About the Author
Brady G. Wilson is the co-founder of Juice Inc., a solution provider for leaders who want to boost their organizational energy levels and employee engagement. He has unleashed profitable results for leaders, managers, and sales professionals in many of North America’s Fortune 500 companies. His passion for creating breakthroughs for companies has spawned such innovative tools and programs as Pull Conversations™, The Five Drivers of Engagement™, and The Juice Check™. He lives in Guelph, Ontario.
REVISED EDITION
The Power of
Conversation
The Secret to Releasing Your People’s Brilliance and Expanding Your Leadership Influence
BRADY G.WILSON
FOREWORD BY JOHN WRIGHT
Copyright © 2009, 2006 by Brady G. Wilson
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Revised Edition published in 2009 by
BPS Books
Toronto, Canada
www.bpsbooks.com A division of Bastian Publishing Services Ltd.
First published in 2006 by Bastian Books
Cataloguing in Publication Data available from
Library and Archives Canada
Note: Great care has been taken care to protect the identities of the people in the following stories. Where individuals’ real names have been used, as indicated in brackets, we have received permission to do so. Every effort has been made to identify, obtain permission from, and credit all sources. The publisher would appreciate notification of omissions or errors so that they may be corrected. Chapter 2 excerpt from Communication World, July–August 2004, courtesy of International Association of Business Communicators. Chapter 5 excerpt from The Language of Love excerpted and adapted from The Language of Love by Gary Smalley and John Trent, Ph.D., a Focus on the Family book published by Tyndale House Publishers. Copyright © 1988, 1991, 2006 by Gary Smalley and John Trent, Ph.D. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Used by permission. Chapter 7 excerpt from “Tell Me More: On the Art of Listening” by Brenda Ueland from Strength to Your Sword Arm: Selected Writings by Brenda Ueland (Holy Cow! Press, 1993). Used by permission of the Estate of Brenda Ueland and Holy Cow! Press. All rights reserved.
Cover and interior design and typesetting:
Daniel Crack, Kinetics Design
To the memory of J.C. Wilson, my Dad, a man who pulled more laughter out of life than anyone I have ever known
Contents
1 My Journey to Pull Conversations
2 Conversations Release Energy
Accessing the Power of Pull Conversations
3 The Logic of Pull Conversations
Creating Capacity in Your Listeners
Harnessing the Power of Context
Performing the Magic of 1+1 = 5
7 Pull Out People’s Best Stuff
Releasing Brilliance Through Respect
Understanding the Five Drivers of Engagement
10 “Cultural Architects to Work!”
Debunking the 7%–38%–55% Communications Fallacy