What More Can I Say?: Why Communication Fails and What to Do About It

by Dianna Booher

An essential guidebook for honing business communication skills...  
Communications expert Dianna Booher provides an essential nine-point checklist for success in the art of communication and persuasion—for building solid relationships, and for increasing credibility in the workplace. With lessons from politics, pop culture, business, family life, and current events, the book identifies common reasons that communicators fail to accomplish their goals, along with examples and analyses of messages that succeed and those that fail.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Psychology, Personal Development

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 6, 2015

About the author

Dianna Booher, MA, CSP, CPAE, is CEO of Booher Research Institute, Inc., a communication consulting and coaching firm.. She works with organizations to help them communicate clearly and with individuals to increase their influence through a strong personal presence--and sometimes with a published book!

She's the author of 49 books (translated into 62 foreign-language editions) and has published with Simon & Schuster/Pocket Books, Warner, Penguin Random House, McGraw-Hill, and Berrett-Koehler. Her latest books include:

-Faster, Fewer, Better Emails: Manager the Volume, Reduce the Stress, Love the Results

- Communicate Like a Leader: Connect Strategically to Coach, Inspire, and Get Things Done

- What More Can I Say?: Why Communication Fails and What to Do About It

- Creating Personal Presence:
Look, Talk, Think, and Act Like a Leader

- Communicate with Confidence:
How to Say it Right the First Time and Every Time
(Revised and Expanded Edition 2011)

- The Voice of Authority:
10 Communication Strategies Every Leader Needs to Know

- Booher’s Rules of Business Grammar:
101 Fast and Easy Ways to Correct the Most Common Errors

- Speak with Confidence:
Powerful Presentations That Inform, Inspire, and Persuade

- E-Writing: 21st-Century Tools for Effective Communication

- From Contact to Contract:
496 Proven Sales Tips to Generate More Leads, Close More Deals, Exceed Your Goals, and Make More Money

- Your Signature Work:
Creating Excellence and Influencing Others at Work

Dianna has been interviewed by Good Morning America, USA Today, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, FOX, CNN, CNBC, National Public Radio, Dr. Laura Radio Show, Washington Post, New York Newsday, Bloomberg, Boardroom Reports, Investor’s Business Daily, Industry Week, Success, and Entrepreneur, among other national radio, TV, and newspapers.

Her work has also won its share of recognition. Several titles have been major book club selections, and others have won national industry awards:
-American Library Association: Best Young -Adult Non-Fiction of the Year
-Executive Soundview Summaries: Best --Business Book of the Decade
--Axiom Award Silver Medal (2018)
--Richtopia's Top 200 Most Influential Authors in the World (2017, 2018)
-New York Film Festival—Cindy Award (nominee) (Corporate Training Division)
-Newbridge Executive Book Club—Main Selection
-Macmillan Executive Book Club Selection
-Fortune Book Club Selection
-Writers Digest Book Club Selection
-Business Week Book Club
-Book-of-the-Month Club (alternate selection)
-Money Book Club

Reviews

[Gina Carr · Rating 5 out of 5]

When it comes to business communication, Dianna Booher is THE expert. In this book, she has distilled some of her knowledge into bite-sized, actionable chunks. I love the short chapters and the great stories she shares.

Dianna's "laws" for communication are easy to understand and use. My favorites? The Law of Simplicity vs. Complexity and The Law of Specificity vs. Generalization.

This book will help you communicate more effectively and increase your influence with your tribe.

[Kevin Eikenberry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read a number of Dianna’s books (OK, not all 46, but several) and they are always practical and interesting to read. This latest book (it is being released this week) is well written, a quick and interesting read and extremely practical and accessible.

See more at: http://blog.kevineikenberry.com/leade...

[Divesh · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not half bad, at first I was quite bored because the first few chapters were increadibly slow paced. However, the last chapters revealed a multitude of secrets and many book names, I was undoubtly excited and its actually not half bad. I wouldn't read it again but, I will refer to it in the case I need to look something up for reference.
3/5

[017ash · Rating 3 out of 5]

na

[Kevin Sonntag · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fairly basic. Could be a reasonable option for young leaders.

[hemlet kiai · Rating 3 out of 5]

an interesting book on communication. picked some valuable tips on persuasion.

[Dianna Booher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This communications book will provide nine counter-intuitive principles for success in getting your point across, expanding your influence, and persuading others to change their mind or behavior. Communication always proves a challenge: People don’t go to the polls even though candidates and neighbors urge them to vote. Poor performers persist in bad habits. Employees say their bosses fail to listen to their ideas. Leaders grapple with employees who resist change.
With examples from politics, pop culture, business, and family life, this book also identifies 9 common reasons that communicators fail at changing hearts and minds—and concrete tips to change that situation!

With this communications book in hand, you’ll learn:
–How to build or rebuild trust
–Why storytelling skills are essential for today’s professionals
–Why salespeople should stop “pitching”
–How to make things simple so customers and employees will engage
–Why empathy can be bad for your business and career

Jam-packed with techniques and practical examples from high-tech, engineering, financial services, healthcare, defense, hospitality, retail, and nonprofits, the book will show you exactly how to analyze your own communication for the pitfalls. Specifically, you’ll learn how to shape conversations, presentations, product and service offers, emails, feedback, or customer service to succeed in accomplishing the communication goal—whether to get others to accept change, put aside a bad habit, improve performance, award the contract, or give you the job!

“Dianna Booher has done it again! What MORE Can I Say is the definitive book on the hows and whys of communicating effectively. I’ve always said leadership is an influence process—and to influence others, you have to know how to get your point across clearly. What more can I say, other than ‘Read this brilliant book!’”
—Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager® and Legendary Service

“To be a success you need to influence others, communicate persuasively and win the hearts and minds of those around you. Dianna Booher can give you the expert advice you need to succeed.”
—Darren Hardy, publisher and editor of SUCCESS Magazine and New York Times Bestselling Author of The Compound Effect

“Dianna Booher may have accomplished the impossible. By following the tactics revealed in What MORE Can I Say?, you will communicate in a way that creates a dynamic engagement with others after which all parties walk away satisfied and smiling. Excellent work from one of today’s most important communication experts.”
—Marshall Goldsmith, author or editor of 34 books including the global bestsellers MOJO and What Got You Here Won’t Get You There.

“Booher’s What MORE Can I Say? does say it all in a way that’s relevant, specific, compelling, and credible.”
—Ralph D. Heath, former Executive Vice President, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company

“This is a wonderful book, fast-moving and enjoyable, loaded with practical ideas to make you a more influential and powerful communicator.”
—Brian Tracy – Author, The Power of Charm

“It’s hard to imagine anyone would have to search long for places to apply the author’s advice. Who wouldn’t want to communicate effectively or understand how they are persuaded? VERDICT: Useful and precise, this guide explains how to turn communication failures into communication successes in a variety of situations.”
—Paul Stenis – Pepperdine University, Library Journal

http://www.whatmorecanisaythebook.com/

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first time reading anything by this author and I'll probably look up some other of her books. This is a slim book but packed with good advice & practical tips for improving your communication skills. It is geared towards the business community but most could be applied to any situation in life, especially when you want to change minds or behavior. The chapters are broken into her 9 principles of persuasive communication. A lot of it was refresher information for me, but was engaging and short enough that I wanted to finish it.

"Spread the message. Words matter."

[Jay Palat · Rating 3 out of 5]

The principles and ideas outlined were good. I was a bit mixed on some of the examples, using the principles to both help people and used to fool people. I'll revise this review after some time, but I overall it was a good list of skills and attitudes to bring to the table for better communication.

I found the first half very easy to move through, but the second half of the book just seemed to slow me down. Had a harder time picking up the book and running with it.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a unique read for me. It felt like a three star, I think it should be a five. It's short, simple, and I think really useful and important, but, yet, I feel like I didn't get everything I should have out of it. I'm going to split the middle here and go with a four, and actually consider rereading it at some point in the future (rereading is exceptionally rare for me).

[Kevin Taylor]

I used this book mostly as a reference for a class I was teaching on communication. I didn't read the whole thing, just looked through for highlights I could share with students.

[Margot Note]

"Persuading is primarily about thinking. Talking is one way to communicate some of your thinking or one way to find how other people think, so that you know how to approach them to change their thinking" (xiii).

"People are willing to risk more and pay more for potential than achievement. The ability to sell a dream or couch your recommendations in terms of potential payoff expands your influence" (70).

"Listeners average rather than add components in a message and walk away with an overall impression--valuable or not valuable, high value or low value, strong of weak offer" (92).

"The next time you're face with this more-is-better temptation, squelch the urge to splurge. Communicate more with less. Subtract to add" (92).