Leading with Emotional Intelligence: Hands-On ... - always yours

COMMUNICATION AND EMPATHY TOOLS AND STRATEGIES 247
For 20 years, Davies ran numerous political campaigns and had
an 85% win ratio. His focus has always been on studying human
behavior and effective communications strategies to influence
decision-making processes, no matter the venue. Whether it is
helping a politician refi ne his or her remarks and presentation or
designing a public relations campaign over heated political and
environmental issues, John Davies is one of the best. His seminars
and coaching have consistently received the highest ratings from
audiences all over the country.
DAVIES WAS ASKED
• How did he learn these communication competencies?
• What does he do to be such an effective communicator?
• What are his daily practices?
• What are the pitfalls he needs to be aware of?
EARLY LEARNING EXPERIENCES
John wasn’t always a Star in Communication. As a matter of fact,
he was unable to speak intelligibly until the age of 10 or 11 due to
a speech impediment now called verbal apraxia, a condition that
kept him from feeling how his tongue moved around in his mouth.
Davies simply couldn’t be understood, so he developed an avoidant
pattern, specifically to make sure he didn’t have to speak in public.
“People treated me as stupid, and then I seemed to believe maybe
I was stupid,” he told me. “I couldn’t spell or read well and was in a
special remedial reading class.” Young Davies decided he wanted to
learn how to speak like others, but after hundreds of hours studying
people’s communication skills he came to realize that most people
were actually poor communicators! This insight informed his future
decisions about the importance of clear expression.
Davies said that after two years of speech therapy he “got his
voice” and claims he hasn’t stopped talking since! “Once I got my
voice I experimented, and at one point became the class clown. But
I flunked eighth grade and had to stay back a year. I felt like a loser