Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Allen N. Weiner, Ph.D, is managing director of Communication Development Associates (CDA), a leading corporate training and executive development firm in Southern California. Working directly with C-level management, CDA includes clients such as Amgen Pharmaceuticals, Experian, First American, Ameriquest, Symantec, and ConocoPhillips. He leads approximately 200 seminars every year.

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Praise for So Smart But . . .

"Credibility is the foundation of leadership, and Allen Weiner has now offered leaders the tools for building a foundation that is strong and secure. Full of examples, assessments, research, and practical tips, So Smart But . . . is required reading for all leaders who want to protect and extend the most valuable personal asset they have."
―James Kouzes, coauthor of the best-selling books The Leadership Challenge and Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It, Why People Demand It

"Try this: Open this book three times at random and read one page. I'll bet you will encounter a communication nugget or an insight on increasing credibility that applies directly to you. Allen Weiner is one of those rare individuals capable of packaging deep communication principles in easy-to-implement tips and ideas. This book is not a hard-to-digest meal, but rather a succession of tasty communication hors d'oeuvres. Take a bite and enjoy!"
―Aart de Geus, CEO and chairman of the board, Synopsys

"I believe credibility is the key ingredient for success in one's personal, professional, and social life. Projecting yourself, communicating your message, and relating to others all center on credibility, and the results show in how you are received, whether people understood your message, and if they believed you. Allen is a master of putting things in the proper prescription to build a credible, successful communicator. I would recommend this book to be included as part of the curriculum at business schools."
―Anand Nallathambi, president, First Advantage Corporation

"The challenge that Human Resources professionals face is to foster an environment of good will in the workplace. Allen Weiner's book, most especially the chapter with Lloyd Loomis, validates that harassment and discrimination are alive and well; communication is not just the words one speaks, but the actions that accompany them."
―Jane D. Jones, vice president, Human Resources, Service Corporation International

"Allen Weiner understands those unsuccessful executives who are "so smart but" can't help themselves from self-destructing; he knows what makes them tick and offers practical advice on how to make sure you don't become one. He speaks from experience. A worthwhile read!"
―Jeffrey S. Klein, chairman, 101communications

Aus dem Klappentext

He's incredibly bright but he just doesn't "get it."

She knows this business inside and out but she sabotages herself whenever she speaks.

Every day, tens of thousands of businesspeople receive good performance reviews that are missing a key ingredient the missing piece is unspoken, but everyone knows what it is. These executives can be brilliant in IQ points. They understand every technical aspect of their jobs. They come up with amazing ideas. They should be naturals to rise to the top of the corporate ladder. But the words "leadership potential" never appear in their evaluation. Drawing on thirty years' experience working with executives, Dr. Allen Weiner explains why some people can be "so smart" about everything concerning their jobs except the thing that matters most: communication.

This fascinating book demonstrates that to be a good communicator and therefore an effective manager, a person must have five qualities in order to be viewed as totally credible competence, character, composure, sociability, and extroversion. While some executives seem to possess all these qualities and be born with savvy communication skills, Weiner shows how people can find ways to make measurable improvements in how they present themselves ways that will enhance their credibility.

So Smart But . . . offers a unique, scientific understanding of the components of credibility. It is filled with solid advice for overcoming what can be thought of as career-blocking behaviors. Rather than presenting a formulaic collection of do's and don'ts, Weiner offers a page-turner that is filled with juicy anecdotes of good executives gone bad. In addition, the book includes a 360-degree feedback instrument that allows you to survey your colleagues to get their candid opinions about your performance.

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So Smart But...

John Wiley & Sons

Chapter One

Nicole is a star. Everyone says so. She's very nearly at the top of her game and only forty years old. She's married to a great guy, and they have two kids. I know just how highly she is regarded by the CEO. But her story wasn't always this upbeat. Eight years ago she nearly blew it. She's spent the last few years digging herself out of a huge credibility crater. What did she do that was so bad?

Nicole and her husband had decided they didn't want a houseful of "things." They wanted a simpler life. But their desire for a simpler life and the reality of life crashed into each other when she was promoted to vice president and her company gave her a very generous gift: a John Lennon original lithograph from a very exclusive Fifth Avenue gallery. Nicole decided to return the lithograph and take the cash.

The gallery owner gave Nicole the cash value and then called the person who had put the order in to let her know that the receiver wanted cash. The gallery owner thought the purchaser of such a gift should know. Unfortunately, that person was the wife of the biggest original investor in Nicole's company. It didn't seem right to her that Nicole should be returning what was felt to be a personal gift ... a very personal gift. The investor's wife was miffed. She was a traditionalist from the old school. One simply didn't return a gift like that. News of her displeasure was passed on to the CFO, who passed it on to the CEO. What started as a desire to simplify her life ended up complicating Nicole's ambitions. The buyer thought she was ungrateful and just plain stupid.

Nicole asked me one day, "Do you think I need to do something about this? Will this hurt my career?" I told her to go back to the gallery, reacquire the lithograph, and write a note explaining why she'd returned it. The note she wrote said, "I wasn't raised to appreciate fine art. Growing up, our family saw fine art as something for people who had more education and, frankly, more money. I think that's why I've felt a little uncomfortable aspiring to own art and a little embarrassed at the thought of accepting something like that as a gift. I thought my parents would point to this piece on my wall as perhaps 'forgetting where I came from.' Please forgive my thoughtlessness." That note helped Nicole get back on track.

I told Nicole that some people would call what she did a mistake. Some would say she just didn't use common sense. Some would say she showed a lack of EQ. Some police officers might have seen her leaving the shop and said, "She looks kind of hinky."

People Pick Up on the Most Subtle Body Motions

Why "hinky"? A few years ago I taught communication programs with police officers from the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. One night I heard them use the word "hinky," as in "He looked hinky." The officers agreed that after you've gained a certain amount of experience on the job, you get a feeling, a feeling you can't put your finger on, that someone is not acting right, not driving right, not walking right. They call that hinky. The feeling comes from a well-developed ability to read nonverbal communication, or body language. (By the way, one of the officers told me that a person who touches his or her face while answering an officer's questions is probably just nervous and probably not lying. A liar, he argued, gets pretty good at controlling nervous tics. A truth teller is simply nervous at finding herself in a situation with a police officer and shows it by touching or scratching her face.)

In Human Communication (Burgoon, Hunsaker, & Dawson, 1994), the authors repeat a notion I had heard many times in class:

[Sixty] percent of the social meaning in interpersonal interchange is transmitted nonverbally. When someone says,' I could tell from his eyes that he was angry' or 'Her voice made it clear that we were finished talking,' he or she is actually responding to nonverbal communication. Adults also give great weight to nonverbal cues when verbal and nonverbal messages are contradictory. Imagine talking to a friend who insists she is not angry yet her lips are pursed and she moves away every time you try to get close to her. Are you likely to believe her words or her actions?

Once my original partners and I began professional practice, we heard clients described in simple terms like these:

"He looks arrogant." "He looks smart." "He looks confident." "She looks friendly." "She looks energetic." "He looks decisive." "He looks credible."

Think about the phrase, "He looks smart." So simple sounding, but how does one reach such a conclusion? Is it the clothes? Is it the grooming? Is it the glasses? Is it the high forehead? Is it the facial expression he makes when he's listening?

Now we also heard these phrases:

"He sounds arrogant." "He sounds smart." "He sounds confident." "She sounds friendly." "She sounds energetic." "He sounds decisive." "He sounds credible."

Think about the statement, "He sounds smart." Is it the numbers he quotes? Is it the "big words" he uses? Is it the absence of "uhhh" and "ummm"?

When my son was a baby, now and then a stranger would say, "Your baby is so smart." How would anyone know a baby was smart? It could have been the way he pronounced his baby talk. If baby talk is clear, that baby will be called a smart baby. Maybe instead of "Da Da" he said, "Dr. Dada." Now it might have been his facial expression. He might have been unusually alert looking. (Matt, can you forgive me for using you as an example?) And it remains that way through life. Someone who is "well spoken" will be thought smart.

We noticed that people who described our clients were just as quick to say "She looks credible" as they were to say "She sounds credible." Interestingly enough, they were not as quick to say "She uses words that show credibility." Figure 1.1 sums up our discoveries about perception based on body language or based on the way someone sounded.

It is very important that I affirm the meaning of this little pie chart. I am not suggesting that only 10 percent of your message and its meaning comes through in your content. I am suggesting that only 10 percent of the criticism of your message is tied directly to the choice of one word versus another. There are exceptions, as you will read here, but those only serve to highlight the rule.

Some of us are visually oriented and clearly pay more attention to the way our colleagues look. Actually, I would rather put it this way: some of us have an eye for things. You might have an eye for graphic design, for instance. Others are more aware of the aural. They focus more on the way their colleagues sound. Or, to put it in the same terms, they have an ear for things, just as one might have an ear for music. Please note, though, that even if some of us are visually oriented, it's easy to get focused on the way someone sounds if it really sticks out-and vice versa.

I am vaguely suspicious of the idea that students ought to be taught in a way that caters to their learning preference. I think the teacher in...