Communications in any form involve much more than the words exchanged. Power Cues: The Subtle Science of Leading Groups, Persuading Others, and Maximizing Your Personal Impact, by Nick Morgan, covers a wide array of non-verbal communications that can help you improve your ability to connect with and influence others. Morgan covers this crucial but often under-leveraged aspect of communications pretty comprehensively. He walks the reader through the vast power of the subconscious mind, provides guidance on how to interpret body language, and shares fascinating facts about voice tone.
While all of the science is interesting and informative, what makes the book valuable is Morgan’s explanation of how to apply the insights to all forms of business communications, based on his many years of experience coaching clients from executives to professional speakers. It’s that sort of great practical advice that’s made me a fan of his work. His book, Give Your Speech, Change The World: How To Move Your Audience To Action, is one of my favorites. Chapter 7 of Power Cues builds on this earlier work and delves into structuring the content of your message to “synchronize minds” through storytelling. This chapter alone is worth the price of the book.
I was fortunate to have the opportunity to discuss some of the ideas in this book with Nick some time ago, before the book came out. In case you missed that video interview, you can find it here. Specifically, we discuss the application of these ideas for CIOs and IT leaders.
