Language of Leaders: How Top CEOs Communicate to Inspire, Influence and Achieve Results [Hardcover]

In the book's Introduction, the author wrote that amongst the 5% who turned down his interview request, Richard Brandson asked the author face to face, "There are a lot of books on leadership. What will make yours any different?" The mission of this book "to help readers become a better and more effective leader, by helping them to be a better, more inspiring communicator." was thus inspired with the proposition of the following 12 principles:-

1. Learn how to be yourself, better, if you aspire to being a better leader and communicator.
2. Give voice to a compelling mission and a powerful set of values
3. Combine this with a vivid picture of the future, which you communicate relentlessly to drive behaviours in the present.
4. Keep your people focused on the key relationships that your organisation depends on for success, and make building trust in theose relationship a priority.
5. Make "engagement" a strategic goal, and use conversations to engage.
6. Become a fanatic about understanding audiences, before trying to communicate with them.
7. Listen in new and powerful ways, and learn to ask the right questions.
8. Prepare a potent point of view to communicate your messages
9. Use more stories and anecdotes to inspire the right behaviours
10. Be aware of the signals you send beyond your words
11. Prepae properly for public platforms - your reputaiton is at stake
12. Learn, rehearse, review, improve - always strive to be a better communicator.

As a frequent reader of similar books, I cannot agree that the author had fully achieved his goals. The fluency of the whole book had been impaired by the over stuffing of bits and pieces of various interviewees, whose pictured accounts in the appendix had added salt to wound. Actually, I did expect more from the journalist turned consultant/author. In short, readable, helpful but far from outstanding. Suggest you to check better alternatives on Amazon with higher quantity of five star votes.

p.s. Below please find some of my favorite passages for your reference.
If need be, great leaders get us to face ugly reality, and then they give us a new sense of direction and optimism. Along the way, they help us to see how what we do makes a difference. They listen to us and they respect us. We feel involved and committed. We watch them for cues, and we feel great when they recognize our efforts - and then we try even harder. We follow leaders because of how they make us feel. pg1
Too often, leaders use the achievement of financial goals as their purpose. They are more comfortable being rational and objective. Too often, followers say they dont get out of bed in the morning to achieve financial or other numerical objectives. They come to work and want to be inspired by a sense of doing something important, something that makes a difference. pg74
It's not what you say; it's what they hear. pg114
Logic gets to the brain, stories get to the heart. pg141

The Language of Leaders offers a unique insight into the communications preferences and styles of an impressive line up of leaders - from Airbus to Lloyds and Unilever.

The book adopts a storytelling style, which makes it an easy read. This comes directly from the author's experience as a journalist and advertising expert.
Following on from Charles Handy's work which looks at the 3 faces of leaders and Rob Goffee And Gareth Jones work on followership (Why should anybody be led by you?), Murray's book follows themes such as authenticity, intelligent emotion (rather than emotional intelligence) and engaging employees.

Interestingly he takes the view that emotions are important in business, contradicting the school of thought that suggests that emotions should be suppressed. I personally think this is a more authentic and realistic take on leadership, neatly summed up by Lou Reed "I do me better than anyone else".

The Language of Leaders includes a fascinating series of biographies into the great and good that comprise the interview subjects for the book. It's a great insight into life at the top of the business world and the power of language and stories to change minds and behaviours.

Peter Cook
Author "Best Practice Creativity", "Sex, Leadership and Rock'n'Roll" and "Punk Rock People Management"

Kevin Murray shares what he learned during his interviews of 57 business leaders plus contributions by four others. Almost all have UK backgrounds and current affiliations and thus provide perspectives that I found of special interest. It came as no surprise, however, that what has helped them to influence others to achieve high-impact results is essentially no different from what has also proven effective f9r other leaders in the Americas, Europe, and Asia: effective communication.

In Chapter 3, he identifies and examines what he characterizes as "the 12 principles of effective communication" and none is a head-snapping revelation, nor does Murray make any such claim. They range from "Learn how to be yourself, better, if you aspire to be a better leader and communicator" to "Learn, rehearse, review, improve - always strive to be a better communicator." If you were to draw up a list of the greatest leaders throughout history, my guess is that - however different they may be in most respects - all were an effective communicator and most (if not all) were a master raconteur.

The title of this book refers to "language" in both verbal and non-verbal domains. In fact, as countless research studies have proven, body language and tone of voice determine at least 80-85% of impact during a face-to-face encounter, with the remainder of impact determined by what is actually said. Moreover, as Murray correctly points out, aspiring leaders must have credibility as well as communication skills. Bill George is among those who have much of great value to say about "authenticity" that develops while following a True North. James O'Toole asserts that all great leaders possess what he characterizes as a "moral compass." The point is, people will not believe the message if they do not trust the messenger.

Murray offers an especially crisp and concise description of inspiring leaders who make us want to achieve more. "They persuade us to their cause, win our active support, help us to work better together and make us feel proud to be part of the communities they create...If need be, great leaders [also] get us to face ugly reality, and then give us a new sense of direction and optimism. Along the way, they help us to see how what we do makes a difference. They listen to us and they respect us. We feel involved and committed. We watch them for cues, and we feel great when they recognize our efforts - and then we try even harder."

As I read this portion of the book's Introduction, I immediately thought of Winston Churchill's frank communications throughout the worst of the Battle of Britain during the summer and autumn of 1940. Yes, Churchill inspired people to fight on but he left no doubt as to the perils his nation and its people faced. "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering...You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory. Victory at all costs -- Victory in spite of all terror -- Victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival."
Murray, those he interviewed, and others who also contributed to the process offer an abundance of information, insights, and wisdom that can help almost anyone to develop a fluency in "the language of leaders" but, that said, I hasten to emphasize once again what Murray stresses throughout the book: Trust is essential to leadership and people will only trust and respect those who are authentic.

Those who aspire to become great leaders, to engage others in the achievement of great results, must effectively communicate those values that guide and inform their behavior. Fluency without integrity is, at best, artifice and at worst, deceit...or as the example of Adolph Hitler suggests, evil. Leaders must be worthy of those whom they are privileged to serve.