How to Be a Great Communicator : In Person, on Paper, and on the Podium

Rating:
Summary: Learn From the Master!
Review: If you need to be a great communicator to succeed in your profession (that includes everybody!), read this book. Learn from the master-communicator himself, Nido Qubein!

Dr. Michael Beitler
Author of "Strategic Organizational Change"

Rating:
Summary: Nothing Much
Review: That's what it is...It's a book that takes a few key concepts and embellished it to reasonable thickness so as to hit the stores looking good. I finished it in 1 1/2 days - skipping many mundane references. In my opinion, the book is probably worth less than 20 pages of useful material.

Rating:
Summary: Want to be Spoon Feed? This Is YOUR BOOK!
Review: The book is constantly on the edge of being all fluff. It lacks depth. This book takes the few important things Qubein chooses to share and ever so gently goes over the details. The author talks directly and softly without being chatty. This would be a very good book for a very young reader that wants to learn about public speaking. For adults, looking for a book to practice speed reading and skimming, the book is a truly outstanding. While it is well written and well organized, there is hardly ever a challenging thought. You should be able to read this book at the speed of light. Speed reading and skimming are valuable skills. Personally, I like books that have content density but are well written. Reading this book slowly would be a waste of time. Nearly all books that are made easy to read had an author that is careful not to say to much. This is one of those books manufactured for money. There was no passion to write it. See some of my two dozen reviews on public speaking for a better selection. How did all the excitement and pretense about Nido Qubein develop, certainly not this book. I am anxious to see him speak. I would like to see what makes him famous.

My biggest new lesson from this book was as follows. So many authors on public speaking try to tell us an audience has one mind or a personality, Qubein says: Everybody in the audience is different, an individual. Audience evaluation is not dividing people into bunches.

No offense intended but Qubein expresses a lot of opinions about the business world that are more pie in the sky than based on experience. American business is not well managed, it is just a whale of a lot better than other businesses around the globe. The media and Qubein want to make chief executive officers out to be Stars. Most CEOs bring a lot of limiting baggage to the job. Qubein is on the right track as to were management style should be headed. Corporate loyalty has been destroyed by shortsighted CEOs and boards of directors. It is going to take a lot more cash in the monthly pay check to hold a good middle management together in the future. Start ups and self employment are sucking the best out of big corporations, because the insensitive Huns are still in control. My opinions are based upon interviewing and tracking top management of hundreds of companies over decades for leading investment firms.

Rating:
Summary: I learned so much from this one book!
Review: This book talks about the importance of communication skills. It is full of helpful ideas that will help you and your business. We often don't realize that we spend the majority of our day communicating -- many of us need to improve this skill. This book teaches the importance of simple language while also guiding our words into the next century with the importance of recognizing "politically correct" terminology. This book will help you to communicate more effectively in today's marketplace. It is a fabulous and informative book!