Customer Reviews

Powerful Conversations: How High Impact Leaders Communicate

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

As a coach, consultant and author, I have read many books about communication. I have to admit this one goes right to the top. It provides an excellent model for powerful conversations that are based on open communication, trust, and forward movement. The model of "What's Up, What's So, What's Possible, Let's Go, is simple and complex at the same time. Harkins shares real-life examples that illustrate his points. Combining this resource with another of my favorites, Difficult Conversations Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss what Matters Most will enable any leader to maximize his or her communication results. Pay special attention to the definition of "passionate champions" and the enlistment of these people for supporting organizational change. I referenced this book many times in my latest book, Managing Sticky Situations at Work.

This is definitely a must-read for high impact leaders.

It is no secret that some leaders can inspire people to heroic levels of greatness, while others can not even stimulate individuals to the level of mediocrity. Some organizations can inspire fierce employee loyalty while others watch their top talent depart regularly. The author of this book argues that often the reason for these situations lies in the way the top leaders of an organization communicate with the rest of the organization.

The author of this book shares his insight as to how high impact leaders communicate. By sharing the stories of some remarkable leaders who use Powerful Conversations techniques to spread their voice throughout their organization, to instill trust and loyalty, and to effectuate deep and profound change when change is necessary, the author hopes to share:

· why you must always say what you will do and what you say;
· how to use the four-step Tower of Power to guide companies through Powerful Conversations that lead to action;
· how to really listen to people so that organizations hear their message and they know that you understand;
· how to create Agenda for change and implement it to create profound change within the organization.

The author shares the five competencies-focused drive, emotional intelligence, trusted influence, conceptual thinking and systems thinking-shared by all high-impact leaders.

Prior to reading Powerful Conversations: How High-Impact Leaders Communicate, I had anticipated a manual to the proper rules of conversation. However, this book turned out to be much more than a manual of sorts. Harkins not only provides ways to develop excellent communication as well as leadership skills, he also explains what powerful conversations are, how they are structured, and what types of impacts, accomplishments and outcomes they render.
Being able to communicated effectively is critical in today's corporate world. Harkins reminds us of some of the most basic skills that most of us don't even consider to be as important in communication as they actually prove to be. Skills such as the ability to build trusting relationships and listen carefully to others.
However, not all the techniques discussed are as basic. It does indeed take practice to become a master of powerful conversation. Harkins provides six tools which can be used to enhance your communication and leadership skill in order to ensure greater success. I found Tool 1: Planning, Conducting, and Measuring Powerful Conversations, to be an excellent guideline for the preparation and implementation of powerful conversations. This tool also provides a series of simple but very relevant questions that you can ask yourself to determine what type of outcome resulted from your conversation.
Harkins also includes a self-scoring sample of the Leadership Assessment Instrument (LAI) to help you gain insight into your own leadership abilities, which I found to be extremely helpful.
Overall, I found this book to be very beneficial and would recommend it to professionals, students, and anyone looking to enhance their success.

Powerful Conversations is a perfect book for those with the drive to become a separate superb leader -- and not an average one.

Wish I would have read this years ago, I have read at least five similar books but none of them even approached the model of conversation described here. I now see very clearly why organizations like Starbucks and GE have managed to maintain such a clear vision - this idea is pure genius!

Highly recommend -- only for those with the drive to take this into practice. Not something average managers can use without hard work.

This book provides the necessary tools for leadership and impactful conversations. It provides real-life technologies and tools for leaders at all levels of the organization. Inspiring and educational, this book should be on the shelf of all emerging and current leaders.