Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation

Am really enjoying Hogshead's new book. Am always wary of biz books that come out and invent some fake list of must-do's. But Sally makes her case well with good writing and wide research. Feels even a little Malcolm Gladwell-esque in a "Wow, I never thought of it that" way.

As someone from the Northeast, I was pleased to learn from Sally Hogshead's new book that I lead a more fascinating life than folks in the rest of the country. At least, that's what she says, and I trust her to be right, because she's clearly done her homework at the same time as she's created a new category of thinking for advertisers, branders, PR folks, marketers -- anyone in the business of getting attention for themselves, their companies, or their products. The book is an extraordinary collection of insights, fresh thinking, pearls of wisdom, and funny asides. Hogshead is a very witty writer, and she manages to keep her text fascinating even as she's writing about the subject with clarity and verve. This is a brilliant book. Everyone except a handful of people who are already as fascinating as they need to be should read this book: President Obama, Drew Brees, and the late Marilyn Monroe come to mind. No doubt you can think of others.

It's a Fascination contest! And with this somewhat startling insight, a book is born. And it's a book that walks its talk. It is fascinating. It hits all the seven triggers of fascination, and it earns our attention through every fascinating page. But here's the really interesting thing - this book isn't fascinating just because it tries to be. True, the author is something of a virtuoso of fascinating, being one of the most awarded advertising copywriters ever, and well-known as one of the brightest and most successful charmers in any business. This is all good, but what's going on in this book is something more fascinating. Call it depth. It's a book that has done its homework. A book that is chock full of new stories, insights and intelligence for people whose lives and livelihoods depend on being a bit more fascinating. A book with ample handles for people who want to grab hold of the concepts and put them to work. I enjoyed finding out my F-score, for example, and learning my fascination strengths and weaknesses. At it's core, this book addresses a critically important issue. Since, in this world, the good and the right don't necessarily win, but the fascinating have an unfair advantage -- it's important for everyone who's trying to get anything good done to become more fascinating, to put these concepts and these tools to work.

I'm a marketer and I write marketing books, so I usually don't like to read titles in the genre, preferring things very different. However, I'm a sucker for anyone who has an interesting big-picture idea about how the world works. Better yet if the book is both applicable to marketers and in interesting read. Sally Hogshead delivers with Fascinate, which reminds me of books like Seth Godin's Linchpin, the Heath brothers Made to Stick, and Malcolm Gladwell's books. She combines elements of psychology, sociology, neurology and illustrates with terrific stories. Marketers like me know that there's a huge information glut today. As a marketer it is difficult to break through. But if we understand the seven fascinate triggers that Sally outlines in this book, we can create things that people will talk about and things that people will share with others. As a marketer, there is nothing better than when people share your ideas and tell your stories for you.