communEQation: An Emotional Intelligence Playbook for the Digital Age

(Paperback)

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"communEQation" was written as the definitive work on communication, connection and influence at the most challenging time in history to exercise those skills: the post-truth era. This book defines and corrects contemporary interpersonal communication compromises caused by the Digital Age's over-indulgence on screensall in the context of the most elite communication skill, Emotional Intelligence.

Today, we rely on communicative technology that's brilliant, but beguiling: we pay more cumulative attention to screens than we do to the faces, voices and body language of the people with whom we interact. So our awareness and reasoning are often fraught with distraction, disconnection or blunt misunderstanding. In response, communEQation is a comprehensive self-improvement work for its time, in three parts.

PART ONE, The Personal, defines Emotional Intelligence in action. It explains how the habits and practices of the Digital Age have changed our brains, behaviors, expression, choices, and attitudes often in ways of which we are totally unaware. It shows how our connective capacity, empathy, and communication capability have all been compromisedand how to reverse that.

PART TWO, The Environmental, explains and analyzes six communication-related Digital Age sociocultural influences. Over time, these subtle, pervasive, real-world behavioral drivers have simplified both the personal and universal outlooks, biasing the ways in which we process and deliver information, set expectations and interact with others. Understanding these ubiquitous forces of the digital zeitgeist will give you the awareness to consciously label them as you observe and experience them. This aids clarity on the ways we perceive situations and frame responses, to connect with and influence others more effectively.

PART THREE, the Interpersonal, introduces a new, original model for codifying and comprehending the mechanics and content of verbal exchange. This simple, original analytical filter will enhance your perception and give you clarity with an instant, instinctive grasp of meaning and intent at the primary level of connection: face-to-face dialogue. It's an invaluable tool for both understanding and self-awareness.

Author statement: "The Digital Age brings with it all the specious claims, fake news and simplistic thinking that we encounter so often. The skimming mode in which we tap, swipe and scroll through screen content has blunted our logical, impartial analytical and evaluative mental processes. This makes us susceptible and suggestible to issues, content and propositions based on faulty, hyper-emotive or misleading reasoning. Years of this screen activity has compromised our acuity, by conditioning our thinking to operate in a permanent sub-optimal, less discriminating mode. This never happened two decades ago, before the Digital Age.

"My professional working life has taught me that Emotional Intelligence is the highest form of interpersonal connection, communication and influence. So my ambition for this book is that it will inspire more people to understand and seek to apply EQ's principles, at a time when they have never been more urgently needed. Hence, An Emotional Intelligence playbook for the Digital Age."

Author Bio

In writing this book, Julian Smith has drawn upon the best of what he learnt from a career path in which he has built experience in a uniquely diverse spread of communication-related disciplines: as a copywriter, ad agency founder, strategist, film director, producer, voice-over narrator, keynote speaker, lecturer/trainer and journalist. Even, in his youth, as a radio broadcaster and pub comic.

Julian has created successful campaigns for some of the world's biggest brands, including Shell, Coca-Cola, Ford, General Motors and Cadbury. In educational roles, he has guest-lectured on Advertising at the Macquarie Graduate School of Management in Sydney; on Direct Marketing at Monash University Melbourne; and on dialogue in film for the Australian Film Television and Radio School. He was a Copyschool mentor for a decade. For 7 years, he was also the honorary Creative lecturer for the Australian Association of National Advertisers education program for marketers.