A Review Of The Most Dangerous Business Book You’ll Ever Read

 

Today’s post is a review of The Most Dangerous Business Book You’ll Ever Read. At almost 200 pages, it begs the question..

Is this book worth the read?

I’ll be honest, when I first saw the title of this book I did not have high expectations.  It just reeked of marketing hype.  The cover makes some bold claims such as “question like a polygrapher, network like a spy, and team-build like special ops.”  That is a lot to live up to.

I picked up the book and went through the table of contents.  Each chapter of the book continued with these claims, including “decide like a SEAL, and close a deal like a hostage negotiator.’

This did not help alleviate my concerns.  However, at the start of each chapter there is a subheading called “value to business.”  I read the remaining subheadings and found myself intrigued.  I wondered if this book would have just a few nuggets to make it worthwhile.

This led me to read the back of the book and find out just who the authors of The Most Dangerous Business Book You’ll Ever Read actually are.

Gregory Hartley

First up is Gregory Hartley.  It turns out he was an interrogation expert for the US Army.  He was able to turn these intelligence tactics into skills he could use in business.

It turns out Hartley has become a sought after business consultant, in part because of his ability to redirect these interpersonal skills to his advantage in the business arena.

Once I read a bit more about his background, I realized that while some of the claims might be hype, there would definitely be some wisdom in this book I could use, especially because Harley’s bio states that the book had many case studies.  I love case studies, so this was promising.

Maryann Karinch

Maryann’s bio didn’t see to add much to the depth of the book.  It stated that she has written eighteen books about business and mental/physical conditioning, and has coauthored 7 books with Hartley.  I figured Hartley probably wasn’t much of a writer, and this is why he had partnered with someone like Karinch.

However, I was willing to give the book a try at this point, more so out of curiosity than anything else.  So, I bought it.

Final Thoughts On The Most Dangerous Business Book You’ll Ever Read

As I began diving into this book I was absolutely pleasantly surprised.  The information was not only informative, but actionable as well.

There were some great exercises in the chapter called “Question Like a Profiler,” that I really enjoyed working through.

The sections that I mentioned earlier, “value to business,” was also very helpful in summarizing why each skill could become valuable.

The downside to this book is it’s a bit dry and can be downright boring to read at times.  However, I found myself truly thinking about how I could expand on many of the skills The Most Dangerous Business Book You’ll Ever Read touches on.  Since reading this book, I have dived down on some of these topics, taking courses, going to seminars, and reading other books devoted to the specific topics.

I would recommend this book as a good cursor to see which of these topics you want to expand on further, as well as a reference book, to brush up on some of these skills from time to time.

Let me know what you think of The Most Dangerous Business Book You’ll Ever Read.  You can order a copy of the book HERE.