Full Engagement!
Inspire, Motivate, and Bring Out the Best in Your People
Author of numerous business best sellers, Brian Tracy manages to pack each volume with enough advice and counsel to make every reader a more effective manager or leader. In Full Engagement! Tracy turns his attention to motivating people, one of the more challenging tasks in business.
Tracy’s premise is “the way you treat people, what you say and do that affects them emotionally” is the key to bringing out the best in people. He begins by addressing the fact that “the basic motive for everything” is to be happy. In essence, he says, happy customers and happy employees are the responsibility of a good leader. Tracy proceeds to offer the reader twenty-five specific ideas for keeping employees happy. While some of them may seem obvious (“Smile,” “Ask people questions,” “Be polite”), others (“Treat your employees like volunteers,” “Treat your staff like you treat your boss”) are thought-provoking. Taken together, all of the ideas draw a picture of the kind of humanistic leader that seems uncommon in today’s business environment.
Next, the author discusses the psychology of motivation and how to “ignite the flame of personal performance.” Tracy talks about self-image and the significance of the “self-ideal,” which is inspired by companies that “develop clear values, vision, mission, purpose, and goals.” A particularly interesting chapter, “Make People Feel Important,” includes specifics for building an individual’s self-esteem as well as keys to effective listening.
Tracy makes the point that fear is the “biggest single obstacle” to an individual’s success, so he sets out some strategies a leader can use to “neutralize” fear. Most important, perhaps, is the concept that failure must be regarded as a learning experience. Tracy also discusses the fine art of delegation, key to a leader’s success, as well as qualities to look for in hiring the right people. He also offers several useful tips for how to build a job description and screen and evaluate candidates.
Finally, Tracy talks about getting the best performance from each individual, and motivating them to work effectively as part of a team. He closes the book by describing seventeen key management principles that every leader must learn to be successful. These include such intriguing statements as “Identify Your Constraints,” “Concentrate Single-Mindedly,” and “Inspect What You Expect.”
The author includes “Action Exercises” at the end of each chapter so the reader can apply the material covered. He also offers two free resources, a “strategic planning business blueprint” and a “12-step goal-setting process and exercise,” via a website link.
As the title promises, Brian Tracy’s book is likely to be just what a leader needs to become fully engaged in motivating his or her employees.
Reviewed by
Barry Silverstein
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
