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From Canada

Joel G Kechnie

Worth your time and very encouraging...

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on June 14, 2019

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Davis writes with grace and ease. The information is rich, honest and focused. One of the better leadership books I’ve come across.

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From other countries

Adam Gonnerman

Surprisingly Practical

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 11, 2019

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Last month I read 'The Making of a Manager' by Julie Zhuo, and though the book was well-written, I was left unsatisfied. Her guidance, drawn from her years of experience (exclusively at Facebook) would have been helpful to me earlier in my career. It's Management 101, and a solid book for that level. I needed something a bit deeper, and I've found it — at least for a start — in Jocelyn Davis' fascinating 'The Art of Quiet Influence.'

Jocelyn worked at The Forum Corporation (now called 'Achieve Forum'( for over 23 years, working her way up to EVP. This is a business leadership training company, and according to her description, it bases its curriculum on careful research and quality data. Further, in her experience at the company there was a real effort, with a few exceptions as she notes in the book, to put their training into practice in their own offices. From what I see in her LinkedIn profile, her education has always centered on philosophy, with the most recent degree being a Master of Arts in Eastern Classics. This education, together with many years of thinking about life in an office and putting her learning into practice, makes for an excellent book on leadership.

This is not a quick read, if you really want to get the good out of it. Though it is written on a level accessible to laypeople and is not especially dense, it is a substantive and deep book. Drawing from research, life experience, and the religious/philosophical traditions of the East, the author describes 12 practices of 'quiet influence,' and also contrasts them with the 'Western pitfalls' of each.

As someone with a career in project management, I know all about the difficulties of leading without any actual authority. Over the years I've developed my skills of persuasion and diplomacy, and this book both helped clarify some of what I've already learned, and also brought to my attention perspectives and practices that had never occured to me. In the category of what I already knew is aligning interests, but what she has to say about it sharpened my understanding of the topic, and was immediately useful to me at work. Towards the conclusion of the book, Davis even discusses how to know when it's time to leave a company, and how to go about it.

This book is great for anyone who manages people and/or projects. Whether you have functional authority or not, the best way to get things done is not 'because I said so.' With 'The Art of Quiet Influence' you will find practical tips and strategies for making allies and leading effectively without coercion or an undue risk of alienating people. Get it, and give yourself a month or read it slowly and thoughtfully.

14 people found this helpful

Sandra A

Timeless and very much needed in today's environment

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 25, 2019

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You hear the constant drumbeat growing louder and louder in corporate America to go faster, be more innovative, do more with less. I come from 37 years as a learning professional working mostly with the leadership/management audience. The constant drone of the ever-changing landscape gives little thought to leading with influence. Agile, at least at my former company, gave way to a confusing new wave of super micro-management behaviors and practices. If you want to be an innovative company with engaged employees, power and authority won't get you there. It will, however, send your highest performers running for the doors.

Jocelyn's years of experience, education, and art of storytelling is a winner for today's drumbeat of the "go faster and do more with less" mentality. Influence, true influence, is a way to lead with heart and head, to gain trust, deepen relationships and build teams that will go above and beyond. It's so simple in theory but so relatively rare in practice. The true leader is one who influences others to their greatness. Don't underestimate the simple power of caring about the people you wish to lead. How hard people will work for you will always depend on how you treat them. To quote, "the best leaders don't rely on command authority, because its outcomes are neither as good nor as sustainable as the outcomes of influence." How people are treated is the difference between whether they will trust you, build relationships with you, follow you, support you, work harder, faster and do more with less for you, or not. Command and control might get you what you want but little else.

One of my favorite, powerful stories in the book is about the quiet influence interaction between John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg! No one thinks of quiet when hearing the name McEnroe! But after reading the story, you will see exactly how influence is strength without force.

4 people found this helpful

Daven Lee

A much-needed guide to leadership with the profundity of the Eastern Wisdom Traditions

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 8, 2019

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Once again, Davis has joined her considerable experience in leadership development together with scholarship in a very readable, accessible package.

She has done all the heavy lifting for us: synthesizing some of the most complex thought and wisdom traditions in our human culture and helping us apply them to our lives as leaders in modern human systems; from families and communities, to corporations.

This book, because of its orientation towards the teachings of the East, has an additional quality that puts it on a whole other level from other books on leadership: that of profundity.

When you look to the East for leadership, you inevitably enter the realm of mysticism, the great mysteries, and the larger truths of being human.

You also discover another way to lead, a Yin path, that runs counter to pretty much all of our Western cultural conditioning. And thankfully so.

For me, it brings in the complete picture of leadership: “How do I enter more fully into my humanity and express that through my leadership?”

Davis shares the secret that the more we use these Yin tools of the East, we actually exert less effort, experience more ease, and achieve greater, more satisfying success.

This book will tell you how. . . and if you don’t already have a practice of going inward, attuning to the natural order of the universe, or of mindfulness, then I would bet you’ll be inspired to begin one by the time you’ve read through the Introduction of Davis’ book.

You will not only understand the benefit of these practices to you personally, but to your ability to lead and affect change: to influence.

4 people found this helpful

Cate

Want to build real influence with your team? This is a good place to start.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 30, 2019

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This book is like its title. It is subtle, brilliant, and influential. It’s part ancient Eastern philosophy course and part autobiography of an interesting career at an interesting organization at an interesting moment in American business life. The synthesis of those topical threads creates an informative and engaging practical manual for developing or expanding collaborative leadership in groups of any size. The approach is grounded, calm, and wisdom based, as is the writing. The ideas presented within could just as easily be applied to family or community leadership, as well as in the context of a business setting. This book would be applicable in any setting where people are working with other people trying to get something done.

The author was part of an organization that developed some of the most enduring business learning ideas of the past three decades. This book skillfully and subtlety uses entertaining stories of those experiences to demonstrate the very useful leadership tenets of 12 ancient Eastern thinkers.

Each idea presented is also followed by a cautionary note of where a Western mindset might lead one astray when putting the idea into practice.

This book offers the premise that the success of a leader is best measured by the engagement, development, and success of the people being led.

There is a ton of information here, and somehow, it has been seamlessly woven together to create a powerful, funny, elegantly rendered and ultimately USEFUL book.

2 people found this helpful

Steve Barry

New Favorite Book Genre!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 9, 2019

Verified Purchase

If you’ve read enough leadership or business books, they tend to blend together a bit. This one stands out.

In The Art of Quiet Influence, Davis mines ancient philosophical masterpieces to shed new light on the best ways to mobilize groups of people.

It’s fascinating to see that many of our modern, Western “best practices” were actually identified centuries ago. It’s even more fascinating to re-learn these lessons through the actual parables and words these mystics used to impart their lessons. (In fact, one of my favorite parts of reading the book is soaking in the wisdom of these Eastern teachers.)

However, this is not a dusty tome of poetry and best practices. Davis keeps it light and relatable with anecdotes (both highlights and bloopers) from her career to demonstrate influence (or lack thereof ) in real life.

And, for those who like models, frameworks, and tactics, you will not be disappointed. This book is chocked full of them.

Pick it up -- you will think differently (and perhaps more deeply) about leadership after reading it.

2 people found this helpful

Bernie Moore

So good and applicable to work life

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 30, 2020

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This book is so well written. I love how the author weaves eastern philosophy in with concrete examples of her corporate days. I have read the book through and now am re-reading. I read a chapter each week and try to work on that chapter's principle that week. I feel like my work relationships have improved this year since I started implementing the practices of this book.

One person found this helpful

S. Chamberlin

Counter-intuitive until you think about it.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 13, 2019

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For this extroverted westerner, everything about this book was counter intuitive from the first pages (e.g. "Influence" comes from "to flow in" - not "out" as I would naturally think of influence). That is, until you think about it for a bit, then you think, duh. Which is how it is with the great truths unpacked in this book, they're foreign at first, and then they resonate deeply. I put each of the main points from the book on a post-it next to my desk. Very beneficial! I would recommend The Art of Quiet Influence to both those prone to quiet influence and those prone to a louder version.

One person found this helpful

DrMiner

So engaging and enjoyable!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 12, 2019

Verified Purchase

You know how sometimes you eat dinner just so you can get to the dessert? That is how I felt about reading this book. I couldn't wait to get through my day so I could spend an hour in the evening on my patio, reading a chapter of The Art of Quiet Influence. This could have been such a dry and "informational" text, but Jocelyn Davis has made it engaging and relates it to what we see happening in corporations every day. I highly recommend it! Not only will you change your thinking and approach to leading, but hopefully you'll model the wisdom in this book for up-and-coming leaders.

One person found this helpful

Claudette Rowley

An engaging, thought provoking book

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 14, 2019

Verified Purchase

In The Art of Quiet Influence, Jocelyn Davis shares not only an insightful perspective on leading without authority, but a great perspective on life, too. This book is smart, fresh, and engaging, taking the reader down of the elusive path of understanding influence. Through illustrating the core influencing practices of inviting participation, sharing power, and aiding progress, she reminds us that, truly, we are all in this together. I highly recommend this book!

One person found this helpful

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