Add You Can't Not Communicate To Your Reading List

Can't decide what business book to take on your summer vacation this year to accompany your "fun-reading" books? I recommend David Grossman's, You Can't Not Communicate, 2."

Why, because this updated installment of his previous best-seller with virtually the same title is an easy read and one you can finish in an afternoon.

More important, David gives you lots of practical, real-world, wise, straight-forward advice on how to communicate more effectively as a leader -- all tips and techniques you can start to do when you return from vacation. So, taking an afternoon to read this book even while you are on vacation will be well worth it!

Particularly helpful are the:

Top 10 must-do strategies for persuasive presentations
Five easy strategies for managing the company rumor mill
Twelve must-have skills for effective two-way communication

David also explains:

the importance of having a "messagemap"
ways leaders at all levels can build trust by aligning actions with words
the four things you need to know about communicating with Millennials

Some of the more interesting facts in the book are:

Nearly 50 percent of employees say they don't understand their company's business strategies or what is required for success.
Only 11 percent of employees strongly agree that their managers show consistency between their words and their actions.
Only 20 percent of employees have a clear "line of sight" between their tasks and the organization's or team's goals.

David also debunks these communication myths:

I don't have time to communicate
People won't interpret situations if you don't talk about them
Talking is communication

If you don't already know David, he coaches leaders around the world and was recently named to USA Today's corporate management and leadership CEO panel. Prior to his founding The Grossman Group in 2000, he was director of communications for MacDonald's.

I am a big fan of his work. And kudos to the designer and artist who enriched the book with plenty of photos, illustrations and graphics that makes You Can't Not Communicate, 2 all the more enjoyable.

Finally, I'm also a firm believer in this philosophy of David's:

Every day, we make a choice--to communicate in a purposeful way, or to wing it. We chose to help our staffs understand how they fit in and help us drive business results, or allow them to come up with their own priorities and conclusions. We choose to work on this learned skill (communication) and continue to develop ourselves, or make excuses about a lack of time, or how communications is a "soft" skill and not essential. In the end, my point-of-view on communication remains the same. Since we communicate whether we want to or not, it's in our best interest to get good at it."

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