Review: Agent of Influence: How to Use Spy Skills to Persuade Anyone, Sell Anything, and Build a Successful Business

Agent of Influence: How to Use Spy Skills to Persuade Anyone, Sell Anything, and Build a Successful Business by Jason Hanson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This felt like many other sales persuasion books I’ve read, with the hook that the underlying capabilities of a good influencer are the same as good spies. That was an excellent way to get me to read this book – as kids we didn’t play soldier or fireman or cowboy, we played spies. I found the content pretty similar to other sales persuasion books, with a focus on planning and stick-to-it-iveness. The author does mix in some stories to set the stage for each chapter, and provides some simple breakdowns of different aspects of the spycraft he is discussing. The author also tells how he got on TV (spoiler: it involves persistence and planning). All together, a fun read, though not earth shattering. Also note – I listened to the audiobook version. I see (using Amazon’s “look inside” feature) that the book has a large number of bulleted lists. While listening, I found the content sometimes confusing and as a result forgettable. I think a big part of the problem is that bulleted lists, especially ones that contain multiple sentences, are very difficult to make understood on an audio production. What looks nice and organized on a printed page runs together in audio and sounds disorganized. For that reason, I think I would suggest the written version of this book over the audio.

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