A Climb to the Top: Communication & Leadership Tactics to Take Your Career to New Heights
Chuck Garcia
Advantage Media Group (2016)

How and why “challenge is the core and mainspring of all human activity.” James Ramsey Ullman

The single greatest challenge when attempting to communicate is to have the intended meaning of the given message recognized and understood. People may hear what we say or read what you compose but, more often than not, they do not know what we mean…and sometimes we don’t either.

What we have in this volume is a remarkably thorough primer of communication basics that are clearly explained. The “top” to which its title refers and the “new heights” to which its subtitle refers are metaphors for reaching a point at which one’s intended meaning in all communications comes through “loud and clear.”

These are among the dozens of passages of greatest interest and value to me, also listed to suggest the scope of Garcia’s coverage:

o The Art of Making a Good First Impression (Pages 5-12)
o Emotion Precedes Reason (22-27)
o The Head and the Heart (29-30)
o Three Central Truths (40-43)
o The Five Categories of Nonverbal Communication (50-52)
o The Do’s and Don’ts of Body Language (52-56)
o Become a Knowledge Specialist (58-60)
o Case Study: Sheryl Sandberg Sparks a Revolution with the Rule of Three (72-75)
o Passion Precedes Punctuations An Edie Magnus Case Study (81-82)
o Strike with Force: Find (83-86)
o The Power of the Pause: Tips and Techniques (90-97)
o How to Create a Poetic Silence (97-99)
o What Speech Communicators Learn from Mark Twain (100-104)
o The Promise and Curse of presentations with PowToon (112-116)
o Perfect Pitch: A Case Study of Dan Simon of Vested, Inc. (120-123)
o Overcoming Speech Anxiety: Enduring Lessons from The King’s Speech (125-128)

Clarity of thought must precede clarity of expression. Chuck Garcia demonstrates that throughout his lean narrative. He carefully follows the “Ten Commandments” he affirms. There are no head-snapping revelations among them with an emphasis on having emotional appeal, speaking with conviction, etc. However, the information, insights, and counsel he provides are more than sufficient to meet the needs of almost anyone who is challenged to communicate more effectively. I also highly recommend it as a gift to those who are now preparing for a career or have only recently embarked on one.