Customer Reviews

The Truth About Getting Your Point Across: ...and Nothing But the Truth

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4 star:		(1)
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This book is a great resource. The points discussed are practical, immediately applicable, and will increase the effectiveness of any manager when applied. I intend to keep this book on my desk as both a reference tool and a reminder of what it takes to be an effective leader.

The Truth About Getting Your Point Across...And Nothing But the Truth is an experience-based, practical guide for anyone who needs to get his or her point across in just about any setting. Whether you are a first-line manager in a large corporation, a CEO of a small business, or a president of a PTA, this book will help you navigate difficult communication situations and give you some very practical tips for dealing with a wide range of communications challenges.

The book contains 59 short chapters, or "truths", grouped into 13 real-life parts, as follows:

Part I: The Truth About You and Your Recipient

Part II: The Truth About Setting Direction

Part III: The Truth About Running Meetings

Part IV: The Truth About Developing Effective Presentations

Part V: The Truth About Writing Status Reports

Part VI: The Truth About Brainstorming

Part VII: The Truth About Problem Solving

Part VIII: The Truth About Interviewing

Part IX: The Truth About Giving Feedback

Part X: The Truth About Being a Good Listener

Part XI: The Truth About Informal Communications

Part XII: The Truth About Influencing Those Who Don't Work for You

Part XIII: The Truth About Communicating Globally

You'll find that some of the parts may apply and others may not; but there is enough breadth in categories that you will likely find at least a couple of the truths relevant and helpful to you. Each of the 59 truths is focused on a specific topic and contains a number of practical take-aways that you as the reader will easily glean from the reading. The truths are catchy, easy to read, and relevant to today. Here are examples of a few truth titles:


* "Truth 12: Watch the pontificator!"

* "Truth 30: Biased facilitators torpedo brainstorming sessions"

* "Truth 47: Don't hang out a therapist shingle unless you're a therapist"

* "Truth 52: Be accessible, not open-door"

* "Truth 59: Just because they can speak in your native tongue doesn't mean they understand everything you say"

Each truth is self-contained, so you can either jump around and read only the truths which you're most interested in or read the entire book, which will take you a couple of hours to get through.



Pacelli draws upon his over 20 years of experience at Accenture and Microsoft to develop a concise and relevant guide to help you with your greatest business communication challenges. You'll find very little in the way of heady or theoretical views here. It's just practical stuff that works. You'll want to keep "The Truth About Getting Your Point Across" handy to refer back to again and again.

I have a terrible time getting my point across. I am not sure if this book has helped me because I am still having trouble getting my point across

This book really gets its point across! It provides all of the basics of clear and direct business communication, succinctly and effectively. If you are new to the business world, put this book in your library *now*! I can't think of a better college/business school graduation gift under $50!

If you're part of the corporate world, you should recognize that communication skills are at the top of the "must have" list in order to succeed. Lonnie Pacelli has written a compact guide that can help improve that area of your professional existence... The Truth About Getting Your Point Across... And Nothing But the Truth.

Contents: The Truth About You and Your Recipient; The Truth About Setting Direction; The Truth About Running Meetings; The Truth About Developing Effective Presentations; The Truth About Writing Status Reports; The Truth About Brainstorming; The Truth About Problem Solving; The Truth About Interviewing; The Truth About Giving Feedback; The Truth About Being A Good Listener; The Truth About Informal Communications; The Truth About Influencing Those Who Don't Work For You; The Truth About Communicating Globally; References

The book is divided up into 59 two to four page "truths" that cover an aspect of communication. For instance, in the Communicating Globally chapter, #59 is "Just Because They Can Speak Your Native Tongue Doesn't Mean They Understand Everything You Say". Oh, so true. He then relates an incident from his experience speaking in front of a Japanese group that appeared to understand what he was presenting. Only later he found out that he spoke too quickly and used a number of unfamiliar terms. From that, he came up with a number of suggestions to help you avoid that same problem. Short, valuable, and to the point. Personally, I really dug into the Developing Effective Presentations chapter. Some things I've already done right, like Truth #18 - Entertaining An Audience Breeds Effective Learning. But other things I need to take to heart, like #21 - Develop Content Once - Use It A Thousand Times. I need to make sure I have my presentation material organized such that it's easy to reuse and adapt to different audiences.

There's a lot of value in this book, and you'll walk away with a few new things to work on every time you read it. Definitely a good volume to have on your bookshelf.

Knowing how to communicate clearly is one of the most critical skills in management. Without clear communications you cannot lead. Lonnie boils down many great ideas into crisp advice. The points discussed in his book are not only practical but immediately applicable, and will increase the effectiveness of any manager when applied. I highly recommend this book.

Presents 59 "truths" about:
your recipients;
setting direction;
running meetings;
developing effective presentations;
writing status reports;
brainstorming;
problem solving;
interviewing;
giving feedback;
being a good listener;
informal communications;
influencing those who don't work for you;
and communicating globally.

Pacelli makes his points with clarity and brevity. Filled with sound advice. Highly recommended.