The Power of Communication

Book excerpt: Communication is the absolutely indispensable leadership discipline. But, too often, leaders and professional communicators get mired in tactics, and fail to influence public attitudes in the ways that would help them the most. This book builds on the U.S. Marine Corps' legendary publication Warfighting, showing how to apply the Corps' proven leadership and strategy doctrine to all forms of public communication. The author reveals how to orient on audiences, recognizing their centers of gravity and most critical concerns. He also teaches how to integrate and succeed with all three levels of communication: strategic, operational, and tactical. He shows how to take the initiative and control the agenda, respond to events with speed and focus, use the power of maneuver, prepare and plan, and put it all together, in order to become a "habitually strategic" communicator.