[audiobook]
Navigate any Situation, Lead with Confidence and Create an Impact at Work. https://www.mikebechtle.com/books/how-to-read-a-room/
I got this audiobook with the aim of understanding a bit more about what is going on in meetings of various sorts. I had forgotten, at the time, that I don’t actually attend meetings that much any more, so I’m not sure I can really get much value from the information contained within.
The book starts out as a fairly standard ‘change your mindset’ business leader book, then takes a bit of a detour via ‘how to win friends and influence people’ before getting to the interesting parts.
There are some useful observations, but they are mostly a collection of near-obvious things, like:
- Watch the room before you interact with anyone
- Don’t be in a rush
- When you talk with someone, make smalltalk by asking questions and listening to their answers
- Be engaged, don’t look around or at the clock or the door
Later in the book he covers how to apply these techniques to online meetings, again bringing me little that I don’t already do, camera on, good lighting, be in charge of the mute button.
The final part of the book talks about servant leadership, which was a little more interesting. This is about leading from positions which are not formally leadership positions. Bringing positive attitudes and communications styles to teams which are in some ways dysfunctional.
All-in-all, a mildly interesting book but I probably wouldn’t bother unless you really are new to all these communications approaches. It did make me nostalgic for the days I used to actually talk to people face to face, but there are so many down sides to that that I am unsure I could go back to it any time soon.