Powerful Conversations: How High Impact Leaders Communicate [Hardcover]

Phil Harkins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 7, 1999

"Phil Harkins has it exactly right. To be a leader is to communicate powerfully—as he does in this thoughtful book." - Robert B. Reich, Professor of Social and Economic Policy Brandeis University.

Powerful Conversations breed a powerful organization. POWERFUL CONVERSATIONS is packed with goal-oriented strategies, tools, and real-life examples from great leaders. Use its deliberate, directed techniques to achieve exceptional levels of performance, create and maintain valuable relationships, and forward the goals of both yourself and your organization with every word you speak. Mastering the three stages of a Powerful Conversation—from shared feelings and beliefs, to an exchange of wants and needs, closing with action steps and mutual commitments—will help you exercise more control over your interactions, and greatly enhance both your leadership skills and your success.

Look inside to discover:
How to plan, conduct, and measure Powerful Conversations;
Using the Tower of Power as a tool in coaching;
The four Cs of Trust—clarity, caring, consistency, and commitment
Five strategies to satisfy—and keep—your best employees
Tools to turn the company grapevine from a poisonous plant into a pathway for learning
Determining your leadership competencies through the Leadership Assessment Instrument
Targeting Passionate Champions to drive an Agenda for Change.

Leaders across the country are praising POWERFUL CONVERSATIONS:

"Phil Harkins has it exactly right. To be a leader is to communicate powerfully—as he does in this thoughtful book." - Robert B. Reich, Professor of Social and Economic Policy, Brandeis University.

"Powerful Conversations have made a real difference in the effectiveness of the Operations Senior Leadership Team. We are delivering unprecedented results thanks to the clearer communication and improved working relationships." - Larry Gundrum, Senior Vice President, Kraft Foods.

"In my business, Powerful Conversations are leading to believability and a growing sense of achievability by our employees that they can drive a massive agenda for change." - Linda Coughlin, Managing Director, Scudder Kemper Investments, Inc.

"In a fast forward world, candor and clarity are prerequisites for success. POWERFUL CONVERSATIONS is a must read book for leading into the 21st century." - Steve Ozonian, Chairman and CEO, Prudential Real Estate and Relocations Solutions.

"A powerful guide, both savvy and wise, to emotional intelligence in action. Phil Harkins has given us an essential handbook for leaders at any level." - Daniel Goleman, Author, Working with Emotional Intelligence.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

All Leaders Talk. It Is The Power of Their Talk That Determines Whether They Win Or Lose.

"Phil Harkins has it exactly right. To be a leader is to communicate powerfully­­as he does in this thoughtful book."­­Robert B. Reich, Professor of Social and Economic Policy, Brandeis University

"Powerful Conversations have made a real difference in the effectiveness of the Operations Senior Leadership Team. We are delivering unprecedented results thanks to the clearer communication and improved working relationships."­­Larry Gundrum, Senior Vice President, Kraft Foods

"Powerful Conversations is a thoroughly terrific book combining vivid stories, acute insights, and penetrating observations into an original and compelling look at the ways in which successful leaders communicate with their followers. It should be widely read for lessons, prescriptions, and sheer pleasure."­­Doris Kearns Goodwin, Historian and Biographer

"In my business, Powerful Converstations are leading to believability and a growing sense of achievability by our employees that they can drive a massive agenda for change."­­Linda Coughlin, Managing Director, Scudder Kemper Investments, Inc.

"In a fast forward world, candor and clarity are prerequisites for success. Powerful Conversations is a must-read book for leading into the 21st century."­­Steve Ozonian, Chairman and CEO, Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Solutions

"A powerful guide, both savvy and wise, to emotional intelligence in action. Phil Harkins has given us an essential handbook for leaders at any level."­­Daniel Goleman, Author, Working with Emotional Intelligence

About the Author

Phil Harkins, Ph.D. is president and CEO of Linkage, Inc., an organizational development company founded in 1988. He is co-chairman of the Global Institute for Leadership Development, and has held leadership positions in industry and academia.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (June 7, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071353216
• ISBN-13: 978-0071353212
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #279,580 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Phil Harkins, Ph.D. is president and CEO of Linkage, Inc., an organizational development company founded in 1988. He is co-chairman of the Global Institute for Leadership Development, and has held leadership positions in industry and academia.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A piece of the jigsaw, July 14, 2003

By 

S. J. Bockett (Wellington New Zealand) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Powerful Conversations: How High Impact Leaders Communicate (Hardcover)

The title Powerful Conversations: How High-Impact Leaders Communicate led me to believe that this book was primarily concerned with interpersonal communication. I found, however, that it is largely focussed on the ethics of leadership and the philosophy of emotional intelligence as applied to big business. The book is of high calibre in this respect, and for this reason I gave it 4 stars. But if you are looking for a hands-on manual on communication you will need to look elsewhere.

Anyone who is sufficiently motivated to read this book will no doubt be already aligned with the basic philosophy of trust, openness, honesty, and clarity. The challenge lies in implementing such a philosophy. No doubt Harkins takes a more practical approach in his corporate training programme, and it would be a very large and expensive book if it were to contain such a programme in full. However, I find it frustrating that Harkins spends far more time explaining why than he does explaining how. Some methodology is woven into the text, but on the whole, the presentation focuses largely on principles and attitudes.

All of these elements, of course, provide a necessary foundation for any system; after all, rote behaviours are largely unsustainable. But there is also a need for clear directives on the progressive action steps that need to be taken. The book must serve exceedingly well as a door opener for corporate clients, but the owner/operator of a small business will not find definitive steps that he or she could progressively implement from the book alone. I should add that I am not advocating the rigid paint-by-numbers formula that some other motivational books follow.

What I most question is Harkins' representation of trust as a primary focus, rather than as an outcome of deliberate and conscious process. Trust, far from being a subjective quality only, is an objective competency that employees as well as their leaders must progressively develop and demonstrate. For example, in his book, Leadership, Rudolph Giuliani describes the functioning of his mayoral team with great frankness. In so doing, he demonstrates clearly how trust is not assumed at the beginning; it is developed over time and established through frank and honest appraisal of each team member's verbal and practical input. I miss this in Harkins' book.

I have nevertheless reserved a place for Powerful Conversations on my bookshelves. But to round out Harkins' perspective, I have added books like Rudolph Giuliani's Leadership, Jim Loehr's & Tony Swartz's The Power of Full Engagement, Dorothy Leeds' The 7 Powers of Questions and Meryl Runion's Power Phrases. Together, they make a mighty team.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful!, April 23, 2001

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Powerful Conversations: How High Impact Leaders Communicate (Hardcover)

When you talk, do people listen? Communicating effectively is essential in the business world. It is the first step in the path toward leadership. While other business books discuss leadership as a whole, this one focuses in on one of the most basic - and often overlooked - prerequisites to leadership: excellent communication skills. While most of the suggestions presented in Powerful Conversations seem like simple common sense, the book does get you to focus on critical points that you probably take for granted, like building trust, preparing in advance for potentially touchy conversations and actually listening to what other people say. In addition, it offers some helpful conversational strategies and pointers for determining when your meeting is heading south. We [...] recommend this book to executives in leadership positions, who will be reminded to brush up on their conversational style and delivery, and to business people and students looking to talk their way to the top.

38 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not my favorite leadership book, December 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Powerful Conversations: How High Impact Leaders Communicate (Hardcover)

My first reaction to "Powerful Conversations" was positive, but as I read further into the book, I found more disturbing ideas. In particular, the book preaches the importance fostering trust, while also advocating manipulative strategies to keep strong-willed employees inline. If you are willing to put these issues aside, there are some valuable concepts to take away from the book.