Straight Talk Is More Than Words: Persuasive Communications : The Key to Achieving Your Goals

Patricia Ball is right on target when she points out how empowering it is to realize that we constantly have choices to make about our actions and response to situations. Once we sense this power, understanding that it is private and inviolable, and that it grows as we grow, we release ourselves from the miscommunication and fear of expressing ourselves that intimidate so many. We learn early in Straight Talk Is More Than Words that the power of choice is ours. We can give it up, but it can never be taken from us without our consent.

Ball goes on to show how this intrinsic power is related to communication and persuasion in many forms, from the most obvious - words - to the often more telling nonverbal behavior. She steps us through all the components we use, some knowingly, some reflexively. She takes us to the heart of the matter - the response from our audience, whether that audience is your life partner, a child, 50 potential clients or 10,000 diverse humans who share at least one reason for being in the same place at the same time as you.

With her twenty years as a professional actor in live theater, Ball sees and clearly explains, the spectrum of techniques at our disposal for "setting the stage" for our message - from when and how to use humor; what difference gender makes and when it makes none at all; why power is related to the response you achieve; when brevity and silence are better than words; how to use the space around you as effectively as eye contact, a handshake, a smile and body language. And don't forget listening, a critical skill good talkers often ignore.

Straight Talk Is More Than Words is a book about communication and personal power. We learn how to better communicate in order to achieve understanding. After all, getting ourselves understood is the first step in getting what we want in the more tangible sense - a promotion, a lower price on a dream house, commitment from a store clerk to correct a mistake, a standing ovation from an audience which listened intently, and on and on throughout life.

Jim Tunney, Ed.D., CSP, CPAE Professional Speaker and Former NFL Referee Pebble Beach, California

Since 1972, Patricia has helped thousands of executives, salespeople and others achieve greater success in their personal and professional lives through the dramatic impact of her workshops and lectures. Patricia has received intensive training in diversity and gender issues from the Copeland Griggs Institute in California. She is President of Corporate Communications, communications specialist, diversity trainer, professional actor and presentation skills coach. Honors include President of the National Speakers Association in 1996-97, earned designation of Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), and recipient of the CPAE (Council of Peers Award for Excellence) Speaker Hall of Fame - the "Oscar" of the speaking profession.