10 SIMPLE SECRETS
Communication Skills Are Fundamental in the Digital Age Communication skills are “dramatically more important” today than they were twenty years ago, according to former Cisco CEO John Chambers, whom I interviewed for a column in Forbes.com. His track record is nothing short of astonishing. In his twenty years as CEO, Chambers grew the networking company from four hundred employees to seventy thousand and from $70 million in sales to $47 billion a year. Chambers built a reputation for electrifying audiences around the world with a captivating speaking style. Although he delivers presentations about complex topics, he makes the audience feel as though he’s having a one-on-one conversation with each and every person. He walks among the audience and can speak for up to an hour with no notes. As I learned in a candid and revealing conversation with Chambers at his Silicon Valley home, he wasn’t always a confident speaker. “I am not a natural public xvi
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