The Power of Communication Quotes

“If you can’t communicate effectively, you will not lead.”
― Helio Fred Garcia, The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively

“Effective communication is shaped by human nature and is subject to the complexities, inconsistencies, and particularities which characterize human behavior. Since communication is intended to change the way people think and feel and what they understand, know, and do, it will invariably be shaped by human emotions.”
― Helio Fred Garcia, The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively

“Communication sets expectations; actions deliver on or shatter those expectations.”
― Helio Fred Garcia, The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively

“Words matter. Words shape worldviews. Words provoke action and reaction, which in turn provoke more words. Getting the words right is critically important. Getting the action right is also critically important. And aligning the words and actions is even more important.”
― Helio Fred Garcia, The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively

“One of the burdens of leadership is to have a very high tolerance for repetition.”
― Helio Fred Garcia, The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively

“Because communication is about human connection, the human dimension is central to communicating. It is the human dimension that makes communication possible. Leaders need to know how humans actually work.”
― Helio Fred Garcia, The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively

“Because all effective communication is goal-oriented, intended to change something, an effective leader or leadership team focuses on what it wants stakeholders to know, think, feel, and do, and the ways to get those stakeholders to change so that they will know, think, feel, and do so.”
― Helio Fred Garcia, The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively

“All communications are based upon either taking the initiative or reacting in response to the audience, adversaries, or the environment. By taking the initiative, we dictate the terms of discussion and the communication agenda. It is through the initiative that we seek to influence our audience.”
― Helio Fred Garcia, The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively

“Not all words are created equal. Different words have different impacts. And because communication is a process of mutual adaptation, of move and countermove, the leader needs to consider the response his or her words are likely to provoke. And to resist the temptation to say anything that triggers a response different from the desired response. Because saying the wrong thing even once can derail an otherwise carefully planned event and hand the initiative to one's opponents.”
― Helio Fred Garcia, The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively

“One of the burdens of leadership is to say things that are uncomfortable.”
― Helio Fred Garcia, The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively

“Speed matters, especially in controversial situations. The longer it takes to fulfill legitimate stakeholder expectations, the harder it is to win, maintain, or restore trust.”
― Helio Fred Garcia, The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively

“Trust is the natural consequence of promises fulfilled, of predictions that come true, and of values lived.”
― Helio Fred Garcia, The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively

“Communication is the continuation of business by other means. The business objective (or in the case of government or not-for-profit, the organizational objective) is the overriding goal, and communication is merely one of the means of achieving it. And means can never be considered in isolation from their purposes.”
― Helio Fred Garcia, The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively

“It is essential that we understand the audience on its own terms. We should not assume that every audience thinks as we do, decides as we do, or has the same values, goals, or concerns as we do.”
― Helio Fred Garcia, The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively

“Effective communication focuses on the audience’s worldview. We should try to “get inside” the audience’s though processes and see the audience as it sees itself.”
― Helio Fred Garcia, The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively

“Communication isn't about telling our story. That's undisciplined, self-indulgent, and often illusory. The power of communication is getting audiences to listen--and to care.”
― Helio Fred Garcia, The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively

“One reason some leaders misunderstand communication is that they think they're already good at it. They've been speaking since before they were one year old; reading since age four or five; writing since soon after that. Unlike just about every other discipline leaders have had to master, they've been communicating their whole lives. It seemed to be no big deal. Just as a fish is unaware of the water it swims in, leaders often are unaware of their own communication abilities. Or lack thereof.”
― Helio Fred Garcia, The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively

“Communication has power. But as with any form of power, it needs to be harnessed effectively or it can all too often backfire.”
― Helio Fred Garcia, The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively

“Communiation has power. But as with any form of power, it needs to be harnessed effectively or it can all too often backfire.”
― Helio Fred Garcia, The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively