Communicate with Courage: Taking Risks to Overcome the Four Hidden Challenges received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with author Michelle D. Gladieux.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
Communicate with Courage: Taking Risks to Overcome the Four Hidden Challenges, published Nov. 2022.
What’s the book’s first line?
Think of this book as a bravery manual that helps you turn risk into reward.
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
This book helps readers and listeners understand and overcome sneaky obstacles that can keep us from realizing our potential as message senders, receivers, and listeners. It helps people know when to apply more intentional effort to engage in a full-body, full-mind, and full-heart communication effort.
What inspired you to write the book?
Creating interactive seminars and presentations about communication and coaching thousands of people from all walks of life to overcome communication hangups in the past 25 years got me interested in reaching more people in less time. When we get better at interacting, our relationships, careers, and self-esteem improves. It is an incredible honor to give people a leg up with time-tested advice.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
It’s taken me a long time and some heartbreak to learn some of these lessons. Readers will be saved from avoidable mistakes. They’ll find real-life “Pro Moves” and exercises that can be enacted immediately in personal and professional life in these pages. Balancing risk and reward as a communicator is a tricky dance that can be learned with this book as a guide. My heart is on every page. I held nothing back.
Is this the first book you’ve written?
This is my first book although with support from my team at Gladieux Consulting I’ve created dozens of original workbooks for team trainings in topics such as Powerful Presentation Skills, Excelling as a Leader, Better Business Writing, Managing Conflict and Challenging Conversations, Meaningful, Motivating Performance Reviews, and Staying Sane in Stress and Change to name a few topics we absolutely love to teach around the U.S.
What do you do for work when you’re not writing?
I’m an educator through and through so writing training content is part of my daily life. I enjoy executive coaching that always kicks off with personality assessment and strategic planning faciliation for profit and non-profit organizations, which allows me some variety in my work life.
Is there something in particular that motivates you (fame? fortune?)
Yes! I love to help people see how they can overcome their fears by engaging in smart risk. We can think of it as extra-curricular communication: risking engaging in a new mindset or behavior with no guarantee of what the result will be, but well worth it if we’re sharpening our ability to interact with others.
Which writer, living or dead, do you most admire?
There are so many! My mom, Rosemary Gladieux (who often wrote under the pseudonym Rosemary Summers, because summer was her season!) was the first writer I loved. As a freelancer, she modeled persistence and taught me how to express myself openly, then to edit ruthlessly. Another writer who strikes a chord with me is Elizabeth Gilbert. She’s said you write about what’s causing a revolution in your heart. That is certainly the case with Communicate with Courage.