intimate relationships by following the advice given in this book.

In Winning with People, the 25 principles are split into the five questions:

1. The readiness question: Are we prepared for relationships?
2. The connection question: Are we willing to focus on others?
3. The trust question: Can we build mutual trust?
4. The investment question: Are we willing to invest in others?
5. The synergy question: Can we create a win-win relationship?

The first question makes you ready to have successful relationships. Too often people seek communication skills they can use for their relationships yet the skills will fail them because they haven’t laid the correct foundations. These people aren’t ready to have successful relationships. The first section primes the reader with the necessary principles for having great relationships and winning friends.

Winning with People is an easy read. This is mostly due to each chapter starting out with an intriguing and relevant story. As you are reading each story, you are able to grasp the chapter’s principle.

The stories also provides a basis for learning by drawing parallels between the points discussed throughout the chapter and relating them back to the story. In addition to the principles being simple to learn due to the simple language used, being able to associate a principle with a story is great for improving retention of the lessons taught.

The questions asked at the end of each principle get you to deeply think about the points mentioned in the chapter and explore your experiences relating to the topic. These are great learning aids to help you explore the advice given in the book.

A drawback in the book is the “fluff” which increases the size of the book and makes for unnecessary reading. All the stories scattered throughout the book are the main contributors to this, but nonetheless, the stories are relevant so they do add value. The people who like to-the-point books will find this a turn-off.

After reading this book I was left with a feeling of warmth equivalent to that experienced when talking to someone really caring and friendly. This stood out for me. I fittingly experienced John Maxwell winning over me as I read the book. Brian Tracy has described this book as a modern version of Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People and I’d have to partly agree. You can grab your copy now from Amazon by clicking here.

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I'm creator of a highly praised program called "Communication Secrets of Powerful People" program. You can read about it here and order it here.