Life's a Game So Fix the Odds - Philip Hesketh

...So I first picked up Life's A Game, with no prior knowledge of the book, its subject or author. Being on a limited student grant, I'm not one for too many impulse buys though. As often when I've been shopping for bargains, I went and researched several prospective purchases online before buying. Since Amazon customers seemed to recommend Life's A Game, I decided to buy it too.

The sub-title of the book is 'How to be More Persuasive ...
...I imagine most of us would like, but whether the book delivers is another question. Nonetheless, it clearly marks this out as a self-help/improvement book, along the lines of Dale Carnegie's How To Win Friends and Influence People and Steven Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (both cited approvingly in the preface).

As I read the book, I began to doubt whether it would be of such general interest or use. The author, ... more

My purchase of this book wasn't exactly pre-meditated. I was browsing The Works for cheap books, as I do periodically, when I spotted it. What really caught my eye was the picture of two dice on the front cover. I'm currently quite interested in all aspects of chance, relating partly to my research, and it's this that's led me to purchase other books such as Luke Rhinehart's The Dice Man and Joshua Piven's As Luck Would Have It.

So I first picked up Life's A Game, with no prior knowledge of the book, its subject or author. Being on a limited student grant, I'm not one for too many impulse buys though. As often when I've been shopping for bargains, I went and researched several prospective purchases online before buying. Since Amazon customers seemed to recommend Life's A Game, I decided to buy it too.

The sub-title of the book is 'How to be More Persuasive and Influential in your Personal and Business Life'. That's something I imagine most of us would like, but whether the book delivers is another question. Nonetheless, it clearly marks this out as a self-help/improvement book, along the lines of Dale Carnegie's How To Win Friends and Influence People and Steven Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (both cited approvingly in the preface).

As I read the book, I began to doubt whether it would be of such general interest or use. The author, Phil Hesketh, has had a long career in sales and advertising. When talking about persuasion, it's frequently in terms of clinching a sale. It seems the book is perhaps best aimed at someone who does a lot of negotiation and closing deals, and hence that it might be of less relevance to someone not in such business.

To his credit though, Hesketh doesn't take too many of his examples from high-powered business, though there are plenty of personal anecdotes to illustrate and drum home his points. Some are about contracts he's won or lost, but others concern more ordinary purchases - houses, cars, sofas - that most of us probably make in life. Hopefully I'll have a job interview next month, and some of his tips might come in useful. (Though I wonder whether, given the relatively infrequency of such occasions, we'll be able to make effective use of his techniques without regular practice).

Hesketh writes in a friendly, accessible style. It is rather like a past master sharing the secrets of his experience, and it did make me like him. Admittedly, perhaps this is itself a sales technique, of a sort. But this isn't a book for tricksters and scam artists. Hesketh denounces unscrupulous door-to-door salesmen, and exposes a few of their methods. Rather, he stresses the way to be liked is to be likeable. Take an interest in people, show empathy, ask how they feel - and make it all genuine and sincere. The aim isn't to manipulate others but really (though he doesn't quite put it in such terms) to change yourself.

Admittedly, some people won't like everything. There are a couple of Biblical allusions, and a few more passing references to football (apparently Hesketh was at both Man United's European Cup successes), but at least they're commonly known ways of expressing his point. His made-up word of derision - 'horrocks' - for nonsense or rubbish I found a little grating, but I doubt stronger language was an option.

Returning to the content, a lot of the book focuses on the sub-conscious. Hesketh was a psychology graduate - not that it shows in too much technicality, though there are interesting (and basic) explanations of a few things like Maslow's hierarchy of needs: basic essentials (food, oxygen), safety and security, love and belonging, self-esteem. He stresses that 95% of what we do is sub-conscious. We can't really explain it, even when asked. This is why it's important to assess a prospective buyer's real emotional needs, and address those - not always what people say they want. After all, at the end of the day we buy emotionally and (later) justify logically.

Insofar as the book offers advice, I think it could be split into the 'big picture' and 'small titbits', both of which are useful in different ways. The big picture stuff is most of what I've been saying - identify people's (real, emotional) needs, create empathy, and try to satisfy them with your 'product' (or yourself).

The smaller insights often come in passing, but remembered I'm sure can be just as useful. When someone quotes you a price, for example, try a sharp intake of breath - as if just to signify 'wow, that's a lot'. You may see if they can cut their price, before you've even started to haggle. The hints don't stop with such obvious suggestions though. Hesketh also offers a few recommendations with which to counter such a strategy if it's used against you - such as deliberately misinterpreting it ('yes, I know, amazingly great price isn't it?')

As well as numerous anecdotes to drive his points home, Hesketh formulates plenty of mnemonics to help the memory; for examples, people buy for REASONs: Rarity, Empathy, Authority, Special deals, Obligations and Nervousness. Personally, I don't usually like such memory strategies, but I do find that one fairly easy to recall, even if some of the others are a bit more obscure. It depends what works for you I guess, but sometimes I thought his points ended up having contrived names to fit some snappy acronym, and then it was hard to remember 'what does the second T stand for?'

My biggest criticism, however, would be the layout of ideas. While the big words are often carefully spelt out, with a short chapter devoted to each point or letter, at others times things aren't so clear. Sometimes, for example, it'll be hard to identify where a point really starts; or Hesketh will tell you he's going to list seven things, but it will be hard to pick out more than six. Given the fact he sometimes makes things so clear, via bullet-points and numbered lists, it's all the more frustrating when things aren't so clear.

I doubt much of importance is lost, however. The main ideas are constantly spelled out and reiterated through the book. At times, it's hard to tell where a point's being repeated for emphasis, and where we have the disordered ramblings of an old man; but generally it's effective, even if I would be hard-pushed to know where to look again to find a few ideas. (Though there is a fairly complete looking index).

The 242 pages are divided into 30 brief chapters, which makes for easy reading. Of course, there's no plot to drive you on to the next; but it's a very easy to pick up and put down book, when you have a few spare minutes, and once you start reading it's always easy to read 'just one more (short) chapter'. Despite its pedagogical nature, it seems personal and chatty, rather than too preachy.

Perhaps it's too bad Hesketh put all his energy into writing the book, rather than selling it himself. My copy was just £2.99 - reduced from a cover price of £12.99. At that price, not bad for a quick read and some interesting reflections.

I think it's very hard to know whether to recommend such a book though. You can't exactly say to someone 'you need to be more persuasive'. I'll leave it to you whether you're looking for such a book. If you are, then I'm afraid I can't really compare this to others on the market; but I've spelled out its main messages and approaches, so I'll leave it to you whether it suits your needs.

Maybe it sells itself.
 

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