The Complete Idiot's Guide to Motivating People

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Summary: A Great Resource for Motivating People for Everyone
Review: "But mostly...I want to be inspired." - Dorothy to Jerry in the movie "Jerry Maguire"

Being a good motivator with the ability to inspire is a full-time job, but it is one well worth investing time and effort to master. "The Complete Idiot's Guide To Motivating People" proves a valuable tool for anyone in a position of leadership looking to rally the troops and seismically shift mindsets.
Does this apply to you? The authors assert that "The ability to motivate is as vital for the first-grade teacher in a rural school as it is for the supervisor in a downtown office building." This book prescribes proven methods to motivate to maximum effect.
In Chapter 1 we learn that "Bosses should be more like coaches, who don't demand work from their teams, but work with their teams." This vital connection between motivators and their workers is repeated throughout, because without a genuine bond communication breaks down and attempts to motivate are doomed to fail. As the Reverend Jesse Jackson puts it, "The greatness of teachers is not measured by how much they know, but by how much they share." One of the book's Defining Moments sections states that "to orchestrate means to arrange or put something together. The best orchestra conductor never needs to touch the instruments. They touch the hearts of their musicians."
Dispensing these motivational tidbits is effective, but "The Complete Idiot's Guide To Motivating People" really succeeds when it drives home its points with true to life accounts. Take the story of Sue, a customer service department leader with a crew that's beleaguered, bickering, and overworked. The book tells us that a psychological environment is harder to change than a physical one, so Sue has an uphill battle to get her department on track.
After wracking her brain to try to turn the ship around, Sue adopts a simple, straightforward course of action. She announces that she's coming in a half hour early on Thursday morning. She's not forcing anyone to come in early and can't pay overtime, but anyone who wants to show up is welcome."Those of us who show up will start looking for better ways to get things done," she tells the group. "I'll buy donuts."
Initially, only a few workers turned up, then as the numbers grew the company president and key managers turned their attention to the meetings. Eventually, they held Sue up as an example and people started working together to reverse the slide and resolve issues. The point of the story is that little things can go a long way when it comes to motivation. By giving her workers a voice, Sue was able to motivate them and establish a productive team working together at peak efficiency.
"The Complete Idiot's Guide To Motivating People" hammers home the message that camaraderie is key, and bringing a sense of family to the workplace has power. Strong leaders are people who interact with employees at every level. There's a story of cosmetics queen Estee Lauder's personalized selling technique and her breezing into Saks on a Saturday to help the salespeople improve their selling techniques Ñ similar to AppleOne Employment Services president Bernie Howroyd continually visiting offices and making himself visible and available to team members.
The book instructs leaders to recognize that team members are essentially like customers with a "What's in it for me?" attitude. By being fair and honest with workers and involving them, it's possible to motivate them to do almost anything. Once you've taught your team what you want them to do, and motivated them to do it, you've got to trust them with the ball. Hand it over to them and let them run with it.

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Summary: Save your money.
Review: 30 minutes of reading, and I was motivated only to throw the book away. Too disgusted even to return it to my local bookstore.

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Summary: Motiving people by fear and intimidation?
Review: While the techniques mentioned in this book would doubtless work, I am a bit uncertain about the ethicacy of using them. I had been expecting something about finding what people want, and learning how to motivate them based on that, but the author suggests solving even the most trivial problem by leaving a severed horse head in the person's bed.

Frankly, I don't even know where to get a horse head, and if I were to put one in my house-keeper's bed, I expect that she would quit and I'd have to clean the sheets.

And that entire chapter on inciting mobs was kind of disturbing.