Sunday, August 17, 2008
COMMUNICATION books & movies
What books and movies would you recommend to someone strong (or weak) in Communication?
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Donald Clifton, Ph.D. 1924-2003
Father of Strengths Psychology and Grandfather of Positive Psychology
Peter F. Drucker, 1909 -2005
"The idea that there are "well-rounded" people, people who have only strengths and no weaknesses ... is a prescription for mediocrity if not incompetence. Strong people always have strong weaknesses. ... And no one is strong in many areas."
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Peter F. Drucker Quote:
"People-decisions are time-consuming, for the simple reason that the Good Lord did not create people as "resources" for organizations. They do not come in proper size and shape for the tasks that have to be done in organization - and they cannot be machined down or re-cast for these tasks. People are always "almost fits" at best. To get the work done with people (...) therefore requires lots of time, thought and judgement."
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Stephen Denning was an executive at the World Bank. In his book "The Leader's Guide to Storytelling - Mastering the Art and Discipline of Business Narratives" he talks about a key experience that led him to write this book "... I was facing a leadership challenge that made the traditional tools of management seem impotent. In trying to communicate a new idea to a sceptical audienc, I found that the virtues of sharpness, rigor and explicitness weren't working. Having stumbled on the discovery that an appropriately told story had the power to do what rigorous analysis couldn't - to communicate a strange new idea easily and naturally and quickly get people into enthusiastic action."
I find this an excellent book for people both strong and weak in communication, and especially if you your thinking talents are strong at the expense of relating or influencing talents. This book is a nice "manual" in story telling, with several "templates" (narrative patterns), such as "ignite action", "communicate who you are", "build your brand", "instill organizational values", "get things done collaboratively", "transmit knowledge and understanding", "neutralize gossip and rumor" and "lead people into the future".
"Difficult Conversations" of D. Stone, B. Patton and Sh. Heen is one of the best books I have ever read about emotional intelligence and communication. It is a book relevant for people both strong and weak in communication. It gave me much more practical, real-life advise that many of Daniel Goleman's books. It is a New York Times Bestseller that originated from the Harvard Negotiation Project. Indeed, I got this book in a negotiation course that I was once taking, although the book is not directly about negotiating, and more about "how to discuss what matters most.", from dismissing an employee, asking workers not to smoke in your house or telling your father how much you love him.
One of the concepts that most influenced me was that one of the biggest causes for difficult conversations are "identity quakes" that they often provoke.
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