Five Stars: The Communication Secrets to Get from Good to Great

Gallo (The Storyteller’s Secret), a communications coach, presents an energetic and convincing guide to developing critical communications and presentation skills. The art of persuasion, he argues, is no longer an optional “soft skill,” but the most important skill one can acquire. Everyone has the potential, he writes, to move and excite people through storytelling, and even a small edge gained by narrative skill yields a large advantage. In pressing home the necessity of strong communications skills, Gallo illustrates his point with communications superstars like Neil deGrasse Tyson, who skillfully uses Twitter to deliver his message, and lesser-known but highly effective leaders who have built their businesses on the power to persuade. Mastering these skills, he says, will make the reader “irreplaceable and irresistible” to employers. He recycles some material from previous books, particularly in the sections on the principles of successful TED Talks, but readers are likely to find his clear, prescriptive ideas, such as picking one central theme per presentation, and exhortations to focus their passion and overcome their fears highly useful in developing their own narratives. The resulting book is a to-the-point, appropriately persuasive guide to using narrative to build one’s business or brand. (June)