Power Relationships: 26 Irrefutable Laws for Building Extraordinary Relationships Hardcover – January 3, 2014

I downloaded Power Relationships and read it from start to finish in one sitting. Each of the 26 relationship laws in the book is illustrated by an engrossing story that brings the point home. This is the best book on business relationships I have come across. It’s practical, entertaining, easy to read, and full of excellent advice.I am a big fan of Sobel and Panas’s last book, Power Questions. This follow up effort doesn’t disappoint and in some ways it’s deeper and better. The first and largest section of Power Relationships is devoted to the 26 “relationship laws” mentioned in the title. Each chapter ends with a series of suggestions for how to implement that particular law. Just a few of the ones I found very helpful:Law one--“Power relationships are based on great conversations, not one person showing the other how much they know.” Rather than pitching prospects and clients or overwhelming them with PowerPoint presentations we should be having a real, thoughtful, two-way conversation with them.Law nine--“Walk in the other person’s shoes.” This was a very entertaining chapter about some self-absorbed advisor who steals his client’s lunch. The point is that our empathy and understanding of others will naturally grow if we invest the time to really think about what it’s like to be in their shoes.Law twenty-two--“Become part of your clients’ growth and profits and they’ll never get enough of you.” The authors illustrate that if you’re not clearly showing your client how your product or service is helping them grow their revenues and profits, you’ll be seen as an expense that can be and will be cut at any time.Other chapters touch on things like trust, generosity, showing the important people in your life how much you believe in them, and how if you “treat a prospect like a client they’ll likely become one.” The supporting stories are dramatic and moving.The second, and shorter section of the book is devoted to sixteen common relationship challenges and how the 26 laws can help you overcome them. These pages offer solid, practical advice for how to connect in the c-suite, how to unblock a sale that is stuck, and even on a few personal topics like how the laws can be used to rekindle your relationship with a spouse or partner.If relationships are important to you, get this book and read it.

I looked for reasons to give this more than two stars, but the truth is that the title of the book is misleading. It should be called "Stories About How Relationships Help"... or something along that line. I was very disappointed reading this, but I stayed with it because I decided I'd share my thoughts and hopefully save some folks some money, or at least have them think twice before purchasing.Now, while it's true that there are some good stories in here, that's just what this book is. It's a book of stories - stories about how relationships served a purpose in certain instances or in certain peoples' lives. The first four or five stories are ok. There's some good information that you could use, although nothing at all that you could not find with a general five-minute internet search.Get to the sixth law - "Stretch yourself by building relationships with people quite different than you." Ok - how is this a relationship building technique??? Seriously, you should build relationships by building different relationships? Hmm... that's a bit of repetitive, but still a three to four star book. It goes down-hill from here...Chapter seven - "Serious engagement needs a relationship" - again - not what this book is said to contain on the cover. And there are some theses put forth that require some missing research. But my main gripe here is that it doesn't help build relationships. This book is called "26 IRREFUTABLE LAWS FOR BUILDING EXTRAORDINARY RELATIONSHIPS."This book does have a couple of examples of good material, only it's not at a 3,000 foot level, it's at the Moon. It's way into outer space - nothing granular at all!The material in chapter 16 is gold - Vulnerability. But it's only a couple of pages and again, nothing at all approaching the granularity of a quality book from which you can learn anything of value.The most offensive material, in that it's not what I paid to read, is the material in chapter 23. You're basically told a story about how you need to have a few serious followers instead of lots of shallow relationships. This is again another example of false advertisement on the cover.If you have an afternoon and you want to read some decent stories, by all means, spend your money on this book. Or better yet, go read stories for free on the internet. However, I assume you're reading this review because you want to improve your relationship building skills. Trust me, this is not a good book for doing so. Steven Covey's material is much more suitable, granular, and apropos of good relationship building.

I have read all the power books love them. Very practical and easy to understand. Suggest to my team and anyone who listens.

I purchased the audible and kindle editions of this book. It is easy to understand, much less so to implement, but the message, suggestions, and stories are instructive, entertaining,and memorable. This is important stuff; I am into my second reading (and listening) because these "laws", as I've noticed when practiced, do help make my relationships much more enjoyable and productive.The only thing that I found as a distraction is the fact that the authors tend to tell the reader that so-and-so is African American. I found this distracting because in each instance, that fact had no bearing on the message. The authors never said so-and-so is a White American, or so-and-so is a Mexican American. I think, if it has no bearing on the overall message, speaking to a person's race adds no value. (In my case, it took away value because then I had to figure out why race was important to mention in the first place.)Otherwise, I highly recommend the book for those who wants more "agreeability" in their relationships!(Kudos to the authors for this effort!)

I loved reading this book and going through all the stories, it's a real page turner, and even though I might not agree with all the statments for each law, I still enjoyed so much and will definitely try applying it. I mainely retained one lesson: ask questions! !

great for a sale team, easy read and very applicable.

Amazing book! Must have for students. Essential for professionals, even if they don't think they need it. I have bought Sobel's other book, Power Questions. Both books worth their weight in gold, once put to use honestly.

A must read for everyone! Well written with great examples and easy to put in action.

I'm interested in sales and i do read sales books since almost 20 years.Every/any book you'll read doesn't provide you the magic stick, we all know it.We also know, that every book bring you a different perspective.Bottom line, every single book, worth their price..... not necessarily the time spent to read it.This book worth $ and Time...... we all knew this stuff but we love listen them told in a such holistic way.Great Andrew and good reading guys!Ciao