Winning with the Velvet Touch: A Breakthrough Approach for Getting People on Your Side

Richard Stern writes an easy to read book, The Velvet Touch, that is loaded with real life examples of how to act and handle people in business situations. He reminds us of the impact simple courtesies can have on getting people to do things you want them to do. In today's rapidly changing world, with tremendous pressure on everyone to make things happen, Mr. Stern's reminders are very timely and worth adopting.

In addition to the various psychiatric journals, textbooks and research studies I review, it is always enlightening to read "self help" books which add another dimension to psychiatric thinking in my opinion. Richard Stern's description of "The Velvet Touch" is a very nice addition to this field. It is always amazing to me to watch a skilled "people person" at work. Psychiatrists like myself and other therapists my be medically and psychologically educated, but despite working with hundreds or thousands of patients/clients, we do not necessarily have the ability to get the most out of our interpersonal relationships. "Winning with the Velvet Touch" reads well and quickly, and makes its basic points authentically. Mr. Stern uses the velvet touch well in his writing, which draws the reader in to identify with the author as he formulates his reactions and strategies in his daily encounters. There are more than two dozen narratives of complex human problems taking place at airports, union halls, ski resorts, and lonely streets at night. The author shows how to tap in to the innate human proclivity to help other human beings, an important aspect of our evolutionary origins. How do you get another person, sometimes hostile, to be interested in your welfare? How does he or she discover where his own best interests lie? How do you deal with bullying, with threats, with your own negative thinking and how do you recognize hopeless situations? In this brief and highly recommended book, Mr. Richard Stern demonstrates his won strengths (he's not perfect; he also demonstrates some weaknesses) including an ability to use humor, to defer to the social ranking system, to motivate, and above all to be civil. Yes, I think one comes away from "Winning with the Velvet Touch" with a new appreciation for what civility can do for us. RFG

I was fortnuate enough to get an advance copy of this book before its release. I don't like self-help books and have never managed to complete reading one. WINNING WITH THE VELVET TOUCH took me on a ride with interesting stories and relevant anticdotes that made the point without preaching. The point of the book is simple, yet invaluable: If you get people on your side you will accomplish so much more than if you go it alone. Books like "Winning Through Intimidation" seem old fashioned and out-of-date compared to the dynamic principals of WINNING WITH THE VELVET TOUCH. I have followed the examples this book illustrates with great success and rewarding results.

This is an excellent, to the point book that everyone can benefit from...even those who practice what it preaches. Author Richard Stern tells it like it is...you get more out of life if you learn the simple lessons he provides throughout the book. Probably the most important of those lessons is how to better communicate with difficult people. He tells how the velvet touch philosophy has not only helped to make him successful, but those around him, as well as countless others. This is an easy to read book that I am purchasing for all my employees and partners to read because it can only help to make them better people. I would rate this book with the top 10 best of self help and other business books that I have read. For the price, you can't beat it!