Leadership Toolkit - Communication

Communicate Like a Leader: Connecting Strategically to Coach, Inspire, and Get Things Done – Dianna Booher (Barrett-Koehler Publishers)

“The art of communication is the language of leadership,” James Humes, former speechwriter for five U.S. Presidents.

Think about a list of words that relate to leadership: trust, accountable, authentic, charismatic, creative, motivating, open, original, supportive and countless others. All of those mentioned and many that were not, all are improved/enhanced by the ability to communicate strategically and communicate well.

Veteran leadership coach, and bestselling author of 47 books, Dianna Booher has delivered one of the most vital and important leadership books to come along in some time with her latest; Communicate Like a Leader: Connecting Strategically to Coach, Inspire, and Get Things Done.

Booher breaks down leadership communications to six categories that cover the gamut:

• Strategic Leadership
• Strategic Conversations
• Strategic Negotiations
• Strategic Speaking
• Strategic Writing
• Strategic Meetings

She delivers each of these categories into easily digestible, bite size chunks that you can bounce around and refer back to when the need arises. Don’t be confused that because this book is accessible that it lacks depth; clearly Booher based much of this content on her long career advising leaders at Fortune 500 companies.  

Looking back through the notes I scrawled in the margins has a worked my way through the book I came to the realization that while Booher gives you the tools to be a more successful communicator/leader, communications is not easy; which is why so many folks struggle with it. When you consider just how inter-connected so much of leadership communication is to so much of what makes a business succeed or fail it is a critical skillset you need to develop to move forward as a leader.

The critical take away is to not try to tackle each of these sections/categories in one sitting. Communication skills come with time and practice so build your mastery over time by putting these lessons to work one step at a time.