The Power of Communication
Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively
Helio Fred Garcia
Vice President, Publisher: Tim Moore
Associate Publisher and Director of Marketing: Amy Neidlinger
Executive Editor: Jeanne Glasser Levine
Editorial Assistant: Tamara Hummel
Operations Specialist: Jodi Kemper
Assistant Marketing Manager: Megan Graue
Cover Designer: Chuti Prasertsith
Managing Editor: Kristy Hart
Project Editor: Betsy Harris
Copy Editor: Cheri Clark
Proofreader: Leslie Joseph
Indexer: Erika Millen
Compositor: Nonie Ratcliff
Manufacturing Buyer: Dan Uhrig
2012 by Helio Fred Garcia
Published by Pearson Education, Inc.
Publishing as FT Press
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
Neither the United States Marine Corps nor any other component of the Department of Defense has approved, endorsed, or authorized this product.
FT Press offers excellent discounts on this book when ordered in quantity for bulk purchases or special sales. For more information, please contact U.S. Corporate and Government Sales, 1-800-382-3419, .
Company and product names mentioned herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing April 2012
ISBN-10: 0-13-288884-X
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-288884-4
Pearson Education LTD.
Pearson Education Australia PTY, Limited.
Pearson Education Singapore, Pte. Ltd.
Pearson Education Asia, Ltd.
Pearson Education Canada, Ltd.
Pearson Educacin de Mexico, S.A. de C.V.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Garcia, Helio Fred.
The power of communication : skills to build trust, inspire loyalty, and lead effectively / Helio
Fred Garcia. -- 1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-13-288884-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Communication in management. 2. Leadership. 3. Interpersonal communication. I.
Title.
HD30.3.G355 2012
658.45--dc23
2012003106
Praise for The Power of Communication
Helio Fred Garcia coached me a decade ago on the fundamentals of effective communication. I probably wasnt his best student, but I count what I learned from him as one of the most important contributions to my personal growth as an executive. Were fortunate to now have Freds book The Power of Communication, which encapsulates his enormous depth of knowledge and breadth of experience in communicationas a practitioner, as a scholar, and as a teacher. The book contains a wealth of real-life examples of what works and what doesnt in communication, and each chapter provides a recap of best practices and key lessons learned. This book should be on the must-read list of any person who aspires to lead by capturing the hearts and minds of his or her stakeholders.
Jeffrey Bleustein, Retired Chairman and CEO, Harley-Davidson, Inc.
The Power of Communication is an absolutely terrific book on how to communicate and lead in complex and shifting situations. Helio Fred Garcia has compiled a wealth of compelling examples to illustrate and support a cogent and immensely practical set of principles for leadership communication. The result is a compelling guide for leaders in business and government settings alike.
Amy C. Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management, Harvard Business School, and author of Teaming: How Organizations Learn, Innovate, and Compete in the Knowledge Economy
Helio Fred Garcia is known as one of the most engaging and effective professors at NYU. Readers of this book will learn why. Only Fred could weave together tales about Abbott and Costello, the Marine Corps, and Cicero into a must-read for anyone who hopes to connect with the American public.
Louis Capozzi, Chairman, MSL Group (retired), and Adjunct Professor, New York University
Helio Fred Garcia has had an enormous impact on my career, my practice, and my life since we first met more than 25 years ago when he recruited me to teach at NYU. I have watched him have similar effects on thousands of others. He is the man of eloquence Cicero describes. Fred instructs instinctively. His ability, which is what this book is all about, to look at critically important communication and leadership topics and issues from completely new and important perspectives, in this case the United States Marine Corps Warfighting manual, is profoundly interesting and helpful.
The book is story after story, insight after insight, lesson after lesson, inspiration after inspiration. Just when you think its impossible to find another important illustration of a crucial communication or leadership principle, Fred gives you another chapter of powerful, sensible, often surprising and charming stories and lessons. Believe me, he is a persuasive orator in person and, as youll read, on paper.
Looking to build your powers of communication, to inspire trust and confidence, and to lead effectively? You hold in your hand the key ingredient to a happier, more successful, and influential professional life. Start reading.
James E. Lukaszewski, ABC, APR, Fellow PRSA, President, The Lukaszewski Group Division, Risdall Public Relations
Professor Garcias book is great news for decision-makers, leaders, and professionals in the U.S. and any country in the world. He was frequently invited by Tsinghua University to teach in our senior officials training seminars on crisis communication and was always remembered by our executive students as Professor Reputation Management. His class evaluations by the participating state council ministers, senior officials, and corporate leaders were always the best.
Many thought that American methods of solving crises were not suitable for China, but Freds lectures rapidly dispelled their skepticism. His vivid examples, drawn from the U.S. Marine Corps as well as corporate experience around the world, made a deep impression on participants, who have since applied his practical and innovative approach to their own work. We truly believe that the book contains some very important global wisdom to save you in crisis in an omni-media age. The pity is that he can visit China only once a year, but that gives us all the more reason to celebrate the publication of this book, a very clear, concise, interesting, and powerful masterpiece.
Professor Steven Guanpeng Dong, Ph.D., Chair and Director, Institute of Public Relations and Strategic Communications, Tsinghua University, Beijing; Vice President, China Public Relations Association; former Shorenstein Fellow on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Heres what Ive come to believe is the indisputable truth with regard to leadership: If you cant communicate effectively, you will not lead.
Fred has written a book that will give anyone who desires to lead people and/or organizations an invaluable tool for success. He provides an organized, rational approach to communicating with any and all stakeholders.
Fred has taken the Marine Corps cornerstone publication Warfighting and applied the approach and the mentality to professional communicationand it works! I found this book to be a tremendous real-world guide for blueprinting and executing a world-class communication planand Ethos.
This book should be kept on the desk of anyone who leads or anyone who communicates publicly. You will use it often.
Lieutenant Colonel Robert Riggle, USMCR