Instant Rapport

Rating:
Summary: A tasteless scheme for "active listening"
Review: "Instant Manipulation" would be a more forthright title for this CD.

Michael Brooks is an NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming) trainer and "founder of the Rapport Technology Group" - which organization, oddly enough, I cannot seem to locate on the WWW.

My initial reaction on listening to this CD was pure disappointment. On reflection, though, I consider Brooks' presentation potentially baleful for anyone unfamiliar with NLP. If you *are* already familiar with NLP, you won't waste your time with this CD.

My first proviso is Brooks' repeated affirmation that likes attract while opposites repel. This is a tremendously glib overgeneralization by Brooks because opposite temperaments typically *do* attract. The "like attracts like" adage refers to a successful couple's worldviews, ideals, dreams - not their temperaments.

My second proviso is that it is the deplorable "dark side" of NLP - machiavellian manipulation of others - that Brooks is touting.

Thirdly, Brooks is a lusterless speaker.

Brooks' claims are the standard valences of NLP: the mind links sequential "processing strategies" with specific events and specific feelings. People's eye movements and word choice are clear signposts to their individual processing strategies. Responsiveness to these behaviors enhances rapport.

If you've ever found yourself disagreeing with someone and wondering why, when it seems your views are very similar, NLP can be a marvellous tool for bridging such a language barrier before it develops into a full-fledged communication breakdown.

But you'll learn very little about that from this CD.

"Instant Rapport" is little more than a twisted travesty of Chapter 6 of Anthony Robbins' excellent "Unlimited Power," which book - unlike Brooks' CD - I do recommend as an excellent and motivational introduction to NLP.

Rating:
Summary: Shallow
Review: For all the endorsements, you think there'd be more material than "here are some good ideas on how to listen and communicate with others". I was disappointed with this book. The author spends a lot of time trying to classify people into 3 different categories, and then trys to define how you can communicate with each category. He provides no DATA on to support this categorization, just "hey this seems like a good idea"

Rating:
Summary: This book is a classic!
Review: If you are having trouble making (or keeping) lovers and friends, getting through interviews or sealing up business deals, it surely couldn't hurt you to read this book! In fact, I suggest this book to any client who complains about having no friends, anyone who thinks they can't make friends, anyone having communication issues with their mate or lover. It's not a cure-all for marital or business woes but it is a great place to start.

Rating:
Summary: The eye charts were best
Review: Many years ago, as I observed charismatic people, from a distance, I thought that they were being phony.

And,in the 80's, as I made a commitment to endlessly grow beyond my wildest dreams, I told myself that I envy the very people who I once thought were phony -- They had something that I wanted, and definitely needed.

And I am happy to say that with "Instant Rapport," I made the commitment to learn how to be charming, fully in the moment, my highest self, and wise.

I had many opportunities to see how I have evolved, as a result of reading "Instant Rapport."

One example was when I happened upon someone who was once my "arch rival," at the office.

With the help of reading this book, I walked up to this person, in the grocery store, not having seen her in many years, and sincerely chatted with her - there was gratitude in her entire demeanor. And I felt at peace, because I was emotionally, and psychologically free to be fully in the moment, focused upon the best in my interlocutor.

The lessons in this book are a strong part of my everyday experiences.

And a more recent experience is that through reading this book, I have given myself the label, "The Barter Queen," which leads me to be in strong rapport with local businesses, to get things that I want, in exchange for my connections as a journalist.

Read this book, because the lessons in this book guide you to belong - which is our basic human need.

Rating:
Summary: Good Basics but not flawless......
Review: This book is a very good in setting out some basics of NLP. It will give one a sort of "first base" regarding succesfull humanoid communication.
One of the most important issues of this book is that one perceives the world trough ones senses, being mostly sight, sound and touch. Together with these perceptions emotions are linked and interlinked through the syntaxis of perception. One for example remembers a beautifull women by first thinking of how she looked, then how she sounded and then the way she shook hands. These tree perceptions are categorized in modules (being: visual, auditory and kinesthetic). An important axiom Michael Brooks puts forth is that a person has a "prime-modus" for his perception strategy's. I find this very wrong. One should, in order to callibrate people, look in what modus his subject is AT THE PRESENT time, and not look for a sort of prime. Evolution has forced humanoids to be multi-sensory in order to survive. But with that in mind this book can be great, I'm especially talking now about eye-accessing cues, mirroring/matching process, strategies and anchoring. This book is even a little bit NOTTY with its entry on SEXUAL RAPPORT.

Habba, habba!

Rating:
Summary: Good Book
Review: This is a good book on the subject of rapport. However this book is really for NLP beginners. If you would like more information on NLP I highly recommend you reading Anthony Robbins best-selling book Unlimited Power.

Zev Saftlas, Author of Motivation That Works: How to Get Motivated and Stay Motivated

Rating:
Summary: Got rapport?
Review: Without rapport, you will find it very difficult to effectively leverage other NLP techniques. Establishing a strong rapport with a person is essential for effective communication to take place. This book provides very elementary and very EFFECTIVE ways to establish and maintain rapport. If you are interested in NLP, read this book first. And as you read it, realize that the context of rapport is the foundation upon which the rest of NLP (and persuasion, sales, seduction, politics) have been built upon.

As a previous reviewer said, this book could have been condensed down into a phamphlet. For some people, a dry, item by item technical disection of a subject is what they crave. Yet others find the real life examples of how effective techniques are applied, to be very useful. Especially to those who have not quite yet grasped the subtly powerful way that rapport, or the lack of it, pre-frames their communications.

Rating:
Summary: Got rapport?
Review: Without rapport, you will find it very difficult to effectively leverage other NLP techniques. Establishing a strong rapport with a person is essential for effective communication to take place. This book provides very elementary and very EFFECTIVE ways to establish and maintain rapport. If you are interested in NLP, read this book first. And as you read it, realize that the context of rapport is the foundation upon which the rest of NLP (and persuasion, sales, seduction, politics) have been built upon.

As a previous reviewer said, this book could have been condensed down into a phamphlet. For some people, a dry, item by item technical disection of a subject is what they crave. Yet others find the real life examples of how effective techniques are applied, to be very useful. Especially to those who have not quite yet grasped the subtly powerful way that rapport, or the lack of it, pre-frames their communications.