Communicate with Mastery Speak With Conviction and Write for Impact

Develop your leadership communication

Communicating with Mastery provides readers with a rich treasure trove of frameworks and tools for leadership communication as developed and taught over the past decade at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. Designed for the business leader on the go, it provides you quick access to helpful approaches to vexing communication problems leaders face today in speaking and writing to various audiences.

Projects often fail not because of the vision, but in the articulation of that vision. With the help of this book, you’ll learn how to ensure you get the results you desire as a leader and communicator including:

• Speak with conviction and write with impact
• Tailor your communication to any goal, setting, or audience
• Scale your leadership through effective coaching

Every time you write or speak, you need to make your words count. And this book shows you how.

JD Schramm founded the Mastery in Communication Initiative at Stanford's Graduate School of Business, where he's served as lecturer in Organizational Behavior since 2007.

Kara Levy is an executive communication and leadership coach who's offered thousands the tools to communicate more confidently. She holds an MFA in fiction writing from Columbia University.

Foreword xi

Introduction xiii

Individuality xvi

Relevance xvi

Iteration xvii

Feedback xviii

Stakes xviii

Part 1 Speaking with Conviction and Writing for Impact 1

1 Adopting a Communication Mindset 3

Know Your AIM 3

Beyond AIM: The Leadership Communication Canvas 14

2 Speaking with Conviction 25

Managing Your Anxiety 26

Verbal, Vocal, Visual: Your Recipe for Successful Communication 29

3 Writing for Impact: Active, Brief, and Clear 45

Active 46

Brief 47

Clear 48

Synthesis > Summary 48

The Yin and Yang of Writing: Style and Content 50

The Power of Editing (Others’ Work and Your Own) 53

Part 2 Tailoring Your Communication to Goal, Setting, or Identity 57

4 Tailoring Your Communication to Your Goal 59

Pitching 59

Storytelling 69

Disclosing Personally 82

5 Tailoring Your Communication to Your Setting 91

Meetings 91

Virtual Meetings 97

On Stage (TED Talks, LOWKeynotes, and the Like) 99

When Co-Presenting 101

When Fielding Questions 103

When Using Slides 107

6 Tailoring Your Communication to Your Identity 111

Leading in Your Second (or Third, or Fourth) Language 112

Leading as an LGBTQ Person 113

Leading as a Woman 123

Leading as a Rookie 129

Leading as a Military Veteran 131

Part 3 Scaling Your Leadership: The Communication Coaching Process 139

7 When Being Coached 141

Establishing Your Goals 141

Selecting Your Coach 143

Adopting a Coaching Mindset 145

8 When Coaching Others 147

What Makes a Great Coach? 147

Defining the Coaching Role 149

Tools of the Trade 150

9 Creating a Coaching Culture 157

Everyone Can Coach (But Not Everyone Should) 157

Embracing Radical Candor 159

Mirroring and Modeling Best Practices 163

Epilogue: It’s in Your Hands Now 165

Appendix A: Power Verbs 169

Appendix B: Memo on the Quality of Memos 173

Appendix C: More Tips on Winning Writing from Glenn Kramon 179

Appendix D: The Leadership Communication Bookshelf 183

Bibliography 187

Acknowledgments 191

About the Authors 195

Index 197

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