Do I need to say that I am a big fan of Dilbert (despite the fact that not all jokes work, at least not for me), and by extension of Scott Adams, who has done some really nice (and critical) ‘management’ books? Thought so... 

Before departing on a recent holiday, I came across this one and decided to give it a go. It’s quite different from what I know from Adams and leaves me with mixed feelings. Which isn’t necessarily bad, because it made me think, and that is good. But let’s face it: politics and the last US presidential election are not really subjects to make me jump up and down of enthusiasm.

Still, there are some serious learning points here, also for safety nerds like me. One might discuss whether everything that is labelled here as ‘persuasion’ really is about persuasion. Even so, there is plenty we can learn about the subject of persuasion, not in the least about the relative value of facts (which safety professionals tend to rate highly), the use of words, the use of visuals, about framing and especially about the ‘high ground manoeuvre’.

The thing is that you have to wade through a lot of stuff that is more about Scott Adams, how smart he was, what he experienced and quite some repetition. No definite recommendation therefore, but an okay read nevertheless.

You may start by checking out some blogs about persuasion first on http://blog.dilbert.com/

ISBN 978-0-525-53332-0