Generating Buy-In: Mastering the Language of Leadership [Hardcover]

Mark S. Walton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 25, 2003

Business success depends not only on visionary ideas but also on the ability to get employees, investors, potential partners, and customers to "buy-in" to those ideas. This work presents the language of leadership used by the most influential leaders in business, politics, and other arenas.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This book will stimulate your thinking and change the way you communicate. -- The Midwest Book Review

Review

Business Books by Jim Pawlak, syndicated columnist: "Those who run (command and control) companies would do well to heed the words in Generating Buy-In.Those who lead (inspire their employees) companies will find his advice a timely reminder of what they must continue doing."

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 17 and up
  
• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM (July 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814407889
• ISBN-13: 978-0814407882
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,459,126 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mark S. Walton is Chairman of the Center for Leadership Communication, an education and communication enterprise with a focus on leadership and exceptional achievement at every stage of life. The Center's website location is: www.leadercommunication.com

Mark is an internationally distinguished leadership educator, management advisor and Peabody award-winning journalist whose work at the highest levels of business, government, the military and the media has spanned nearly four decades.

His most recent book is "Boundless Potential: Transform Your Brain, Unleash Your Talents, Reinvent Your Work in Midlife and Beyond" (McGraw Hill, 2012).

His previous book was "Generating Buy-In: Mastering the Language of Leadership," a landmark examination of the dynamics of persuasive leadership, published by the American Management Association in 2004 and selected by Business Week as one of the Top 30 business books of the year.

Mark has been a Professor of Leadership in the U.S. Navy's Advanced Management Program as well as a Senior Lecturer in Management at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he taught leadership and strategic communication at the Senior Executive Institute and in the MBA and Executive MBA programs at the nationally top-ranked Kenan-Flagler Graduate Business School.

While on the Carolina faculty, Mark founded the Center for Leadership Communication, an education and communication enterprise with a focus on advanced leadership and executive development. As the Center's Chairman for the past 15 years, Mark has taught extensively in corporate universities and management development programs and worked individually with CEO's, Division Presidents and a wide range of other senior executives and professionals at many of the world's leading organizations, including: Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, Dow Chemical Company, Duke Energy Corporation, General Electric Corporation, GlaxoSmithKline, NASA, Toyota Motor Corporation and the United States Navy and Marine Corps.

Earlier in his career, Mark was an internationally-recognized network television news anchorman, correspondent and analyst, specializing in political leadership and national affairs. A founding correspondent of Cable News Network (CNN), he served as CNN's first Chief White House Correspondent and, later, as CNN's Senior Correspondent, traveling the nation and world from CNN headquarters in Atlanta. The book 'CNN: The Inside Story' characterizes him as "one of a small group of renegades who changed the face of TV News."

While at CNN, Mark was a recipient of broadcast journalism's premier honor, the coveted Peabody Award, for his role as Correspondent in CNN's live coverage, from Moscow, of the failed Soviet coup in 1991 and the subsequent fall of Communism. His reporting and writing have also been honored with The National Headliner Award, Ohio State Journalism Award, Cable Ace Award, the Gold Medal of the New York TV and Film Festival and the Silver Gavel of the American Bar Association.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fast Read, Strong Lessons, September 25, 2003

By 

Roger E. Herman (Greensboro, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Generating Buy-In: Mastering the Language of Leadership (Hardcover)

My initial sense when I picked up this book is that is was thin, perhaps lightweight. In pounds, it is lightweight (good to stick in your briefcase for that next airplane trip). In content, it's heavyweight.

The premise of this book is that leaders send their messages, inspire their followers, and achieve results by using a particular type of language. The secret is astonishingly simple: tell stories, strategic stories. The key is to share a vision that people can buy into and they'll follow you to the ends of the Earth.

This disarmingly short book provides the insight into the technique, explains how this approach works, shows you how to use it, and encourages you to use the system. It seems so easy...one of those things that's right there in front of us, but we never saw it. Walton, a former CNN journalist, reports what he's learned, citing examples from the strategies of well-known executives.

Readers will benefit from clear explanations, how-to advice, and a sort of combination of enlightenment and inspiration. This book will stimulate your thinking and change the way you communicate. The illustrations, a glossary, and index provide added value.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Framework, January 2, 2004

By 

B.Sudhakar Shenoy (India) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Generating Buy-In: Mastering the Language of Leadership (Hardcover)

Effective communication of the intended message with the objective of ensuring buy-in is a key requirement for leaders at all levels today. This book is an easy to use toolkit for performing this effectively.

The framework ( if I can use the word) for generating buy-in, is simple and powerful. Having determined the buy-in objective, it is important to establish a strategic story line. Humans think in pictures and images, and it is an appealing story that can capture attention about the vision and a positive future. The next step is to have three targeted chapters (based on the theory of Trilogy of Persuasion) , each directed at fulfilling the audience's future needs, wants and goals. Here the leader aligns his goals with that of the audience. Each targeted chapter is followed by supporting evidence to substantiate the statements in the targeted chapters. Buy-in is almost complete at this stage and now is the opportunity to call for action.

Each of these steps is clearly explained through very relevant examples. Excerpts from President George W. Bush's address to a joint session of Congress , September 20, 2001( to rally the nation in the wake of September 11 attacks), structured on this framework , is the best take away from this book.

A chapter at the end of the book is devoted to some FAQ's on the language of buy-in.

This is not a book that discusses theories of leadership and communication, but a practical guide for achieving results.

Highly recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Low Tech - High Impact and To the Point..., December 27, 2005

By 

Rai Chowdhary "Rai" (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Generating Buy-In: Mastering the Language of Leadership (Hardcover)

At first I thought the author was Ury - seeing his name prominently displayed on the cover. Anyway, I bought and finished this book during a 2 hour plane ride. It is simple and to the point, helps you get the essence of what you should be doing to get buy in. No deep psychological dialog here - just tips that any one and everyone can put to work.

When dealing with rather sophisticated audiences - these techniques can fall short; so one needs to carefully study the audience first.

The author has done a good job of laying out his message in an easy to understand format, and the aesthetics of the book are pleasing as well. That made the read all the more enjoyable.

Good value for money...