14 Mar 04 @ 9:10 am
Carville and Begala
We constantly send books to clients, and a book we’ve been giving recently is Buck Up, Suck Up, and Come Back When You Foul Up by James Carville and Paul Begala (yes, that Carville and that Begala). It’s slender, it’s paperback, it’s entertaining, and it’s a fast read (although you do have to look past some political posturing). And while it offers memorable reminders of many core communication tenets (e.g., be open with bad news, communicate in stories, etc.), more important is the book’s advice on managing political capital—a topic from which we feel leaders in general and communication professionals in particular can benefit.
A favorite communication-related passage of mine:
The people you’re trying to reach have been raised in the sound-bite culture. They’re used to professional politicians, admakers and entertainers getting to the point in a matter of seconds. You need to do the same. You can’t expect people who only listen to their president for a few seconds to listen to you for an hour and a half.
Get the book here at Amazon.
posted in category(s): Who We're Reading
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