Smile & Succeed For Teens: A Crash Course In Face-to-Face Communication

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Is your teen prepared for the real world of personal communication? Set your kids up to succeed with the lost art of social skills. "5 Stars"--San Diego Book Review"Smile & Succeed for Teens is a fantastic resource to help teens be successful at work." --Temple Grandin, Author, Thinking in Pictures, The Autistic BrainAre your kids glued to their phones and out of touch with the real world? Do your teens slouch and have poor eye contact? Do you worry that their inability to communicate will keep them from getting a good job? If so, then it's time for a crash course in the social skills and job skills that will lead to their success. Let award-winning author Kirt Manecke be your guide. Developed by a team of teens, parents, and educators, the proven methods in Manecke's book provide your kids with the people skills and confidence they'll need throughout their lives. Whether your teen is looking for work, holding down a job, making friends, or taking part in leadership or service positions, Smile and Succeed for Teens will give them the education he or she needs to thrive. Perfect for special education and autism too. Each lesson is presented in an entertaining style, with quips, tips, and easy-to-adopt strategies that will teach your teenager the critical elements of good communication. Filled with fun and informative illustrations with educational captions. And the best part is, teenagers enjoy reading it! In this book, your teen will discover how to:  Develop self-esteem and beat crippling social anxietyMake new friends and speak with confidence Sail through the most difficult of interviews for scholarships, programs, and jobsImprove their school programs and community through effective fundraising Succeed at work and stand out to their employer, and much, much more! The winner of the Mom's Choice Gold Award for excellence, and the Teachers' Choice Award, Smile & Succeed for Teens is an attention-grabbing, easy-to-use course that has already supplied thousands of teens with the skills to do better in school, develop meaningful relationships, and establish fulfilling careers. If you want to equip your teenager for success in work and life, then you can't afford to miss Manecke's essential guide. Buy the book to set your teen on the path to success today!

Paperback: 144 pages

Publisher: Solid Press, LLC (June 6, 2014)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0985076216

ISBN-13: 978-0985076214

Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.3 x 8.5 inches

Shipping Weight: 8.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)

Best Sellers Rank: #153,492 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #9 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Children's & Teens > Teens > Social Issues #12 in Books > Teens > Education & Reference > Social Science > Sociology #13 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Children's & Teens > Teens > Values & Virtues

To be honest, there isn’t anything new in this book. It’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People” for teens. It’s everything you’re likely to read in any self-help book or what you might have learned in your “business and careers” class in school or what any job training session will teach you. Smile. Be polite. Listen. Work hard. Be nice. The language is simplified for teens, but really even my eight-year-old could read it with ease.The book starts with the “Top 10 People Skills”, including “Smile”, “Make Eye Contact”, “Turn Off the Electronics” and “Say Please and Thank You”. These are basic skills that any decent parent will try to impart long before their child reaches the teen years. But, admittedly, with our electronics obsession, some of these skills don’t get practiced as much as they should since people (especially teens) tend not to interact face-to-face as much anymore. The rest of the book is basically applying these skills to different situations such as getting a job, interacting with customers, making sales, volunteering and fundraising. Each chapter is a brisk few pages with illustrations, a “Here’s how” section, text boxes with anecdotes, tips and wired tips and other short snippets. If your attention span lacks, this book is for you.One concern I have with the book is how it frequently stresses being “sincere” and “genuine”, but then prescribes only a few restricted behavioral options – smiling, listening, being enthusiastic, etc. But the reality is that sometimes you sincerely and genuinely do not feel like listening and being enthusiastic. Maybe you stayed out too late the night before and you’re tired. Maybe you’re legitimately under the weather. Maybe you’re having problems with a co-worker or supervisor or maybe problems in your personal life. I think it would be very helpful to have a lengthy discussion on how to handle those sorts of days (which just seem to increase the older you get and the more that is going on in your life). Yes, there are expectations for how to behave at work. No, it’s not a good idea to gripe to a customer about your supervisor or waste your co-workers’ time pouring out your personal problems. But there is a balance between being professional and being authentic and it takes a lot of time and practice to strike that balance.The skills presented in this book, while good as far as they go, are rather simplistic. It’s not so simple that if you just smile and act like a super eager beaver, always wanting to please, that people will always like you and that you’ll always impress your boss and make sales. Again, it’s more complicated and, as noted above, requires a certain amount of authenticity even if that means not always being perfectly upbeat and positive. Living like you’re on a game show or something is hollow and plastic and, ultimately, not endearing to other people. Other people like to know that we’re human.The section on fundraising also bothered me a bit because of the suggestion to ask for a donation, wait for a response, answer any questions and then follow up with “so how much would you like to donate?” That last question is a technique known as “assuming the sale”. It may very well be effective in the short run to generate donations, but it feels manipulative and might leave a bit of a sour taste in the donor’s mouth.Almost as a side note, I have to respond to this bit of advice in the “Get that Job” section: “Finally, supercharge your interview with your copy of Smile & Success for Teens. Hold it up and exclaim, “I read Smile. I have the must-know people skills that make me a good employee!”” Please don’t. No, seriously, just don’t.I wouldn’t dissuade teens from reading this book. It can certainly help to have positive people and work skills in one handy book and read it before job-seeking or other similar ventures. But teens should just know that it may not be that simple. Smiling is probably a good idea, but it is not necessarily a guaranty of success.Please note, I received a complimentary copy of this book for reviewing purposes.

Kirt Manecke cares. That may sound simplistic, but invest in this book (a teen guide patterned after his adult guide addressing the lost art of interpersonal relationship skills), read it thoroughly, and pass it around to the young people slumped over in front of a computer or video game while texting and tweeting and other forms of `social communication' in a language of abbreviations and hackneyed expressions. The manner in which Manecke addresses this sad state of communication is so immensely readable and applicable that it is nearly impossible to not straighten up, smile, change attitude and be happy when the book is digested. Manecke is an expert and author on the topics of sales, marketing, fundraising, business development, and paying it forward by committing in a serious way to volunteerism in groups focused on animal welfare, land conservation and environmental issues.What Manecke places in the hands of readers is not new - it is a strong urge for revival of interpersonal interactions that push technology into the space where it is needed and instead brings people face to face with kindness, human decency, courtesy, and behavior that can change not only the reader but the world in which we live. His Ten Top People Skills chapter is the most important as he lists the following: Smile, Make Good Eye Contact, TURN OFF ELECTRONICS, Say Please and Thank You, Shake Hands Firmly, Introduce Yourself: Make a Friend, Pay Attention, Be Enthusiastic, Ask Questions Practice Proper Body Language. He demonstrates in his explanations of each of these essential traits (many long lost form years of neglect from forgetting human warmth and needs and ignored by many parents as part of teaching a child how to function in the world) how these seemingly little things make such a huge difference in the way people respond to us and we to them.The remainder of the book uses these ten essentials and expands them to relate to the workplace and to job hunting and job performance. For teenagers to read and absorb this book could very well alter the downward direction of interpersonal relationships gnawed by the plethora of social communication over the airwaves. It is an important book on so many levels. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, June 14

The best thing about this book is that my teenager actually read it. Really. I buy a lot of books for my kids. They don't read many of them. Several things about this book made it "teen readable." It is not too long (120 pages), the font is not too small and there are clever sketches and drawings every few pages.The subject of people skills gets far too little attention in the education of our children and this book covered it very well and concisely. It deals with traditional people skills (eye contact, manners, body language and more) but also deals with modern issues (i.e., turn off the smartphone and be attentive).A big and valuable part of the book is not immediately clear from the title. Chapters two through six largely deal with people skills that employers are looking for. These are interview skills, customer contact skills and salesmanship and many others. I have come to conclude that having a job during your teens is as valuable as the advance placement class we push our kids to take. Frankly, I've never used calculus at work, but people skills are critical to work success. Have your teen get a job this summer, but before you send him out, have him sit down for a couple of hours and read this book.I think the book succeeds because Mr. Manecke spent a lot of time crafting the message and presentation so that the book would be appealing to a teen reader. As I started, this book succeeds because the typical teenager will probably read it.

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