INTRODUCTION

It is not what you do that determines the outcomes in your life. It's who you are. Because ultimately, who you are determines what you do. If you're a giver in the game of life, your actions confirm this. If you're a taker, the same rule applies. If you enter relationships with others to see what you can take from that relationship, your actions reveal this. If you're someone who makes a connection thinking only about what you can give to the relationship, you're one of those rare individuals who gains everything from the exchange.

Who you are speaks louder than anything you can say.

Connection is the keyword here. As human beings, our connections, or relationships, are formed through our ability to communicate. The quality of our life is therefore directly linked to the quality of our relationships. And we need to know how to communicate better if we are to form deeper connections with others, as well as with ourselves.

Communication is one of the most puzzling paradoxes of our time. We live in a hyper-connected world: more plugged in, tuned in and turned on than ever before. Yet social scientists confirm that more and more people feel isolated and disconnected from their communities and even their own families. They feel overworked, underpaid, misunderstood, isolated. Despite being 'in touch' 24/7, many people feel disengaged and disillusioned.

This book offers a roadmap for leaders who want to harness the power of communication to influence their teams and clients, for parents who seek better relationships with their kids, and for everyone who desires deeper and more fulfilling connections with those around them.

Business leaders know all about the struggle to engage and empower a workforce that clocks in then checks out (I call this the workplace challenge). How we think as individuals determines how we feel and communicate through our personal self-talk (this is the head space challenge). Finally, parents know the challenges of connecting with teenagers who text better than they talk (this is an example of the your place challenge). This book delivers proactive solutions to enhanced communication in each of these three critical domains - solutions that are as vital for business leaders as for parents or those seeking closer, more loving relationships.

The Power of Connection presents a fresh approach to tackling modern communication challenges, written for today's time-poor reader, easily consumed in one sitting (one flight) or one night! It takes a holistic approach to professional and personal communication that will be a significant support in your 'workplace', your 'head space' and 'your place'.

Improving our communication skills is a fast track to success in every area of our lives. We can improve our mindset through positive self-talk. The most important relationship you'll ever have is your connection with you! The way you describe yourself in those conversations you have with the little voice inside your head thousands of times a day determines how you relate to and act in the outside world. Deeper connections with those close to you - family, friends, work colleagues, pets, pet rocks if that's the extent of your social group - are formed through your quality communications, first with yourself and then with others. Communication is an inside out job.

My aim in writing this book is to provide you with communication tools that will improve every area of your life, as they have mine. This is not just about the words you use, which are only one aspect of your communication. Non-verbal communication is just as important. An exploration of the Power of Connection should begin with an understanding of the first key point:

Everything communicates something about us . the verbal and the non-verbal.

It has been my experience that people engage less with your words than with your energy in delivering them. It's your personal vibe that attracts your tribe.

When I meet someone for the first time, I find myself automatically assessing their energy: do they come across as positive, negative or neutral? I can then quickly 'join the dots' from their daily habits. How they think determines how they feel, which determines how they express their thoughts and feelings through the words and actions of their daily communication.

Author Will Durant summed up one of Aristotle's teachings as, 'We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.' It is perhaps not surprising that an ancient Greek philosopher whose name can be translated as 'the best purpose' should provide us with such a timeless definition of habit, passed down through the ages for almost 2500 years. It is the cumulative effect of our daily actions that form these habits. As my mentor Jim Rohn so regularly told me, 'Success is a few small disciplines repeated every day.'

The people I know - those I am lucky enough to associate with and mentor, and those I am even more fortunate to have as personal mentors and friends - share a similar glow. Under the law of attraction, like attracts like. If you are seeking greater success in your life, you need to find ways to improve your verbal and non-verbal communication skills to attract more like-minded people.

Success, in every realm of your life, is not a solo performance; it comes from engaging with other people, and it's no surprise that those with superior communication skills achieve higher levels of success.

All success is based on your ability to connect.

Connection is a pillar that supports every successful person and pursuit I have ever researched in my life! There are no successful hermits.

It is important to acknowledge that when I talk of success, I'm talking about much more than financial prosperity. I have the great good fortune to coach many individuals who by any standard would be considered financially independent. Yet many of them are unhappy; they feel unfulfilled and wonder whether there isn't more to life. They can buy anything they want, except a day off (given they are workaholics), a loving relationship and/or magic with their children.

I know other people who live on Struggle Street, challenged economically on a daily basis, living from week to week, forced to rely on others' support. Yet these same individuals often have strong relationships with their children and are raising polite, passionate and respectful kids, teaching them strong values that will stand them in good stead in the game of life.

Of these two groups, who is the more successful? Is it the person who has unlocked the code to financial success, or is it the person who has unlocked the code to developing a special relationship with their family? Of course it depends on what each person values most. Our wealthy individual may acknowledge that money isn't everything, yet for them it's right up there with oxygen. Our parenting genius may declare, 'No amount of money can replace the relationship I have with my children, and by that measure I have wealth beyond counting.' It's hard to argue against either of these positions.

We all know that there are many pieces to the puzzle of life. All the money in the world cannot buy back your good health, nor can it improve your mindset - on its own. Yet it is important to acknowledge that while money can't buy everything, it can provide you with valuable resources and choices in the pursuit of success.

For me, ultimate success is achieved when what you do on a daily basis meets your highest values. I am passionate about holistic success. And I want to convince you that you can have it all, improving all areas of your life - starting with your ability to communicate.

I must admit to writing this book for purely selfish reasons. Not the obvious ones you might think of, such as wanting to be a published author or to position myself as a platform speaker. I've written enough articles as a coach to satisfy the 'author' bug, and have spoken before conference crowds and audiences of thousands since 1995, so I have long since fulfilled that need.

More importantly, I am writing to educate our grand­children (who are yet to be born) in the same way my wife and I would like to think we have taught our three children around the principles of quality communication. In time, we fully expect to become the 'funky grandparents' we always imagined we would be, and I want to document these ideas while I have the time to prepare for this ultimate role.

Our grandchildren will be born into a very different world, and we see our role as grandparents as to ensure they have the skills to communicate effectively in the exciting, fast-paced world they will inherit. We will share with them that raw personal moment you will read about from the very first words of chapter 1. They will learn why, next to love and security, communication is the most vital pillar to successful family and work relationships.

If nothing else, this book will be a lasting reminder for my family, and hopefully for yours, of the power of quality communication. My hope is that from reading the stories they, and you, will learn more about how developing better communication and connection...