Helio Fred Garcia is the president of the Crisis Management Firm Logos Consulting Group. By accidentally I got the opportunity to read his book The Power of Communication. As per the title the book covers the importance of communication skills. But where it differ from other books of same type is Garcia not explaining the concepts or importance of communication directly. 80% of the books covers real world scenarios where communication played major role. Out of 10 chapters in almost 8 chapters he explains the pathetic and wonderful situations (in corporations, government sectors, not for profit organizations) which happened only because of Communication.
The book describes communication as a war. Wherever it is possible Garcia took the opportunity to explain this as much as close. The book begins with story of Steve Jobs, he used the frame “Ipod, 1000 songs in your packet” to introduce & promote the ipod in the launch event. Garcia explained that Jobs used the power of communication instead of the power of technology to explain. Even if he explained the technical specification we are not sure whether would reached as much as he achieved by this.
Also in the same way he explained the situations occurred in the hewlett packard management board because of Hurd termination. Also the Hurricane Katrina situation and how the government handled it. Even though they helped and rescued lot of people, because of early high expectation set up and improper communication the received bad impression on them.
In the last three chapters only he explained the ways how the communication needs to be done and several other factors over that. And also he explains the role of metaphor in communication and how to face the audience, how to respond, how to stand,etc., A nice book for people who wants to lead and makes their communication effective.
The last point I remember is even though I completed this book, the phrases used in this book are in my primary memory. I think that’s the success of this book. Below are few of those quotes.
Effective Communication is a force multiplier
Planning is not looking at Calender; Looking at Chessboard
Humans are not thinking machines; We are feeling machines who also think
In the illusion what we see overrides what we hear
Better Words, Stronger Words, Fewer Words
