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Communication skill- An insiders tips and tricks for you

Mike Noone — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 22:02:59 +0000

Without all of the tools that you need to have to have great communication skill you are probably at a disadvantage
when you think about it and examine all of the great people of history or of the present day they all have one thing in common. Almost completely without exception they are powerful communicators.

So, what are some of the different aspects of excellent communication skill ?

I believe that the first aspect is having a message that is big enough, that you just have to share it with others. With your community, your family, the country you live in or the whole world. Your message will burn inside of you like a bright flame and will touch move and inspire not only you but other people as well.

It will be visionary in nature and be a new perspective for how others see the world.

Obviously your vision must touch a problem or anxiety deep within the soul of your audience so that they know you understand them and their pain.
Your vision should also offer a solution to that pain that is easy to implement by giving those you are speaking to a fresh perspective on what the problem really is. A paradigm shift on a deep level.

Those who have this level of communication skill will also believe on a deep level within themself in the validity of their vision.

By having that degree of belief in your solution, your idea, your vision: you gain passion and enthusiasm when you share your message. Enthusiastic sharing is a powerful way to get other people to commit to you and to your ideas. Without the passion everything that you say, either using verbal or nonverbal communication will have a hollow ring to it that your audience and others you speak to, will spot from a hundred miles away.

Be genuine and don’t try to pull the wool over peoples eyes.

Experts in communication skill are also experts in their subject matter. You will have done your research and weighed up the pros and cons. You will have come to a reasoned conclusion that is backed up by data from credible sources and credible people. You will be able to quote abstracts from relevant data during your discussions or presentation without having to pause and try to remember.

Just by having the two aspects I have discussed above you will gain confidence and certainty in your ability to deliver your message. Being confident and being seen as confident are also critical factors in good communication skill.

But wait…There is more….

Enthusiasm confidence and expertise are only the start on your journey to great communication skill.

There is also things like the speed of speech or talking, your tone, pitch and where you insert pauses….Or not !

Next is your physical appearence as around 80% of how people experience the world is through visual. You have probably heard the expression that you only ever get one chance to make a good first impression. This applies not only to your clothes but also your hair, skin and clean teeth. Maybe I’m going a little overboard here and that is because I want you to have a comprehensive check list of things to consider.

People will form an impression of you

In the first two seconds and they will make a decision on who you are in that first brief view of you. From that impression they will then make a decision about you in their unconscious mind that may take some serious work to alter or modify.

Another thing to consider is your body language. What your body says to other people is almost entirely unconscious and makes up around 93% of your impresions of other people.

AND…

Their impression of you…

Other things to consider are anchored states. You will use these to create the right frame of mind before you even start to communicate. Expert communicators also use anchored states to create a receptive frame of mind with their audience. These can be tonal, positional and may involve the use of timelines and other tactics.

You can relax about all of the things above as I will be going into each of the things in this article in more detail in subsequent articles posted on this site.

In the mean time

you can maybe consider what it is that you believe in strongly enough that you have to communicate it with your world…
By the way…I know that some of you may not know yet what it is you wish to say….But if you were to know….What would it be ?

Communication skill- An insiders tips and tricks for you is a post from: Top Communication Skills

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Speaking on your Feet

Mike Noone — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 14:31:32 +0000

Your ability to communicate effectively will account for most of your success in life. As we move farther into the communication age, we are becoming more and more dependant on being able to communicate and interact effectively with others. Your ability to interact with other people effectively will determine your success far more than your level of skills in any field.

There are three primary forms of communication in business, all of which are skills that can be learned. How well you develop these skills will determine how far and how fast you go in your chosen field.

The first communication skill is the ability to communicate either one-on-one or by telephone with people. Many people never develop this ability to interact effectively with others and their careers suffer because of it. The second skill, is the ability to communicate well in writing, to express yourself in letters, memos, reports, and e-mails. The third is the ability to speak in front of a group of people and give presentations.

Your ability to speak on your feet, to communicate, influence, and persuade other people to take action that they would not have otherwise taken, can do more to help you succeed than any other single skill that you can develop.

There are two major obstacles that hold people back from speaking in front of others. The first is fear. In surveys, people rank the fear of speaking ahead of handling snakes and even the fear of death. For most people, the mere thought that they might be called upon to speak in front of a group causes them tremendous anxiety. This is a conditioned response, usually the result of the person being criticized when they were young for speaking up in some situation. By the time they become an adult, this fear is so deeply entrenched in their subconscious mind that the very idea of speaking in front of an audience can trigger it and causes them to shut down mentally and physically.

Fortunately, every fear that has been learned can be unlearned. Since you came into this world without any fear of public speaking, you can learn how to revert back to that original condition where you once again have no fear of standing up and expressing your views to other people.

The second major obstacle to public speaking is that people simply do not know how to do it. There is a big difference between knowing how to talk and knowing how to speak. Talking comes naturally from growing up. But speaking is a learned skill that has to be practiced and takes a good deal of time and commitment to develop.

We all have two options in life, we can be influenced and persuaded by others, or we can influence and persuade others. In other words, we can be powerful or powerless. Your ability to speak well, to make your points, to get your views across, and to get other people to cooperate with you in achieving important goals, is vital to fulfilling your complete potential as a human being.

In every field, the fear of rejection is always a major stumbling block for most people. For many people fear is the greatest obstacle to success in their life. This fear holds people back from speaking up, from asking for the things they want, from negotiating better deals, from expressing their displeasure, and from speaking up when they do not agree with someone. The fear of rejection paralyzes action and it is closely tied to the fear of public speaking.

When you make the decision to overcome your fear of public speaking, you short-circuit your fear of rejection as well. The more confident you become speaking in front of others, the more competent and influential you will become in your one-on-one dealings with others.

To be a good public speaker you first must have a reason why you want to speak. Do you want to speak for personal pleasure or for professional benefit? If you want to speak for personal pleasure, you can learn to speak on any subject that interests you. However, if you want to speak professionally, you must become and expert on your subject and be clear as to why you want to speak and what you want to accomplish.

The purpose of all public speaking is action. It is to get people to do something that they would not have done without your talk. The more clear you are about what action you want people to take, or what change you want to take place in their thinking, the easier it will be for you to develop a powerful, persuasive presentation that achieves your goal.

You must prepare thoroughly. Preparation accounts for 90 percent of a good speech or presentation. It is important that you always over-learn your subject. You should prepare so thoroughly that you could easily talk for two or even three times longer on your subject if you had to.

Always remember that people would much rather be entertained than educated. Make your talk enjoyable to listen to, even if it is a serious subject. Make sure you support every fact with a story or quote.

There is no substitute for practice. You should always go over your material again and again. Before you give any speech or presentation you should read it out loud several times and recite it in front of mirror or into a tape recorder. You should even practice in front of your family and friends and have them critique your talk.

When you give your first few talks, you will not do as well as you want to. You will never do it as well as you could but you will always get better. Many of the greatest speakers in history were absolutely dreadful when they first started out. But with practice and persistence they got better. And so will you if you persist.

Public speaking can do more to help you advance in your career than almost any other skill that you can develop. It will help you overcome the fear of rejection that holds many people back. It will build your self-confidence, and cause others to admire and respect you more. It will open doors of opportunity for you virtually everywhere, and enable you to have a greater influence with other people. When you become a thoroughly accomplished public speaker, your future success will become unlimited.

Temp
http://www.articlesbase.com/small-business-articles/speaking-on-your-feet-83624.html

Speaking on your Feet is a post from: Top Communication Skills

Why Summer Camps France is Growing Popular?

Mike Noone — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 17:33:19 +0000

Have you ever wondered why thousands of kids lave their home every summer to attend the summer camps France? Curiously enough, their parents love to see them attend the camps. While the summer vacation is that part of the academic year when the children get time to relax, summer camps France make the best option to have fun and simultaneously learn almost everything starting from various games to different languages like French. Although the history of summer camps traces its origin way back in early 1900s, these days, camps of almost all types have flourished that cater to international crowd. Summer camps France encourage children from all over the world to come together and join the special activities in the camps. Apart from gaining recognition for knowing the diversity of the multicultural world, the children learn to enhance their communication skill while making new friendships.

Most of the kids have dormant talents, but they don’t find proper ground to flourish their skill in the regular study pattern of the schools. Summer camps France form perfect setting for the kids with varied course modules where the participants get chance to select the subject they are interested in. Besides, summer camps are one of the opportunities where the students get chance to come out of their shell and socialize. The busy schedules of the parents keep them restrained from spending quality time with their children, though the parents want a healthy, joyous and fulfilled life for the children. Moreover, the summer camps France develop social qualities and skill in the participants that make them equipped with the world as they grow up.

The summer camps France adapt various methods to develop the self awareness of the individual with their educational, supplementary and personality development activity. The camping programs are tailored to develop a monitored and positive environment with experienced staff members and pleasure learning modules. Spending time away from their parents, the campers learn to become responsible and learn to take their own decisions. While most of the summer camps France provide French language course for the participants, the participants get a fertile ground for learning a second language with all its linguistic aspects like reading, writing, listening and speaking. The camps also encourage interpersonal communication skills among the participants so as to give them a friendly environment where they can prosper with their skill.

Summer camps France work wonder in shaping the personality of the individual. The momentous experience work wonders in molding their character and help them developing a social skill. The camping can also bring significant change in the behavior of the children. Summer camps France are fast gaining popularity among kids with widely diverse interest and having appetite for experienced-based learning. More and more children are seeking creative and stimulating opportunities through summer camps which are being supported by their parents. Moreover, a certificate of attending a summer camp France adds relevance to the resume of the children proving him suitable for team work in diverse working environment.

Mr. Ray
http://www.articlesbase.com/languages-articles/why-summer-camps-france-is-growing-popular-707615.html

Why Summer Camps France is Growing Popular? is a post from: Top Communication Skills

Resolve the Hidden Cause of Problem

Mike Noone — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 08:15:28 +0000

How to Resolve the Hidden Cause of

Painful Problems at Work

By: Steven Gaffney

We have all been in a conversation or worked with someone, and we’ve all had something to say but debated whether we should even bother saying it. Or maybe you had an idea or advice to give and thought, “Should I say it or not? Ah, forget it, they probably don’t want to hear it, and it will probably just cause an argument. It isn’t worth it.”

Before you stop to answer whether it is worth bringing up or not, consider these statistics:

An average employee loses seven weeks of productivity every year because of troublesome and unresolved communication issues.

Lack of open, honest communication is at the root of 80 percent of problems at work.

Nearly 75 percent of employees who leave their jobs do so because of communication issues with their boss — not money.

The number one factor that drives employees to be engaged in their job is their relationship with their boss.

Now, put those statistics aside and answer this question. Sharing something or keeping it inside, which takes more energy? If you are like most people, keeping things inside is more stressful. When you finally share it with someone the outcome usually is not as bad as you feared.

Having been “in the trenches” working with thousands of individuals from organizations of every size for more than a decade, we have discovered that the root cause of most problems is a lack of honest communication and the subsequent withholding of issues, information and ideas.

How often have you said to yourself, “If they had just told me what was bothering them and what they wanted, I could have done something about it.” Or, “If I just had all the necessary information to do my job, I could have made a better decision in a fraction of the time and done it so much better.” Recently, a participant in one of my seminars shared that his wife of more than 25 years told him she was unhappy and wanted a divorce. The worst part about this is that he never saw it coming. He never knew she was unhappy.

Honesty is not only about telling the truth vs. telling a lie. That’s just what everyone talks about. Honesty is about saying what needs to be said and not withholding information and ideas.

Most people are unaware how much simply not being honest hurts relationships, curbs teamwork, stunts innovation, wastes millions in productivity and restricts the ability to generate new business. Unfortunately, some people think hording knowledge means power, while the reality is withholding can be toxic to every relationship at home and at work. Here are a few costly results of dishonesty:

Poor decisions are made based on a fraction of the potential information.

When vital information is not shared in a timely manner and expectations are not honestly managed, contracts develop problems and customers are lost.

Departments don’t share important information and, thus, can’t work effectively with each other.

Meetings become exasperating and unproductive because real issues are not discussed or resolved.

Co-workers avoid each other instead of working together and resolving issues.

People leave their jobs because of unresolved relationship issues.

Instead of talking to each other, people hide behind e-mail.

Office politics and hidden agendas cause employees to spend time developing back up and contingency plans rather than focusing on the work at hand.

People do not feel free to share the innovative, raw and crazy ideas that could be refined to make the organization incredibly successful and profitable.

According to a national study, 91 percent of people lie on a regular basis, and, in reality, the other nine percent were probably lying. The truth is that all people lie or withhold to some extent. It’s not because they are malicious or ethically flawed (though that can be a problem for some); it is primarily because they are afraid of hurting someone’s feelings, afraid of retribution for being honest, afraid it will permanently damage their relationships, afraid that it will affect their careers, etc.

People are afraid of the reaction they’ll get when they share what they feel or what they know. They wonder: Will others be appreciative or resentful? Will they take the feedback to heart or become defensive? Will I be respected for saying what needs to be said or will I be seen as a troublemaker? Fear keeps people from sharing vital information causing organizations, employees and families to suffer.

When we reduce fear, we can increase honest, open communication — information, thoughts and ideas — that can improve and have a positive impact on the organization. People want to be upfront and express their ideas. As I have already mentioned, it takes more emotional energy to keep things inside than to let things out. The key is to create an environment where people feel safe to do so.

The Solution: Three Keys

Our years of working with thousands of people have uncovered three keys essential to getting people to stop withholding, say what needs to be said and get others to say what needs to be said. By instituting these three keys through specific real-world strategies, relationships can be fixed and grow at home and work, and organizations can boost teamwork, increase productivity and generate new business. As we all know, no matter how great we are at something we can always improve.

Key 1. We all need to be aware that people tend not to be open and honest and withhold information and ideas. For example: When we say we are too busy when we really don’t want to deal with someone; when we say everything is fine, when things are not because we fear potential backlash if we are upfront. We need to recognize others are doing the same to us.

Many of us don’t realize that we often unknowingly encourage others not to be honest with us by getting defensive or upset when someone tells us bad news or unpleasant feedback. So the next time that person has to tell us something important, the poor bearer of bad news is too scared to be honest and instead does not say anything. Awareness is the first step to changing the situation.

Key 2. Leaders need to advocate, demonstrate and reward honesty. We are all leaders at home and at work. We lead our families and at work we lead our boss, our co-workers and our employees. As leaders in our lives, we need to not only advocate the value of honesty but also consistently demonstrate it through full disclosure, encouraging feedback and positively reacting even when people give us unpleasant news. This also means apologizing and taking full responsibility when we make mistakes. Remember, there is no statue of limitations on apologies. If we owe someone an apology, we need to apologize; just because they don’t bring it up doesn’t mean they have forgotten or that they are over what happened. So model and reward the behavior you seek in others.

Key 3. You must provide the strategies and skills for candid, honest communication and develop an environment where others feel safe to practice them. We must learn how to say what needs to be said. We must be aware of the difference between honesty and brutality, clear on the facts and careful not to accuse or blame. Honesty is not about sharing all of our opinions, because often people don’t care about our opinions. Take responsibility for your “mind chatter” and how you see things. Check-in with what we “imagine” (opinions, thoughts and conclusions) by asking effective questions from a sincere position that you may be missing something and are not fully aware of what is going on. Make requests, suggest ideas, focus on finding a solution, state the benefits for others to fulfill your request and share ideas.

When everyone stops hinting around an issue and are transparent and candid, issues and problems can be addressed and resolved, relationships can be transformed, people can do their jobs significantly better, and organizations become more innovative, teamwork improves and revenue goals are achieved. Both our home and work life becomes more enjoyable and rewarding. By using these strategies and techniques, many have saved their marriages, resolved issues that had never been resolved and get promoted when it had seemed impossible.

So here is the challenge — what are people withholding from you? The scary part is we don’t know. The good news is we can take action and do something about it.

Honesty takes strategy, skill and practice. After all, you don’t go out and exercise once and declare “Now I am healthy.” Instead we must work on it. The idea is to make improvements — not to be perfect but to be willing to feel awkward. If we do, the benefits are enormous. Just imagine if you and everyone around you really talked more openly and shared ideas and wisdom with each other. Ask everyone in your life to read this article, discuss it and then share what you are going to do differently. The way to change your future is by changing today.

Copyright, 2007 Steven Gaffney Company, All Rights Reserved. To distribute or replicate this article in any way please contact the Steven Gaffney Company at 703-241-7796 or via email at Christina@StevenGaffney.com.

Steven Gaffney
http://www.articlesbase.com/strategic-planning-articles/resolve-the-hidden-cause-of-problem-162999.html

Resolve the Hidden Cause of Problem is a post from: Top Communication Skills

How to Enrich your Advertisement Copy

Mike Noone — Sat, 15 May 2010 17:03:33 +0000

Advertising is the most exciting, colorful and resourceful method of communication for promotion of products. It could be informative or persuasive and competitive. Writing an advertisement is a complex art and requires great skill.

The main and basic purpose of the advertisement is to influence the audiences or readers so as to make them act in a particular way. The reader should be able to perceive what action the advertiser desires and he should retain the message of the advertisement. Reader should act on the basis of the facts and arguments mentioned in the advertisement.

Copy of advertisement should not be dull or uninteresting. The sole aim of the advertisement is to catch the attention of the customer. Monotonous or same tone of expression at all occasion can become stereotyped in due course and what had interested the reader once may no more arouse any enthusiasm in the reader or the audiences.

Business writing or creative writing software can be used to enrich an advertisement copy and also to check and correct English grammar, spellings and for proofreading. Some of the business writing softwares has text enrichment tool, which suggest rich adjectives and adverbs for your text to make your copy more interesting, so that you can avoid writing a prosaic or an ordinary copy.

Copywriter should first decide the style of writing for the product. It could be a-

- Suggestive copy,

- Expository or illustrative copy with all details of the product with pictures and illustrations,

- Educative copy containing valuable technological information,

- Institutional copy highlighting strength of the company or

- Humorous copy with exaggeration and cartoons or caricatures to make advertisement more effective.

The sale advertisements are persuasive and provocative but institutional and educative ads are convincing and argumentative. Power of words in educative advertisements can be further strengthened with figures and statistics.

Essential elements in an advertisement copy comprises -

- Bold or prominently displayed title,

- Illustrations,

- Explanatory and appealing text,

- Brand or product,

- Details of the company or manufacturer such as name, address, fax and e-mail etc.

The language of the advertisement should be poetic and engaging to catch the attention of the potential customer. Drawings, cartoons and specially commissioned paintings can be used to lure the customers.

So, the advertisement is not only to describe or present a product in some medium of communication but also to induce the reader to buy or support the product and text enrichment tools can be used for interesting and exciting language of an advertisement.

For more information on writing softwares with text enrichment tool please visit http://www.truevalue4money.com/businesswriting.html

Stephen Thomson
http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/how-to-enrich-your-advertisement-copy-115345.html

How to Enrich your Advertisement Copy is a post from: Top Communication Skills

Technorati Tags: assertive communication skills, body language, business communication, communication skill, communication skills, communication skills training, communications training, effective communication, good communication skills

Churchill – Right or Wrong ? an Analysis

Mike Noone — Mon, 10 May 2010 10:11:50 +0000

“We are shaping the world faster than we can change ourselves, and we are applying to the present the habits of the past.” (W. Churchill)

To warrant a citation as one of the most influential or the most influential man in our century, entails a convincing description of a long term devotion and impact on the direction of society and history. This author submits that in the 20th century the intractable flow of events has been towards the liberation of people, both in spiritual and material terms, and that the defining principles of some type of Liberal Democracy now hold true in many regions of the globe – many more than at the start of the century. Let us not underestimate this fact. For the first time in human history, more people have control over their own lives as a % of the population than ever before. It is too be expected that this shall continue, but of course such a trend is not certain.

There are people enough who would like to derange the liberation of the mass, and pass us back to the days of centralised or oligarchic control. However in toto there is no intellectual or economic challenger to the Liberal Democratic model at this time. One of the great new situations and driving forces of our world today is international economic interdependence. Further world-wide integration is unstoppable. There will be fits, regressions, complaining and pauses, questions, arguments, harangues, and resolutions, but always over time a forward movement towards what may be termed unshackled and fair trade and cross border integration will proceed. What needs to be addressed is how can we fairly develop the markets and the economic strength of less developed nations whilst still maintaining the economic growth and market access of more developed nations. The balancing act will be marvellous to behold. Adam Smith infused with both Galbraith and Greenpeace.

In this regard and given that the values and concepts of Liberal – Democratic society are subtle and complex, we need then to go back and ask ourselves, “How did we get here and why.” Thus the perspective of history is necessary. If we look at how this century evolved it can be determined that very few leaders have had such a imposing and sincere belief in Liberal Democracy and the accumulated spoils produced by such a society: freedom, self determination, security and a healthy standard of life, as did Churchill. He was not a corrupt politician interested in the pursuit of power for its own sake, but a statesman interested in power for its intelligent application to better the lot of the common citizen.

The program that Churchill followed in his life, and I speak here of his Liberal-Democratic program, was, with the exception of 1 occurrence (the independence of India, which will be discussed later), remarkably consistent with the theme of expanding Liberal Democratic principles. This is due in large part to his upbringing in the Liberal Aristocracy of the British Empire; due in part to his political father’s Liberal ideals and his American mother’s robust (and extremely adulterous) New World energy; and due in part to his experiences across the world as a young man, where he witnessed the power and relative success of the Liberalised (though not really democratic) British Empire, in comparison with other orders that lacked the discipline to generate and project wealth and power. As a prophet of Liberal Democracy, there could have been no better trained or indoctrinated messiah than Churchill. The man whose family history had been formed around the development of British Parliamentary, and Liberal Orthodox supremacy.

Again as with other outstanding humans he still achieved much more, than his contemporaries; many of whom were as intelligent, dedicated and immersed in the achievement of moral and political prestige as Churchill. This is where then Churchill’s story becomes interesting. What set him apart from the others ? Chance, money, dumb luck, patronage ? In human destiny all of these play a role. But to climb a pinnacle these are not enough. I would submit that Churchill provides illumination and support to many of Bennis’ leadership notions. Or how else could he have scaled the heights ? He had definite views on how a society should be structured and shaped. The love of a tempered democracy, the creation of a system to ensure proper leadership and guidance, the development of systems to allow prosperity, peace and support, occupied the mind of this man throughout his whole life. Churchill was obsessed with improving the lot of mankind and consumed by the proper use of power and leadership. And like Bennis he believed in a set of management and leadership principles that propelled him to greatness.

For those who write, think and practice true leadership, Churchill possessed radical views. Not of the immoderate, intolerable type. But those of classical, orthodox, Liberalism. Churchill believed in the need for the State to take an active part, both by legislation and finance to ensure that minimum standards of life, labour and social well-being for all citizens were maintained in an atmosphere conducive to fair trade and entrepreneurialism. Among the areas where Churchill during his varied career, took an active part were; prison reform, unemployment insurance, state-aided pensions for widows and orphans, permanent arbitration for labour disputes, state assistance for the unemployed, shorter hours of work, improved retail shop conditions, a National Health Service, wider access to education, taxation of excess profits and employee profit-sharing. Quite a list from a man who was supposedly one dimensional – the World War II embodiment of victorious unconquerable Britannia.

Other great men and women could be analysed and presented. But Churchill, one of the most complex, energetic and effective of history’s leaders, stands as an unparalleled example of leading and dealing with crisis, while defending, developing or discerning the limitations, values and concepts of political leadership and importantly freedom and democracy. He was unique. His style, mode of governance, deeply rooted and strongly held system of beliefs, and importantly his gaping weaknesses, should serve as a serious model upon which to reconstruct the training and choosing of our political leaders and governmental workers. It is not a perfect model. But certainly it is better than the ad-hoc, clandestine, shaded political leadership system we have today. Let’s then take a cursory look at Churchill’s skills according to the framework laid out in the last chapter. A fuller explanation of his skills will follow in Chapter Four when we discuss his actions during World War Two.

Character:
In reading any volume about Churchill’s life the most blinding aspect in understanding his success, is the quality, depth and strength of his character. Many other men would long have given up, or perished in their chosen professions, if they had been subject to the same trials as Churchill. In general from studying his life I can safely state that he never took the easy route. He was certainly never offered the easy spoils. Yet he never bowed his knee to opinion polls, party whips, or popular expressions that ran contrary to his own judgement and sense of purpose. In comparing Churchill with other great’s of this century there is no one that had to endure the opprobrium, distrust or number of setbacks as did Churchill. Even the witch hunt instigated against William Clinton, is pretty mild stuff compared with what the press had to say about Churchill during the first half of this century. I am always amazed that Churchill was able not only to survive through it all, but survive with a smile.

This is not to romanticise his or anyone else’s macho strength and egotism. Both in large doses are negative. However, without strength of character change is impossible, adversity cannot be overcome and good never triumphs over evil. In the dawning age of ‘Principle Parties’ as replacements for the outmoded ‘Political Parties’ trained individuals, relishing and brandishing these 3 traits will be needed to cut through the Gordian knot of the insoluble political drift we have today. We must remember the tenets of evolution and that change is not always progressive or better. To advance the human species needs change and conflicting ideas. These are necessary — not lobby groups, supine presidents and empty suits.

Upon the scarred field of politics Churchill stressed strength and magnanimity as the cornerstones of his behaviour. If impatience was his great weakness than offering magnanimity to the defeated – whether a local political opponent or Germany after World War II – casted Churchill as a strong but gallant knight and a man raised above the normal dash and din of political conflict. He fought all battles with limitless reserve and strategy. He offered friend and foe alike illimitable goodwill and respect after the conflict. His ideals imbued with history and coupled with a vision of where his country should be in the world were marked by a sense of fair play. Principles and not parties dictated his actions. For these reasons he is a man to be honoured and acclaimed as a defendant of democratic right and privilege.

To be effective statesmanship must lay on established principles and constraints rather than on emotive impulses and frayed passions. We should not forget that nations have no permanent friends, only semi-permanent interests, a covenant that often offends popular sympathy and belief. For it is these realism’s, that politics is a game of shifting fortunes, relationships and situations, that disgusts the great majority in democratic lands. Politics is like making love– natural, necessary and enjoyable– only if it is done properly. What is discernible about Churchill is his hard-headed realism and practicality in accepting such truths. Consequently he looked ahead a great deal more carefully and cautiously than many of his contemporary observers thought mutating viewpoints and re-evaluating some of his opinions. Of course some cried that he was too fluid and perhaps could not be trusted and other criticasters weary of Churchill’s rhetoric, would delight in emphasising that Churchill was a product of the late 19th century immutable and intractable. Thus from both sides – conservatives and liberals – Churchill received a drubbing, regardless of the integrity of his actions.

Churchill’s bellicosity caused much of the drubbing. One should consider the weight and purity of Churchill’s virtue and charity to all he contacted – friend or foe – even though he received the most acidic and heavily concentrated attacks of any politician in any era. Critics never tired of chopping at the tree of Churchill’s accomplishments. It began when he crossed the floor in 1904 to join the Liberals. It received a great accretion in strength during the winter of 1913-4 when Churchill was the subject of a broad protest by pacifists, economists, and social reformers who thought that as First Lord of the Admiralty he was too profligate and was promoting the arms race. At the root of the discontent and many to follow, was the fact that Churchill was not a good party man. As such the image of the war mongering pirateer was born and created by an aspersive socialist press. Churchill was not a war monger, “his thought has always been, between the wars, upon the means of making peace among the peoples.” For his critics such distractions were carefully ignored. It was during 1913-14 that the apparati to hang Churchill politically was established and raised for action.

What is inestimable is the fortitude and resilience of mind and body to withstand such brutal, crabby treatment that Churchill received at the hands of malcontents and frustrated plotters. His closest friends recognised clearly the political courage of Churchill. On November 11 1922, T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), wrote to a friend; “The man is as brave as six, as good-humoured, shrewd, self-confident and considerate as a statesman can be and several times I’ve seen him chuck the statesmanship course and do the honest thing instead.”

The honest thing included enacting proper change. When we view the broad balance of Churchill’s career and factor in the jealousy inherent in the political field and the degree of envy held by many of Churchill’s excessive successes we observe that many of his greatest contributions to the establishment of public welfare and governmental responsibility were initiatives driven from within, without concern to reputation, personal circumstance or fortune. Most were decidedly modern and far sighted. This is quite clear in his advancement of ‘Tory Democracy’ – economic growth with general support for the masses. Tory Democracy is another prescription for centrist governance. Often times this led him to advocate the dismemberment of party politics and the establishment of a broad nationally based governance: “Parliamentary debate has become largely meaningless. All the time the two great party machines are grinding up against each other with the utmost energy, dividing every village, every street, every town and city into busy party camps. Each party argues that it is the fault of the other. What is certain is that to prolong the process indefinitely is the loss of all…Once it can be seen that a great new situation or great new issues lie before us, an appeal should be made to the people to create some governing force which can deal with our affairs in the name and in the interest of the large majority of the nation.”

Part of Churchill’s trajectory to statesmanship can be seen in the light of time. First accumulate a reputation for outspoken principled action. Second, accumulate power via alliances, learning and public positioning. Then state a vision resplendent with clear principles, meanings and images while solving local problems. Lastly accede to great affairs and the devising of solutions in a national and international context. This trajectory needs to be buttressed by character, skills (verbal and technical), vision and power accumulation and recognition. To have these skills imbedded in action is not enough. A person must also have as a bedrock a clear and clean sense of duty and morality.

Importantly Churchill was clean. Adultery, conspiracy, or treachery were never a part of Churchill’s character. Loyalty, aggression and impulsiveness were the main exciting agents in Churchill’s life. His extreme ambition bordering at times on foolhardiness but always driven by an abnormal energy galvanised all around him. Churchill was always a contrarian thinker, and a statesman of the highest order, but he was not a Machiavellian posturer. His success rested on energy, innovation and positive thinking, all in a consistent framework employed in over 50 years of statesmanship.

Skills:
Churchill personified the well instructed and knowledgeable Leader. He was a self-developed man. As a youth he immersed himself in governing, leadership and policy. He never ceased learning and improving all of his life. He spent a great deal of time learning skills from his contemporaries such as Lloyd George, Lord Fisher, Herbert Asquith, F.E. Smith, and Max Beaverbrook amongst many others. On a political level this education led to a vision not only of strong morality but of rationality. In very few instances did Churchill compromise his personal code of morality for the sake of political gain. In this he was exemplary. But he was also a realist. He was adept at combining power and ethics in a compelling package. Very few understood the effective use of political leverage better than Churchill.

Compare Churchill’s self-education program with the political elite today. How many are steeped in history, philosophy, and the rigours and tribulations of historical notables ? What percent of our esteemed political masters exhibit such a rounded appreciation of the conditions and matters that shaped and will continue to shape the human story ? As Churchill sourly commented to then Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin in 1928 concerning the ease with which World War One could have been avoided: “Think of these people, decent, educated, the story of the past laid out before them. What to avoid, what to do etc. Patriotic, loyal, clean — trying their utmost. What a ghastly muddle they made of it ! Unteachable from infancy to tomb — there is the first & main characteristic of mankind.”

In looking at his life nothing can sum up the traits and skills of Churchill in short pleasing verbiage. He was patently too many people, a definite renaissance man, engaging in politics, writing, reporting, painting, farming, hunting, polo playing, warring and investing. Besides a massive intellect and memory Churchill possessed a spirit spurred with the whips of energy. It was unrelenting. His was the creed of action and contempt for delay. Mission was founded and achieved by exploring, questioning, trying, failing and trying again. During the 1930’s when the Stanley Baldwin and Ramsay Macdonald governments neglected the build-up of British war making strength and sought the treacherous path of appeasement to satiate the Nazi beast, Churchill who had long criticised the insipidity of such a program exclaimed in 1936 the memorable words about Baldwin’s government revealing his contempt for hiding inactivity in political closets; “The government simply cannot make up their mind, or they cannot get the Prime Minister to make up his mind. So they go in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all powerful to be impotent.”

Brilliant diction summing up the most hated of Churchill’s dislikes – inaction. But we have still to reach that quality in Churchill, which warrants us in calling him great. For a man may be gifted far above the ordinary, without earning the emblem of true greatness. Churchill had brilliant gifts. He was, in addition, driven by a limitless, borderless, shifting, resolute ambition. Without such magnificent ambition, men never have, and never will accede to the summit of power, prestige and greatness. “Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise (that last infirmity of noble mind), To scorn delights, and live laborious days.”

But unseemly ambition is insufficient to earn the appellation of great. It has to be elevated by noble principles (‘that last infirmity of noble mind’), to allow a man to rise above the supine mass. Flaming pertinacity is dangerous without the fibre of moral strength. Credibility rests on the broad shoulders of honesty and reliability. No Leader can shrug off those characteristics of success. Genius and energy do not necessarily shape the epiphanies of leadership. They have to combined in harmony and strength with the skills and qualities that we discussed in the last chapter, and which illuminate true leadership.

Intelligence:
But character, skill and morality are not enough for leaders. Intelligence is necessary. It does us no good having a clutch of well intentioned clods fouling up the process. Intelligence can only really be measured by verbal capacity and skill. IQ measures and tests are inaccurate. Churchill owned the English language and he owned the skill of persuasion. As such he commanded the heights of leadership. He could communicate the moment, the mission, and the energy. Churchill was one of the few politicians in our century that had a beautiful, lucid communication and vocabulary. Emboldening this was his common sense, technical skill and creativity. Above all the dynamism of his verbal adroitness lied in the desire for action and not drift.

A baser form of intelligence is what can be termed ‘Political Antennae’. In most political circles this skill is usually too overdeveloped. In the case of Churchill it was surprisingly weak and poorly unused. Churchill’s rhetoric was maybe too developed and at times not flexible enough for his audience or plainly inappropriate. But this weakness is still overshadowed by his capacity at conciliation and political problem solving and more vitally by his verbal capability. Churchill engineered delicate dispute resolutions over South Africa, Ireland, and social reform in England to name but a few, quickly striding across political boundaries and ideologies and involving himself intimately with those who had the greatest grievance in order to solve the conflict. Coupled with his strong array of communication skills he achieved a political pre-eminence that darkly shadowed his companions.

His oratory and conciliatory skills were allowed to flourish due to the mastery of technical details. Churchill was one of those rare politicians that actually knew what he was talking about. This dedication to lucidity ties in with persuasion and compromise and the knowledge of details leads to flexibility because plans can be made for each situation. Churchill always had three or four contingency plans for every situation. Strategy and vision thus sprung from intelligence and from being able to see the whole picture and from the confidence that one way or another the vision would be achieved.

This vision coupled with creativity gave Churchill adequate resources to enact change and innovation. In political spheres Churchill was light years ahead of his companions in collecting, analysing, and synthesising information at the micro level and relating it to the big picture. His innovation stemmed from patient practicality and discipline and not inspired genius as romantic novels about great change would like us to believe. This vision included fair economic trade and economic liberalism, adequate welfare for the population, peace and democratic governance, classical and scientifically or technically based education, and a powerful security apparatus to combat evil and aggression.

In achieving his aims, and in using his native and educated intelligence Churchill consciously chose to be nobody’s knave. He flaunted his independence, not only in action, but also in flamboyant dress and style. Yet his romantic urges were touched by the humbleness of most people’s lives, but to those at the summit where power corrupts, contracts are broken, lies are purveyed as half-truths, the issue of spirit and mores takes on a different colour. Basically Churchill trusted his own counsel and that of a half-dozen friends. To the rest of the world he looked like a recluse. To those who knew him well, he was defending himself against the often wicked and spiteful attacks of political banditos. Hence sympathy for the mass, trust for the few.

In this regard Churchill was exceptionally callous and rough to friend and foe alike in his early years. But as time tempered and beat down the baser impulses of searing rhetoric, Churchill acquired another skill — that of informal networking and interpersonal persuasion. He became as he aged refreshingly human. However, it was not until the 1930’s when he was in his late 50s and early 60s, that strident verbal missives were shelved for moderate expositions (with some notable exceptions) of the situation at hand, and fair treatment was meted out to friend and foe alike.

As Churchill matured so did his attention to friendship. “If F.E. (Smith), was strong meat and stronger drink, then Churchill in contrast to his public reputation as a ‘domineering’, even ‘rude’, figure, had in the intimacy of personal friendship a quality which is almost feminine in its caressing charm” As F.E. wrote, Churchill had a ‘simplicity which no other public man of the highest distinction possesses.’ He also endeavoured to perform many deeds of goodwill to aid friends and family. It can be summarised by Philip Snowden a long-time Churchill opponent and liberal critic, “Your generosity to a political opponent marks you for ever in my eyes the ‘great gentleman’ I have always thought you. Had I been in trouble which I could not control myself, there is none to whom I should have felt I could come with more confidence that I should be gently treated.”

A budget of good humour, tact and some considered patience fund the other necessary resources and tools to achieve success. Alone they are unsubstantive. It is better to be dour and effective, than gay and incompetent. Allied to well-developed skills and principles, sensitivity, embedded in the formidable array of humour and tact, provides a potent and efficient tool. About Churchill it is fair to say that he was ambitious and calculating; but not cold and that saved him. As a colleague stated, “His ambition is sanguine, runs in a torrent, and the calculation is hardly more than the rocks or the stump which the torrent strikes for a second…queer, shrewd power of introspection, which tells him his gifts and character are such as will make him boom….He was born a demagogue, and he happens to know it.” Yet ambition without a defining purpose can not only corrupt, but it can also destroy.

Vision:
A crowning vision is really the linchpin that will attract followers. Most good and great individuals have displayed a pretty consistent approach to the world and a pretty stable world view. Some superficial analysis may suggest that because Churchill changed parties, challenged convention, criticised incompetence and insipidity and usurped obedience, he was a grasping, clawing, malevolent opportunist. If rigid conformity is the sign of good political standing, Churchill was indeed recklessly unpredictable and unreliable. However, the picture of Churchill as a soldier of fortune, an adventurer and a troublemaker was and is incorrect. Strong ethics, values and principles guided his actions. He had little of Lloyd George’s cunning or the well-disguised craftiness of Stanley Baldwin. His decisions might have been unpredictable, but his motives were seldom hard to fathom. Churchill rarely embroiled himself in the base pettiness of political intrigue in part from a distaste of such ignominy, combined as well with a guileless personality.

To the charge of unreliability Churchill retorted that, “To improve is to change. To be perfect is to have changed often.” In actual fact the changes were due to some effort at self improvement, but to a fidelity of what he already was. Churchill was most consistent with his own true north direction when he was the least supportive of his party’s policy. Churchill never could swallow the party line always choosing and deciding for himself. In assessing Churchill’s skill base the following is a reasonable portrait: “Far from changing his views too often, Mr Churchill has scarcely, during a long and stormy career, altered them at all. If anyone wishes to discover his views on the large and lasting issues of our time, he need only set himself to discover what Mr Churchill has said or written on the subject at any period of his long and exceptionally articulate public life, in particular during the years before the First World War: The number of instances in which his views have in later years undergone any appreciable degree of change will be astoundingly small….When biographers and historians come to describe his views…they will find that his opinions on all these topics are set in fixed patterns, set early in life and later only reinforced.”

This historical reality is evidenced when studying Churchill. What drove Churchill in his personal intellectual and political journey’s can also be said to mirror the advance of imperialism in the 19th and 20th centuries . Thus not only did he possess grand skill, he was also a student but more importantly a conscious product of history. In this regard he closely resembles (consciously no doubt) British and world history. Even in his literary works this is reflected. For instance in Churchill’s book, ‘The Story of the Malakand Field Force’, which depicts British soldiery in north-western India at the turn of the 20th century he questioned what motivated men and nations to face great hazards. The principal elements that Churchill discovered were preparation, discipline, vanity and sentiment and he remarked that sentiment was the most important of the group. Churchill believed that civilisation can only march forward if it clings to a vision – a sentiment that ennobles its occupation and galvanises its spirit. Empires fall because the sword begins to dominate the sentiment and the people lose hold of the impulse and spirit that the sentiment contained and made the use of the sword in the first instance appropriate.

This spirit and vision was evident and mature. He commiserated with the poor, the downtrodden or the straggling. Some of his mightiest missions and political forays were instigated on behalf of those who lived lives beyond his comprehension but not his beyond his compassion. Yet here lies a paradox. Within political circles and in the ring of friends and associates he could be extraordinarily blind, politically inept, insensitive and roguish. Or so it appears from a distance. Yet for the great mass of ‘Poor England’ or for the devotion of the Commonwealth nations, tears would be produced, sagas told, and emotion unleashed. The difference is dramatic but crucial.

If we examine for instance his stand on fair economic trade he was malleable to changing circumstance but rather solid in his underlying belief in market forces, with government succouring the unlucky. He left the Conservatives over Fair Trade in 1904, when they put forward a policy of protectionism, anathema to an orthodox Liberal like Churchill. He only returned to the Conservative party in 1924 when undue governmental interference in trade had been expunged from their agenda, and when the political costs of doing so were at a low threshold. Fair trade in the mind of Churchill did not preclude beneficial and justified government involvement to at times, stimulate employment and counteract nefarious foreign practice. For instance by 1908 Churchill had developed a respectable appreciation of contra-cyclical public works feeling that in useful but uncompetitive industries such as afforestation, public departments should be constructed to allow the expansion or contraction of work according to the needs of the labour market, much like the utilisation of an accordion. He was also much taken by the notion of having a governmental body dedicated to intelligence gathering on market conditions and inputting clever designs regarding the balance of trade and the proper use of employment. These concepts were never tried.

Supportive of free or at least fair trade, Churchill throughout his career could never conceal his concern for the effects of such unbridled combat upon the poor man and women. Speaking in a lecture at Oxford in June of 1930 he posited that unencumbered free trade was not at that time working: “The growth of public opinion, and still more of voting opinion, violently and instinctively rejects many features of this massive creed. No one, for instance, will agree that wages should be settled only by the higgling of the market. No one would agree that modern world-dislocation of industry…should simply be met by preaching thrift and zeal to the displaced worker. Few would agree that private enterprise is the sole agency by which fruitful economic activities can be launched or conducted.” Churchill appended to this suspicion of market forces the idea of an economic council, chosen in proportion to parliamentary representation as an agent of economic advice. This concept of an objective economic watchdog was never viably pursued.

These economic doctrines – fair trade and support for the common worker – were strictly consistent with his life long pursuit of social stability, prosperity and opportunity. In wider party politics Churchill was a radical who consistently attacked the Conservatives as a party of wealthy vested interests conspiring to exploit the poor. He had a rough belief in proper mass democracy (though part of him sympathised with the viewpoints of the controversial Nietzche who feared for mass democratisation feeling that the great features of aristocratic or privileged existence would disappear), and most of his actions were ‘de Tocquevillian’. Churchill was fundamentally concerned that there should not be governmental obstruction to the mass of the people realising the benefits that a liberalising democracy could bring into their lives. In 1908 he wrote to Asquith:

“There is a tremendous policy in social organisation. The need is urgent and the moment ripe. Germany with a harder climate and far less accumulated wealth has managed to establish tolerable basic conditions for her people. She is organised not only for war, but for peace. We are organised for nothing except party politics. The Minister who will apply to this country the successful experiences of Germany in social organisation may or may not be supported at the polls, but he will at least have a memorial which time will not deface of his administration.” If we consider the tremendous tasks in which the human race and governments; local, regional, national and hopefully international, will struggle against in the near future then social organisation and re-organisation, probably of a brutal or dislocative nature will not be completed in the current ‘pork and play’ atmosphere in today’s political systems. Politicians engaged in change will need the courage to ignore the polls and do what needs to be done.

Churchill was a master at this, usually getting the House of Commons to agree to his proposals even if he was in a subordinate or even antagonistic position. The skills used to complete such duties were varied. Very rarely did they include threats, bullying, trampling on souls, or the use of political power. Logic, parliamentary procedure, emotional colour and well-researched positions counted as more important. Churchill proposed and acquired the acceptance of the House on a number of far reaching proposals, including;
- Institution of Labour Exchanges and unemployed insurance
- National Infirmity Insurance
- Special state industries such as roads, afforestation
- Modernised poor law (law mandating that children should support their parents)
- State control of the railway
- Compulsory education until age 17

Churchill’s economic beliefs and education though broader and more profound than many politicians were attached to a series of principles. He loathed dependence and esteemed individualism. He was fully in support of laissez-faire and the doctrines of 17th, 18th and 19th century English economics. His faith in Adam Smith, John Locke and Edwardian experience compelled Churchill to espouse his support in the benedictions of unshackled economic exchange. In October of 1902, in a letter to a political colleague while still a member of the Conservative party, Churchill commented that it was necessary by an ‘evolutionary process’ to create a wing of the Conservative party which would either infuse vigour into the entire unit, or allow the formation of a central coalition. Churchill realised as he stated in the letter that his plan would become most important as an incident in or possibly as a herald of the movement, but that it would also move suspicion that he was moved only by mere restless ambition and not substantive issues. He needed a grand theme and found it in the Free Trade debate of 1903-4. Churchill was unable to countenance the stance of the Conservative party in their clamouring for protection and left joining the Liberals on May 31 1904. Allegations of opportunism, deceit and cowardice, rained down upon him as he shifted sides. In a note to a friend Churchill admitted; “(The) Free Trade issue subsides it leaves my personal ambitions naked and stranded on the beach – and they are an ugly and unsatisfactory spectacle by themselves, though nothing but an advantage when borne forward with the flood of a great outside cause.” Indeed without a great cause ambition is a rather repulsive picture.

For Churchill and others liberal ideals as exemplified by the Free Trade question meant more than simply the abolition of protective tariffs. It personifies a whole philosophy of political, social and economic organisation. John Stuart Mill in ‘Principles of Political Economy’ in 1848 developed the ‘Laissez-faire’, concept and every departure from it, unless required by some great good, is a certain evil. This commandment created the key notes of mid-Victorian liberalism: the reliance upon individualism, the establishment of self-respect, and self-reliance, and the organisation of voluntary and co-operative societies to better the plight of the weak, wounded and suffering.

Support for such mantra was rooted in an earlier period of excitable prosperity. Coinciding with the advent of Free Trade in the years 1850-1870, there was an economic boom in the UK. It can be fairly argued that the removal of tariff barriers probably had only a marginal impact on the British economy. Nevertheless, psychologically the advent of free trade was closely associated with entrepreneurial zest and commercial success. It appeared that market forces working within the social and political structure solved the question of English strength, which preoccupied the country from 1820-50.

Churchill knew his economic history well. It moulded and galvanised his political and philosophical beliefs. It shaped his political attitude and formed one of his bedrock principles – free movement of goods and services. This created in his political philosophy a paradox — Churchill was at once a radical and a traditionalist. He was a radical in changing structures and governmental organisations and arcane laws to facilitate the movement of finance and trade on a more fair and free basis. He was also a radical in his determination to raise the general standard of living, economic opportunity and chance for decent education and welfare. He was a traditionalist in his empathy that the productive capitalistic system as the only guaranteed method of sustaining society and providing a nation with the capability to ensure adequate standards of wealth and progress. It must be protected at all costs – vision must be enjoined by the means to protect its vested interests.

Power:
In assessing the use of power Churchill’s career and leadership in this regard actually represents Britain’s peculiarity as a Great Power which during its hegemony was formed in the conjunction of three factors: her naval strength, her imperial possessions, and her financial hegemony. Through two stints as First Lord of the Admiralty, Chancellor of the Exchequer and through two World Wars, Churchill devoted the lion’s share of his time and energies to upholding these interlocking causes, making it conspicuously clear in the process that he had no intention of presiding over the liquidation of the British Empire. As Chancellor of the Exchequer Churchill presented 5 budgets (1925-1929). In British history only Pitt, Walpole and Gladstone can equal that record. Though vastly entertaining as pieces of oratory and acting adroitness his budgets adhered as much as it was possible to economic orthodoxy. Many times Churchill was accused of slight of hand sophistry in the compilation of his numbers and in the collection of his tax revenue. However, this allegation has been and could be made with more convincing effect against every other Chancellor in this century. What is more important to note is that Churchill’s orthodoxy underpinned the Victorian notion of Britain’s greatness.

Churchill was a realist and understood power. Power is really to be embraced and used and is in some ways the centre piece of leadership. To ignore it is to perish. Because of his somewhat apolitical view of the world Churchill could discern very clearly the different perspectives on how nations viewed peace and how any destroyer of peace would appear in various forms to different nations. To prevent war and general international dislocation he at times called for zones and regional structures, including World-Grand Alliances. Power and strength were vital: In his words, “Appeasement from strength is magnanimous and noble and might be the surest and perhaps the only path to peace.”

Though primarily remembered as a war-hungry demagogue, Churchill on at least half a dozen occasions defiantly crusaded against the level and purpose of military spending. These personal programs were driven in part by his political position. That is only a small part of the answer. During the 1920’s Churchill felt that military expenditure was too high and should be curbed given the threat of inflation, the spectre of economic dislocation and the vital investments needed in infrastructure and social programs. These economic indicators drove Churchill to proselytise against excessive taxation and to insist on reviews of defence expenditures. It was necessary Churchill felt, to augment the Royal Air Force allotment and decrease the high administrative costs of the army and look suspiciously into the Royal Navy claims of needing more funding. The cabinet agreed with Churchill: “that the Fighting Services should proceed on the assumption that no great war is to be anticipated within the next ten years” although, “provision should be made for the possible expansion of trained units in case of an emergency arising.” Little of the war-mongerer appears in this sentiment though security was never to be imperilled.

Churchill was emphatic that the 10 year rule be reviewed each year. This 10 year dictum uttered in the mid 20′s obviously proved false since in 1936, the Germans seized the Rhineland. Beginning with the rise of Hitler and the stench of his ideology, Churchill began advocating not only a mammoth increase in armament production but also a closer relationship with Russia. Strategy had changed again. This option was proffered from a man who in the early 1920’s had supported the incursion of British soldiers into the heartland of Russia to cleanse it of Bolshevism. Churchill regarded Bolshevism as the lowliest creed and construct of mankind’s civilised history. These adjurations were consistent with his concept of maintaining a balance of power and bargaining from a position of strength, all in the name of effacing and avoiding an evil tumult. It is – and should be – one of the chief reasons for our admiration and support of Churchill that he consistently advocated peace by international understanding and if understanding were to collapse to resist any impingement of freedom by force.

But his political courtship of Russia was based on seemingly obvious and important facts. As Churchill previsioned in the early 30’s a new line of French fortifications established only along the French part of the Rhine would enable Germany to attack France through Belgium and Holland. He knew that Germany would not respect the neutrality of the Low Countries in her desire to rip and tear the French to pieces. He also warned that Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Rumania, Austria and the Baltic’s, were at risk, and that Britain could not detain a German advance into these areas from her current submissive position of weakness. Churchill wanted to station a part of the British fleet in the Baltic to outnumber the German fleet. To achieve measurable, guarded security an alliance with the Bolshies was inevitable, vital and more importantly achievable.

If stronger lines had been followed in the 1930’s World War Two could have been avoided. With a ‘Churchillian’ leadership of the world and vision of power and morality we could have escaped the disgusting slaughter of 70 million people. In a 1945 speech to the combined Belgian Senate and Chamber, Churchill stressed what is still surely relevant in our world today; namely the resistance and prevention of dictator aggression: “If the United States had taken an active part in the League of Nations, and if the League of Nations had been prepared to use concerted force, even had it only been European force, to prevent the re-armament of Germany, there was no need for further serious bloodshed. If the Allies had resisted Hitler strongly in his early stages, even up to his seizure of the Rhineland in 1936, he would have been forced to recoil, and a chance would have been given to the sane elements in German life, which were very powerful especially in the High Command, to free Germany of the maniacal Government and system into the grip of which she was falling. Do no forget that twice the German people, by a majority, voted against Hitler, but the Allies and the League of Nations acted with such feebleness and lack of clairvoyance.”

After the Second World War he continued such pleas arguing in various speeches for France and Germany to bind wounds and for Russia to be a partner with the West in the greater development of a peaceful Europe. When it became obvious that the Soviets intended to challenge if not supplant the West (especially after the communist seizure of power in Czechoslovakia in 1948), than the tone of conciliation turned to a growling of an affronted bulldog as Churchill told American officials, that now is the time, promptly, to tell the Soviets that if they do not retire from Berlin and abandon Eastern Germany, withdrawing to the Polish frontier ‘we will raze their cities’. In his signal ‘Iron Curtain’ speech in Fulton Missouri in 1948 Churchill implored that the UNO must work effectively to prevent another war recognising Russia as a leading nation, remembering the gallantry of its efforts in the last war, and acknowledging its ‘Iron Curtain’ control of Eastern Europe which necessitated the banding and collation of Western strength and might.

It is a complex issue and drives to the heart of politics that so many of us view with revulsion – peace through strength and shifting alliances and geopolitical supporters. To understand such necessities today we need to understand the human animal. In scanning leadership and the great broad stretch and gesture of events, the basic construct of the human animal has to be borne in mind. Churchill constantly reminded his associates of the base fact that we really have not changed genetically in the last 100,000 years. DNA and microbiology are 1 of 2 great frontiers of human discovery in the next generation, (the other is information technology). As advances are made in understanding the human genome, advances must also be made in the way society and the leaders of society are structured and educated.

Churchill’s view of international affairs was pragmatic though not Machiavellian. He had two basic precepts of security — use history as a guide and foster a balance of power between the strongest lands, and ensure that the internal national health was seasoned and keen. Churchill frequently referred to his debt to those who had laboured before himself as he did to Katherine Asquith, on April 5 1929; “How strange it is that the past is so little understood and so quickly forgotten. We live in the most thoughtless of ages. Every day headlines and short views. I have tried to drag history up a little nearer to our own times in case it should be helpful as a guide in present difficulties.”

This enduring commitment to knowledge and of increasing the power, and not the dependency of the layman, both intellectually and politically was the central tenet of Churchill’s political genius. He could combine the new world with the old gleaning the important knowledge from the past, to help shape the institutions of the current and future. To say he was old-fashioned as some critics contend is simplistic. Churchill more than any other figure helped create the modern welfare nation state (though he would be appalled at its size and generosity today), promote peace through strength and ensure that the precarious balance of power between east and west, that was the only stability guaranteed to mankind for 44 years, was not toppled. Pure motives, unflinching devotion to good, ambition stemming from benign aspirations, all lead to quality. As one commentator explained of Pitt, so it could be ascribed to Churchill: “Pitt desired power, and he desired it, we really believe, from high and generous motives. He was, in the strict sense of the word, a patriot. He saw the national spirit sinking.” In conclusion then, we can state that Churchill matches many of those qualities and skills that define true leadership and greatness. It is these defining values that warrant the assertion that Churchill was indeed this century’s most important catalyst in propelling the world to where we are today. And I have not even discussed in detail his stand against Hitler and totalitarianism.

Thus, as a new millennium dawns I do believe that if we can revise our current system of educating ourselves and our leaders along the principles already evinced; namely, character, skills, intelligence, vision and understanding power, that we can create a proper cadre of leading men and women and that all of society will benefit from the reduction of intrigue and pettiness. Human nature can be changed, however painfully long it will take. In order to understand how we can do this it is often times necessary to understand how the ‘great’ or historically important at any rate went about it. I don’t think that in the 20th century there has been any more dedicated man who defended the Liberalised view of freedom, economic exchange and human dignity, better than Churchill. For this reason, he should be nominated as the most influential man of the past century. And for this reason his skills and weaknesses should be studied and appreciated with especial care.

C. Read
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/churchill-right-or-wrong-an-analysis-700334.html

Churchill – Right or Wrong ? an Analysis is a post from: Top Communication Skills

Reading Body Language For Your Success

Mike Noone — Sat, 08 May 2010 10:16:59 +0000

In any face to face communication, the conveyor talks or writes while the recipient listens to or read the message. However, what they didn’t know is that actual verbal communication accounts to only around 10% (or even less) of the overall means of conveying a message.

However, there is another form of communication based on gestures or body movements which determine their true inner feelings and thoughts.This art of non-verbal communication is better known as body language.

Reading Body Language

Although spoken communication is a direct way to convey a message, it can be masked. By reading body language of the conveyor, you will understand the message in a truer sense or form. However, this depends on the interpretation of the recipient of the message.

With this in mind, it is important to familiarize yourself with this art of non-verbal communication. This art is the ability and skill of reading body language and to interpret the message correctly. Wrong interpretation may have drastic, dramatic implications.

Given the chance to come face to face to communicate with each other, you may be able to realize and verify the truthfulness of the message being conveyed.

Let’s pick a simple scenario to illustrate non-verbal communication. Let us say a former officemate of yours called you to propose a business partnership. This officemate is just one of your casual acquaintances. He’s not exactly a confidant whom you would treat as a close buddy. He asked that the two of you meet somewhere and you obliged.

So you wind up meeting him in a coffee shop. After the usual handshake (this is one type of body language), both of you took a seat and ordered coffee. After a few exchanges of pleasantries and recalling past incidences while you were still officemates, you touched on the subject of his business proposal. While in the process of presenting the proposed business, you occasionally interrupted him with questions that he readily answered. Subconsciously, while you continued to listen to his proposal, you kept touching your nose with your index finger, rubbing it once in a while as if covering the nose with your hand.

After the proposal has been made, he asked for your comment if his proposal merits your acceptance. He’s not asking for an immediate answer or decision if you’re interested or not, giving you enough time to study it. However, your first impression of the proposal was somewhat inclined on rejecting it. Your main reason was that you are not familiar with the line of business he’s proposing, and to go into unfamiliar business simply does not interest you.

But in spite of your negative perception of the proposal, you didn’t want to disappoint your former officemate, at least not at that moment. Before you gave the final word that you would seriously study the proposal, you made some initial comments about it to the tune that it may seem to merit your approval although it really didn’t. While you were making your comment, subconsciously and again, you touched your nose with one hand while talking.

It’s observed that during the entirety of your discussion, you frequently made one move, touching your nose. Are you aware that touching your nose is a gesture that means you’re not saying what you really felt or meant? Studies suggest that saying something while touching the nose is not reflective of what’s being said. In this case, rubbing the nose is tantamount to disapproval of the proposal presented to you.

Although there is no definite basis that this gesture is a sign of disapproval or disagreement or rejection, it has a high rate of probability. Only you know your real intention.

You may see this same gesture from other people if you were in the shoes of your officemate. But keep in mind that there may be other reasons. An itchy nose, a sinus that keeps bothering the listener, mannerism, halitosis on either the part of the conversationalist or the listener or both – anyone of these could be the real reason.

Keep in mind that interpretation of body language has a high probability rate but it may not necessarily be definite.

Ronald Yip
http://www.articlesbase.com/self-help-articles/reading-body-language-for-your-success-14169.html

Reading Body Language For Your Success is a post from: Top Communication Skills

Enrich your Sales Copy for Success in Internet Marketing

Mike Noone — Thu, 06 May 2010 02:59:35 +0000

Sales copy is the most exciting and resourceful method of communication for promotion of your product. You have a product to sell and you know the features and benefits of that product. Now, to sell that product, you will have to write a sales copy to communicate with buyers and to induce the reader to buy your product. So, sales copy should not be dull and boring copy with uninteresting things. You can use text enrichment tools for writing your copy, so that you can avoid writing a prosaic or an ordinary sales copy.

Writing a sales copy is a complex art and requires great skill. The main purpose of the sales copy is to influence the reader so as to make them act in a particular way. This requires the gearing up of the communication process to achieve the following aims.

-The reader should be able to perceive the action desired by the advertiser.

-The reader should retain the message of the advertisement.

-The reader should act on the basis of the facts and arguments mentioned in the advertisement.

The sole aim of the sales copy is to catch the attention of the customer. Monotonous or same tone of expression at all occasion can become stereotyped in due course and what had interested the reader once may no more arouse any enthusiasm in the reader.

Creative writing or business writing softwares can be used to enrich the sales copy or advertisement copy. Text enrichment tool available with some of the creative writing software suggests context based rich adjectives, adverbs and phrases to make the sales copy more interesting, so that you can make your sales copy more interesting and appealing for better results. Writing softwares can also be used to check and correct English grammar, spellings and for proofreading.

You should first decide the style of writing suitable for your product such as informative, persuasive or competitive. It could be a suggestive copy, illustrative copy with all details of the product with pictures and illustrations, educative copy containing valuable technological information, institutional copy highlighting strength of the company or humorous copy with exaggeration and cartoons or caricatures to make the sales copy more interesting. The sale advertisements are persuasive and provocative but institutional and educative copies are convincing and argumentative. Power of words in educative copies can be further strengthened with figures and statistics.

Essential elements in a sales copy are, bold or prominently displayed title which should grab the attention of the reader, illustrations, explanatory and appealing text, features and benefits of the product, details of the company or manufacturer such as name, address, fax and e-mail etc.

The language of the sales copy should be poetic and engaging to catch the attention of the potential customer. Drawings, cartoons and specially commissioned paintings can be used to lure the customers.

So, the sales or advertisement copy is not only to describe or present a product in some medium of communication but also to induce the reader to buy the product. For more information on writing softwares with text enrichment tool, please visit

http://www.truevalue4money.com/businesswriting.html website.

Stephen Thomson
http://www.articlesbase.com/online-promotion-articles/enrich-your-sales-copy-for-success-in-internet-marketing-125981.html

Enrich your Sales Copy for Success in Internet Marketing is a post from: Top Communication Skills

Communicating With Autistic Siblings

Mike Noone — Mon, 03 May 2010 05:13:19 +0000

Autism communication:

Astonishingly up to 50 percent of autistic children will never develop speech, whilst the others will develop some form of early communication skills.

However, kids with autism rarely engage in effective communication.

When we think of speech – language; we are referring to a body of words, the formations of sounds, as well as the structures and forms used to construct speech.

Communication on the other hand can occur either verbally through speech or non-verbally through the use of spoken words, gestures, signs, or by pointing to printed words or symbols.

Thus communicating with autistic siblings effectively, we must firstly be able to understand why we need to communicate with others, have the desire to communicate, have somebody to communicate with, have something to communicate about, and have a means of expressing ourselves.

As children develop, they begin to explore their environment and start to understand the cause and effect around them. For example when they are thirsty they can point to the fridge or a cup…When they are wanting a cuddle or are tired they may raise both hands to picked up.

With autistic children – autism communication, sometimes this inquisitiveness is missing, the lack of interest in their surroundings and the lack of effective eye contact make learning communication very difficult.

By the time a non-verbal autistic child starts school, they may already have seen a speech therapist to establish a program to aid with the development of effective communication. The speech therapist will need to determine some appropriate objectives and goals, a base level of communication will be established by carefully observing the child within the school setting.

In certain cases it may be necessary for the autistic child to learn a new form of communication. For example the child may cry or scream when they need something and this is their form of communication. But this is not going to be effective in a classroom full of children. There fore new forms of communication will need to be established.

Social skills stories can be used as a form of autism communication…for communicating with autistic siblings.

Autism social stories are short but descriptive pieces of text with appropriate pictures and images to support the story – or instruction. So for example if the new skill is to help the autistic child understand the need for quiet reading at school, the appropriate autism social story would be selected and implemented.

The autistic social skills story will pictorially show as well as the text the reason why the children are expected to be silent, who is expecting them to be silent and why also the consequence of not being quiet and the consequent or reward for being quiet.

Autistic children tend to be visual learners, which is why studies have shown that autism social stories are an excellent aid in developing good foundations for behavior and social skills for autistic children and adults.

As well as excellent tools for helping develop communication skills.

To obtain appropriate autistic social skills stories that will aid with the problem of communicating with autistic siblings please visit us NOW at:www.autismsocialstories.com

jANINE
http://www.articlesbase.com/diseases-and-conditions-articles/communicating-with-autistic-siblings-688053.html

Communicating With Autistic Siblings is a post from: Top Communication Skills

The King, the Fool, and the Fox, Reading and Controlling Non-verbal Communication in the Sparring Ring

Mike Noone — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 07:40:46 +0000

Know yourself and know your enemy and in a hundred battles you will be victorious.

Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Few people today have not heard Sun Tzu’s famous axiom, but how can you know an enemy you have never met before? This is the situation most fighters face when competing in sparring tournaments. Even seasoned veterans of the tournament circuit who know and will have studied the fighting techniques of other regulars, must still face new and unknown fighters. How can you know what type of fighting tactics these will use against you? The answer lies in knowing human behaviour.

In the Far East strategy focuses more on understanding the strengths and weaknesses of human nature than the use of sheer force. Tactics were aimed at taking advantage of an enemy’s foibles and character flaws over finding a weakness in a formation or fortress. In the sparring arena we all have certain flaws that we unconsciously reveal through a type of non-verbal communication called telegraphing or Tels for short. Telegraphing is the name given to unconscious body movements that `Telegraph’ a person’s intentions in advance of an attack. The ability to `know’ an opponent is through the observation of his Tels. But this is a two edged sword. Not only do you need to be able to read your opponent, you must prevent your opponent from reading you. This is where the strategies of The King, The Fool, and The Fox come in. But the first thing is to read others. The following are some Tels that are common among martial arts fighters.

Reading Non Verbal Communication

Eyes/Focus

Watch the opponent’s eyes. Most fighters will focus on the intended target briefly before attacking. For example, if the attack is to be to the lower part of the body the eyes will drop just before the attack. If the attack is to be to the upper body, the eyes will look upwards. If the intention is to grapple, the opponent’s eyes often focus on your hands or waist. As a rule; where the eyes look, the attack will follow.

Hands and Arms

It is thought that long before man was able to speak he was able to communicate through the use of an extensive hand language. The use of hand gestures to emphasize speech is still an integral part of our modern communication. It thus comes as no surprise that the hands reveal much about what we are thinking. One of the most common Tels among novices is dropping the hands, and chambering the arms. When a fighter drops his hands, it is usually a prelude to a kicking attack. This is often the result of poor training whereby students feels they need to use their hands to counter balance a kick, at other times the fighter drops the hands in order to clear the way, so to speak, for their kick. Professional fighters know this Tel well and will maintain a proper guard position while launching a kick.

The next most common Tel using the arms is a chambering action. Many fighters chamber their arms before launching a hand technique. This is what Bruce Lee was trying to counteract in his students when he taught them the one and three inch punch. A pro just shoots out the punch instantly; the amateur will pull back and chamber the punch first giving the perceptive fighter advance warning.

Breathing

While watching the opponents eyes use your peripheral vision as well as your hearing to note the opponent’s breathing pattern. The breathing rhythm will give away the time of the attack. Before launching an attack, most people will unconsciously perform a mental version of 1 – ready, 2 – get set, 3 – go. This occurs very quickly but will follow the same pattern, regular breathing during the `ready’ stage, a sudden intake of breath during `get set’, and then exhalation during the attack. (Although some will hold their breath during the attack.) Listen to your opponent’s breathing, when you hear the sudden intake of breath the next instant will see the attack. To use the strategy of `Interception’, attack at the very instant he inhales. Almost no one attacks during the inhale.

Torso

The position of the torso may reveal an opponent’s strategy. A sideways stance with the hips facing 90 degrees to the side favors a kicking attack. If the hips turn, away exposing more of his back, then expect a spinning attack whereas hips turned towards you favors hand and grappling techniques. There is an exception to this interpretation. Most styles and tournaments forbid attacks to the opponent’s back. Some fighters turn their backs towards their opponents to hide legitimate targets and to foul out the opponent should they strike their back by accident. This cheap tactic may win a trophy but no points for skill.

Feet/legs

Using peripheral vision one can notice an impending kick by stiffness or delay in one of the opponent’s legs. The most powerful kicks come from the back leg; as a result, the back leg is often a little more tense or stiff just before being thrown. If the opponent is outside of kicking range, he will first need to close the distance, when he steps forward the kicking leg tends to lag or drag behind slightly.

An intellectual grasp of body language and telegraphing is helpful while practicing and learning but, during actual combat, one must be able to have an instinctive perception of body language and this can only be achieved through observation, and endless practice. Eventually you will forget how you are able to see, you just see.

Hiding Non Verbal Communication

Mastering discretion is greater than employing eloquence.

Chinese Proverb

The first rule in the art of war is that all is a deception. To succeed, a strategist must learn to see his opponent’s deception while creating his own. To hide one’s intentions, our inner goals and desires, one must suppress non- verbal leakage. Our attention being limited we cannot manipulate and control every verbal, facial, and bodily expression all the time. While it’s not possible to suppress every gesture, we are able to fake and control enough to fool all but the most observant. There are three general strategies to prevent giving oneself away: to suppress, to disguise, and to manipulate non-verbal communication.

The King Strategy

Wait long, strike fast.

Chinese Proverb

One method to suppress non-verbal communication is by making as few physical movements as possible. The face becomes a mask set in a certain attitude such as concentration, or nonchalance. The hands make only the minimal number of actions when needed to carry out attacks and defence. The body is kept still, no movement made without purpose. The idea is to provide so little body language that no one can detect any meaning. This is known as the King Strategy and is based on the observation that in both primates and man the most dominant male exhibits the least body movements. The ability to suppress non verbal leakage is a result of superb body control and self discipline.

The Fool Strategy

The angry man will defeat himself in battle as well as in life.

Samurai Maxim

The second strategy is the exact opposite of the King strategy, playing the fool. It involves a non-stop display of acting and gesturing. The idea is to provide so much body language that it is impossible for opponents to detect the true mood beneath the surface display, not being able to read the signs because of too much background noise. There are several roles the fool can play. Some use continuous pantomimes, others pretend to be angry and upset, some tell jokes and tease. Playing the fool also serves another advantage; having your opponent underestimate you. The saying you can’t judge a book by its cover is never truer than in a sparring ring but not everyone knows this. If you succeeded in having your opponents underestimate you they will tend to drop their guard and their responses will become slower. This tactic only works once though with a smart fighter.

The Fox Strategy

He who is fearless in being bold will meet his death; He who is fearless in being timid will stay alive.

Lao Tze, Tao Te Ching

This is the most difficult strategy of all, since it requires an acute presence of mind to control both verbal and non-verbal communication so as to intersperse true signals with false signals. This is a dangerous device and requires great acting ability. You manipulate the opponent’s perceptions to make it seem that he can read you, but what he sees is only what you’ve allowed them to see. For example, you could affect a Tel such as dropping the hands when kicking. You exhibit this quirk when making inconsequential attacks, so that the opponent easily recognises it as a `Tel’ and will defend low in anticipation of a kick when he sees your hands drop. Then when going in for the kill you exhibit the Tel that acts as a feint. Knowing how your opponent will react by defending low to the feint, you attack his opening.

Conclusion

To win you must know your enemy and know yourself. You can know your enemy by observing his body language. But to know yourself is to know that you also communicate through your body language to others. Use one or more of the above strategies to hide and or confuse your communications and then wait for your opponent to make a mistake. That’s winning without trying, and Sun Tzu would be proud of you.

Stefan Verstappen
http://www.articlesbase.com/martial-arts-articles/the-king-the-fool-and-the-fox-reading-and-controlling-nonverbal-communication-in-the-sparring-ring-433430.html

The King, the Fool, and the Fox, Reading and Controlling Non-verbal Communication in the Sparring Ring is a post from: Top Communication Skills