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A while ago, Brent Darnell posted a copy of the latest edition of his book, “The People-Profit Connection 3rd Edition” online asking downloaders to review it as payment.

It’s taken me a while, but I’ve read through the book and here is my review.

I’ve met Brent Darnell a few times and I’ve seen him speak. I even mentioned him in my presentation at the 2011 Build Business conference. He is a very nice guy.

Emphasizing “emotional intelligence,” Brent consults the construction industry on the soft skills. As we now, the hard skills are easy, the soft skills are hard.

He’s got his work cut out for him. Getting construction folk to embrace yoga and compassion ranks up there in difficulty with getting a cat to do the waltz.

More than anything, The People Profit Connection is the story of Brent’s struggles and successes in this pursuit.

Brent whole-heartedly believes anything is possible, if you just believe. After losing his glasses in a river while on an overseas stint, he comes back the next day, dives into the river, and finds them.

The demonstrations of his concepts are almost so unbelievable they seem like magic tricks. Just look at the video or link below to watch how he demonstrates the effect your positive or negative thoughts can have on other people.

I bet that video shows something you would never had imagined possible (unless you saw the movie “Scanners“).

You might even find this kind of stuff a little weird. But as Brent explains in his book:

“I want to be that weird guy who is passionate about what he does and gets great results even though people look at him as someone who is a little bit out there.”

His wife looks at him and says:

“You teach emotional intelligence, yoga, and meditation to contractors. I think you are that guy.”

Brent’s overarching philosophy is if you improve your people, you’ll improve your profits.

The People Profit Connection is not what I would consider a “how to book.” While Brent does talk about the tests and tactics he uses, as well as, the principles of emotional intelligence, he uses his direct experiences in the construction industry to illustrate many of the concepts.

The step-by-step process outlined in the book includes steps like “hire the right consultant.” So, the book’s focus is on improving a team or organization’s performance. And as Brent recommends, this is going to require buy in and involvement from leadership. It will also require a little outside help.

With that said, I’m not sure the People Profit Connection is the book marketing coordinators or even marketing directors should run out and buy. However, it might make a worthwhile present for your principal, president, or CEO.

Or if you would enjoy a story about one man’s journey as he tries to dramatically change an industry, it might be worth picking up.

You can buy a copy of the People Profit Connection here. Brent also has a lot of free content and tools over at his website.

I know this will make its way to Brent. So if he’d like to write a piece on how individual marketers might improve their emotional intelligence, we’d be more than happy to post it at HelpEverybodyEveryday.com.