Chapter 14
Engaging communication
Great leadership works through the emotions
Daniel Goleman1
Emotions are part of everything we do. Although we talk about our brains being ‘hard-wired’ and ‘programmed’, people are not computers. Our behaviours reflect a complex intertwining of habits, thoughts, feelings, values, beliefs and attitudes. Communication that engages these aspects, and especially our emotions, is much more effective than communication that appeals only to our reason. Think of how an economist might explain facts and figures in a rational way, compared with how a politician uses the same data to elicit an emotional response in the listener.
Engaging communication involves appealing to people’s emotions as well as to their rational ...
Get How to Get On with Anyone now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
