Some reasons why communicating, and more importantly connection, make such a major impact on leadership from John Maxwell's "Everyone Communicates, Few Connect."I am convinced more than ever that good communication and leadership are all about connecting. If you cannot connect with others at every level—one-on-one, in groups, and with an audience—your relationships are stronger, your sense of community improves, your ability to create teamwork increases, your influence increases, and your productivity skyrockets.
Connecting is the ability to identify with people and relate to them in a way that increases your influence with them.
According to the Harvard Business Review, “The number once criteria for advancement and promotion for professionals is an ability to communicate effectively.”
If you want to become more productive and influential, learn to become a better leader because everything rises and falls on leadership. And the best leaders are always excellent connectors.
Presidential historian Robert Dallek says that successful presidents exhibit five qualities that enable them to achieve things that enable them to achieve things that others don’t: vision, pragmatism, consensus building, charisma, and trustworthiness.
Four of these factors depend heavily upon the ability to communicate on multiple levels.
Presidents, like all leaders, need to be able to describe where they are going (vision), persuade people to come along with them (consensus), connect on a personal level (charisma), and demonstrate credibility, i.e., do what they say they will do (trust). Even pragmatism depends on communications… So in a very real sense, leadership effectiveness, both for presidents and for anyone else in a position of authority, depends to a high degree upon good communication skills.
“If I went back to college again, I’d concentrate on two areas: learning to write and to speak before an audience. Nothing in life is more important than the ability to communicate effectively.” -Gerald Ford
When you connect with others, you position yourself to make the most of your skills and talents.
Later today, we will give away a free copy of John Maxwell's book "Everyone Communicates, Few Connect."
As I mentioned previously, I've been given copies of "Everyone Communicates, Few Connect," from Thomas Nelson Publishing. I must remind everyone that NCAA rules prohibit me from giving them away to high school coaches, AAU coaches and prospective student-athletes (one day I may blog about some of these NCAA rules!).
