IDEAS LABORATORY – BOOKS

About Logos Institute Press

The Logos Institute for Crisis Management and Executive Leadership stands at the intersection of scholarship and practice, providing rigorous analysis and practical application of key leadership principles. It is in this same spirit that the Institute’s publishing imprint Logos Institute for Crisis Management and Executive Leadership Press was created, to produce written material to help clients and students build their own capacity for leadership and effective communication, in crisis and other high-stakes situations.

Three books have been published under the imprint as of December 2020 — The Agony of Decision by Logos President Helio Fred Garcia; Five Frequencies: Leadership Signals that turn Culture into Competitive Advantage by Jeff Grimshaw, Tanya Mann, Lynne Viscio, and Jennifer Landis; and The Power of Genuine Leadership: How Authentic Leaders Earn Trust by Patrick Donahue PhD — as part of the Logos Institute Best Practices Series, which showcases conceptual frameworks that help clarify complex issues, combined with insightful case studies, examples, and actionable tools, tips, and techniques that help leaders make smart choices and build competitive advantage.

The Power of Genuine Leadership: How Authentic Leaders Earn Trust (Logos Institute Best Practices Series, Volume 3)

By Patrick Donahue PhD

What does it mean to be authentic? How can leaders increase others’ trust in their leadership? Based on his doctoral research and decades of coaching corporate leaders, author Patrick Donahue PhD cracks the code on how leaders can build trust through authenticity in The Power of Genuine Leadership: How Authentic Leaders Earn Trust, the third volume in the Logos Institute Best Practices Series.

One of Patrick’s most valuable contributions in this book is the Authenticity Trust Model. The Model shows readers how to enhance one’s leadership capacity by understanding the relationship among behavioral consistency, authenticity, and trust. “It can take a lifetime to earn a reputation of being a great leader, which is earned through consistent behavior over time,” says the author. “This book makes a complicated concept easier to digest through models, stories, assessments, and applicable tools.” The book is available both in paperback and Kindle editions. Click here to get your copy today.

Five Frequencies: Leadership Signals that turn Culture into Competitive Advantage (Logos Institute Best Practices Series, Volume 2)

By Jeff Grimshaw, Tanya Mann, Lynne Viscio, and Jennifer Landis

Five Frequencies: Leadership Signals that Turn Culture into Competitive Advantage is about organizational culture, which can be either an asset or a liability. At this very moment, it’s either lifting business performance or “eating strategy for breakfast. How can leaders ensure it’s the former, not the latter? Based on the authors’ 20+ years of research and experience, the answer couldn’t be clearer: Intentionally or unintentionally, leaders create culture through the signals they transmit through five key leadership behaviors. These behaviors are the Five Frequencies.

To make a bad culture good, or a good culture great, leaders have got to deliberately transmit strong and steady signals. This book shows readers how. Fast-paced and loaded with real-life examples, Five Frequencies prescribes more than 20 practical Signal Boosts for turning culture into competitive advantage.

The authors are principals at strategic communication firm MGStrategy, based in Philadelphia where they specialize in internal communication and culture change. Order your copy today by clicking here.

The Agony of Decision: Mental Readiness and Leadership in a Crisis (Logos Institute Best Practices Series, Volume 1)

By Helio Fred Garcia

This book is about how leaders and the organizations they lead can maintain reputation, trust, confidence, financial and operational strength, and competitive advantage in a crisis. First, by thinking clearly; second, by making smart choices; and third, by executing those choices effectively. But making smart choices in a crisis can be agonizing.

The difference between leaders who handle crises well and those who handle crises poorly is mental readiness: the ability some leaders exhibit that allows them to make smart choices quickly in a crisis. And this ability creates real competitive advantage.

In June, 2018, The Agony of Decision was recognized as one of the “51 Best Crisis Management Books of All Time” by Book Authority, the leading resource for nonfiction book recommendations. The book also received a badge of recognition for being one of the “8 Best New Crisis Ma nagement Books”. The Agony of Decision has the distinction of being the highest rated book on the list.

Click here for more information or to order your cop y.

Books and Chapters by Logos Authors

Reputation Management: The Key to Successful Public Relations and Corporate Communications

by John Doorley and Helio Fred Garcia

Reputation Management is an established how-to guide for students and professionals, as well as CEOs and other business leaders. The book is embroidered by ethics, and organized by corporate communication units, such as media relations, issues management, crisis communication, organizational communication, government relations, and investor relations. Each chapter is fleshed out with the real-world experiences cited by the authors and contributions from 36 leaders in the field, including The Arthur W. Page Society, the International Communications Consultancy Organization, the PR Council, CVS Health, Edelman and Ketchum.

The fourth edition (shown) was published in 2020; the third edition in 2015; the second edition in 2011, and the first edition in 2007. A Korean language edition was published in 2016 by Alma Books, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

Click here for more information or to order.

Words on Fire: The Power of Incendiary Language and How to Confront it

by Helio Fred Garcia

Words on Fire is about the power of communication to do great harm, and how civic leaders and engaged citizens can hold leaders accountable to prevent such harm. Garcia focuses on the language President Trump uses that conditions an audience to accept, condone, and commit violence against a targeted group, rival, or critics. The book documents Trump’s increasingly dangerous rhetoric through the campaign and first 2 ½ years in office, and how some lone wolves were motivated by the rhetoric to commit violence.

Publshed by Radius Book Group, Words on Fire includes a history of such rhetoric, and identifies a playbook consisting of twelve forms of communication that typically precede genocides and other acts of mass violence. Since 9/11 the use of rhetoric that provokes violence has been known as “stochastic terrorism.” Garcia suggests a more accessible name: lone-wolf whistle violence, on the model of “dog whistle” politics. The book draws on the most recent scholarship on lone wolves, their mindset, and what it takes to activate them to commit violence.

Words on Fire closes with a call to action: We can learn the lessons of today to prepare for tomorrow, to help civic leaders, engaged citizens, journalists, and public officials recognize the phenomenon and take steps to hold other leaders accountable in the future when they use such language. Click here to learn more and order the book.

Chinese Language Edition of The Agony of Decision

从危到机: 危机中的决策之痛与领导之术

by Helio Fred Garcia

The Chinese language edition of The Agony of Decision: Mental Readiness and Leadership in a Crisis was published in April 2020 by the Posts & Telecom Press, a leading publisher of business and non-fiction titles in China. The publisher has positioned the book as an essential tool for Chinese leaders in all sectors to be able to restore trust of critical stakeholders that was lost in the COVID-19 pandemic. It was also named one of the Eight Must-Read Books in the Next Ten Years by Notesman. Notesman 笔记侠 is one of the most-followed Wechat official accounts that share business insights. It was also featured in the 311th issue of Sino-Manager (经理人 in Mandarin Chinese) magazine, a leading business publication in China.

The Agony of Decision is authored by Logos Consulting Group president Helio Fred Garcia, and is the first title published by Logos Institute for Crisis Management and Executive Leadership Press in July 2017. The Chinese language title is 从危到机: 危机中的决策之痛与领导之术, which translates roughly into English as From Danger to Opportunity: The Agony of Decision-Making and Leadership in Crisis. The Chinese edition was translated from English by Xinyin Lu, deputy director, the Institute of Corporate Communication at the Academy of Media and Public Affairs at the Communication University of China and by Dr. Steven Guanpeng Dong, Chair Professor and Dean of the School of Government and Public Affairs at the Communication University of China, the leading Chinese university specializing in journalism, communication, documentary filmmaking, and related disciplines. Dr. Dong also wrote the foreword to the Chinese edition.

The Chinese edition is available as a physical book, an e-book, and an audio book at all major Chinese online markets, including Dangdang, JD, Taobao (Alibaba), and Amazon China (e-book available for download only in China).

How to Succeed in a PR Agency: Real Talk to Grow Your Career & Become Indispensable

by Kristin Johnson and Shalon Roth

Learning how to be successful in a public relations (PR) agency is a stressful on-the-job, sink-or-swim, immersive experience. While other texts teach PR theory and practice, no other book guides early to mid-career PR professionals through the day-to-day life of working in an agency and the skills required to excel and build a career.

This text demystifies the PR agency experience with foundational information to simplify and clarify agency life. This book offers real talk about real life in an agency – punctuated by anecdotes and insider tips from leaders in the industry. This is a must-read for communications students and PR professionals looking to grow their career and become indispensable to their teams and clients.The book is available for order through Routledge, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or other preferred booksellers.

The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively

by Helio Fred Garcia

Communication has power, but like any powerful tool, it needs to be used effectively or it can cause self-inflicted harm. Harnessing the power of communication is a fundamental leadership discipline. The Power of Communication is about how leaders can inspire, persuade, and earn the confidence of stakeholders through verbal engagement. About how they can build trust, inspire loyalty, and lead effectively.

The book was named to the United States Marine Corps Commandant’s Professional Reading List, as one of eight leadership titles, in 2013, 2014, and 2015. The Power of Communication was published in Chinese in China in 2014 by Pearson Education Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong, and by Publishing House of Electronics Industry in Beijing. It was also included in the bundled e-book volume Building Success with Business Ethics: Advice From Business Leaders, alongside titles from world-renowned business leaders, executive coaches, and consultants Ken Blanchard, Colleen Barrett, Jon M. Huntsman, Doug Lennick, and Fred Kiel.

Click here for more information or to order. You can also purchase access the book’s companion videos, The Nine Principles of Effective Leadership Communication and The Physicality of Audience Engagement.

Business and Human Rights: From Principles to Practice

Edited by Dorothée Baumann-Pauly and Justine Nolan

The number of companies worldwide subject to some form of human rights reporting is increasing as states mandate corporate reporting on non-financial issues.

Logos Senior Fellow Anthony Ewing surveys corporate human rights reporting requirements worldwide in a chapter he contributed to Business and Human Rights: From Principles to Practice, an interdisciplinary textbook published in 2016 by Routledge.

The textbook outlines the business and human rights movement, explores the legal framework for business and human rights, highlights the practical implementation challenges and standard-setting frameworks in different industries and discusses the future of the business and human rights field. Click here for more information or to order.

Reputation Management: The Key to Successful Public Relations and Corporate Communication

by John Doorley and Helio Fred Garcia

Reputation Management is a how-to guide for professional communicators and business executives, as well as advanced students in communication. Organized by functional area (investor relations, media relations, employee communications) and by cross-functional discipline (ethics, corporate responsibility, crisis communication, issues management), the book provides a field-tested guide to core challenges in managing all the ways organizations engage their stakeholders to protect, maintain, and enhance reputation.

The third edition (shown) was published in 2015; the second edition in 2011, and the first edition in 2007. A Korean language edition was published in 2016 by Alma Books, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

Click here for more information or to order.

Crisis Communications

by Helio Fred Garcia

Two volumes on strategies for maintaining the trust and confidence of stakeholders in a crisis, published in 1999 by AAAA Publications. (This book is currently out of print.)

Additional Contributions by Logos Authors

Books We Recommend

Crisis Counsel: Navigating Legal and Communication Conflict

by Tony Jaques PhD

This book is designed to provide hands-on, practical guidance for senior executives, lawyers and public relations professionals to navigate crises and to balance conflicting advice from lawyers and communication professionals while promoting open communication and protecting legal liability. Jaques offers practical guidance to CEOs on how to weigh conflicting advice, to lawyers on how to understand the bigger picture, and to communicators on how to be more persuasive in making the reputation-protecting case. It is easy to read and very engaging, with a wealth of case studies, practical examples, and key takeaways. The case studies are from around the world and from a range of organizations, from companies to governments to the military. And the lessons conveyed are priceless. Crisis Counsel is a must-read for who advise or wish to advise on high-stakes situations, whether you are a lawyer, a communicator, a CEO, or a leader of any other form of enterprise. Click here to learn more.

The Decency Code: The Leader’s Path to Building Integrity and Trust

by Stephen Harrison and James E. Lukaszewski

Accountability, civility, compassion, empathy, honesty, humility, and principle: these are the seven characteristics embodied by every truly decent leader. The best organizations develop and maintain a civil culture, valuing ethical behavior, honesty, and integrity as much, or even more, than profitability. The Decency Code provides readers with practical pathways to creating or restoring that type of culture. These strategies address the evolving workplace: flexible, fast-moving, delayered, virtual, unstable, out-of-balance, ambiguous, global, diverse, and ruthlessly competitive. The Decency Code is a much-needed antidote to the prevailing incivility we see in both the workplace and the nation. Harrison and Lukaszewski plot a practical approach to regain civility, integrity and empathy in our relations with others. This is a must read for leaders, investors, employees, and engaged citizens generally. Click here to learn more.

A Climb to the Top: Communication & Leadership Tactics to Take Your Career to New Heights

by Chuck Garcia

The top positions in companies go to the most compelling communicators. Regrettably, this critical skill set is often overlooked. Career success is determined 5 percent by your academic credentials, 15 percent by your professional experiences, 15 percent by your natural ability, and 65 percent by your communication skills. Given that so much is at stake, whatever career you’ve chosen, it’s critical to communicate effectively. A Climb to the Top author Chuck Garcia draws on years of coaching and consulting experience to explain how you can become a persuasive communicator. By utilizing such concepts as the Primacy/Recency Effect and the Rule of Three, a public speaking beginner can gain the confidence and influence of a seasoned veteran. Read this book, practice the techniques, and take your communication skills and career to new heights. Click here to learn more.

Why Should the Boss Listen to You?: The Seven Disciplines of the Trusted Strategic Advisor

by James E. Lukaszewski

This is a book about gaining influence and becoming a key trusted advisor. It is for everyone who advises leaders and senior managers (accounting, finance, human resources, IT, law, marketing, public relations, security, and strategic planning) and for outside consultants in these functional staff areas. It’s also for operations people yearning to finally be heard and heeded by their boss. Click here to learn more.

Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action

by Simon Sinek

One of the burdens of leaders is to inspire those who matter the most to help achieve their goals. Start with Why by Simon Sinek shows that the leaders who’ve had the greatest influence in the world all think, act, and communicate the same way — and it’s the opposite of what everyone else does. Sinek calls this powerful idea The Golden Circle, and it provides a framework upon which organizations can be built, movements can be led, and people can be inspired. And it all starts with WHY. This book will help leaders from Fortune 500 companies to grassroots organizers understand how to inspire others to action. Click here to learn more.

Jock Talk: 5 Communication Principles for Leaders as Exemplified by Legends of the Sports World

by Beth Noymer Levine

A substantive yet down-to-earth business book that entertains while it teaches leaders and aspiring leaders why and how they should shape their communications in order to be more effective and impressive. It’s a reality that athletes take more turns than most at public speaking and therefore provide both exemplary and cautionary examples to the rest of us. In Jock Talk, Beth Levine points out, in a pithy and poignant way, what executives can learn from these examples. Click here to learn more.

The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate Three Essential Virtues

by Patrick Lencioni

In The Ideal Team Player, Lencioni presents a practical framework and actionable tools for identifying, hiring, and developing ideal team players. Through a compelling narrative form, Lencioni outlines the importance of building strong teams and recognizing strong team players when they come along. This book will not only help leaders build their team better; it will also help anyone reflect on the ways they can improve as a team player and become even more essential in their organizations. Whether you’re a leader trying to create a culture around teamwork, a staffing professional looking to hire real team players, or a team player wanting to improve yourself, this book will prove to be as useful as it is compelling. Click here to learn more.

Pitch, Tweet, or Engage on the Street

by Kara Alaimo

Pitch, Tweet, or Engage on the Street offers a modern guide for how to practice public relations and strategic communication around the globe. Drawing upon interviews with public relations professionals in over 30 countries as well as the author’s own experience as a global public relations practitioner in the United Nations and in U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration, this book explains how to adapt public relations strategies, messages, and tactics for countries and cultures around the globe. The book begins by explaining key cultural differences which require practitioners to adapt their approaches, before discussing how to build and manage a global public relations team and how to practice global public relations on behalf of corporations, non-profit organizations, and governments. Then, the book takes readers on a tour of the world, explaining how to adapt their campaigns for Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, the Americas, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Along the way, readers are introduced to practitioners around the globe and case studies of particularly successful campaigns – from a public relations “siege” that successfully ended an epidemic of violence in Kenya to the remarkable P.R. strategy adopted by Bordeaux wineries in China that led to a staggering 26,900 percent increase in sales. Click here to learn more.

Wired for Story: The Writer’s Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence

by Lisa Cron

Stories are a powerful way to persuade and influence. This is because our brains are wired to think in stories. Wired for Story helps readers understand why story is such a powerful tool and how to wield it effectively. This book reveals the cognitive secrets of what the brain craves from every tale it encounters and what fuels the success of any great story. Backed by recent breakthroughs in neuroscience as well as examples from novels, screenplays, and short stories, Wired for Story offers a revolutionary look at story as the brain experiences it. Each chapter zeroes in on an aspect of the brain, its corresponding revelation about story, and the way to apply it to your storytelling right now. Click here to learn more.

Lukaszewski on Crisis Communication: What Your CEO Needs to Know About Reputation Risk and Crisis Management

by James E. Lukaszewski

Crisis is not like other business interruptions. In a crisis, your company spokespersons, managers, and employees must know exactly what to do, what to say, when to say it, and when to do it — while the whole world is watching! But can you depend on your crisis management plan to make that happen? Lukaszewski on Crisis Communication is your guide to preparing for a crisis and the explosive visibility and reputation risk that come with it. In a masterful book selected as one of “30 Best Business Books of 2013” by Soundview Executive Book Summaries and endorsed by the Business Continuity Institute, Lukaszewski distills four decades of public relations experience into 10 chapters of field-tested advice. Delivered in his straight-talking style and backed with compelling case studies, examples and templates, Lukaszewski explains how to build a crisis management plan and how to put it into action in the real world of media scrutiny, social media, activists, and litigation. How-to’s, practical tools, tips, charts, checklists, forms, and templates teach you the simple, sensible, sincere, constructive, positive techniques to reduce contention and to succeed. Click here to learn more.

Answers for Modern Communicators

by Deirdre Breakenridge

This book provides students and professionals with practical answers to important career and communication questions, helping them to communicate successfully in a business setting. Communication expert, Deirdre Breakenridge, examines the ways in which professionals can make the most of their careers in a fast-changing media landscape, offering advice on how new and seasoned executives can utilize and adapt to the latest modes of communication. Grounded in decades of experience, Answers for Modern Communicators will benefit all students getting ready to enter the workforce as well as professionals looking to enhance their communication skills. Learn more here.

Curious: The Desire to Know and Why Your Future Depends on It

by Ian Leslie

Everyone is born curious. But only some retain the habits of exploring, learning, and discovering as they grow older. Those who do so tend to be smarter, more creative, and more successful. In Curious, Ian Leslie makes a passionate case for the cultivation of our “desire to know.” Drawing on fascinating research from psychology, economics, education, and business, Leslie looks at what feeds curiosity and what starves it, and finds surprising answers. Curiosity is a mental muscle that atrophies without regular exercise and a habit that parents, schools, and workplaces need to nurture. This book inspires readers to reach back into their curious mind, to teach them things about themselves, about their kids, and about the work they do (regardless of sector), because Leslie challenges all preconceived notions about the way we take in information. Click here to learn more.

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

by Robert B. Cialdini

In Influence, Dr. Robert B. Cialdini — the seminal expert in the field of influence and persuasion — explains the psychology of why people say yes and how to apply these principles ethically in business and everyday situations. Readers will learn the six universal principles of influence and how to use them to become a skilled persuader. Understanding and applying the six principles ethically is cost-free and deceptively easy. Backed by Dr. Cialdini’s 35 years of evidence-based, peer-reviewed scientific research — as well as by a three-year field study on what moves people to change behavior — Influence is a comprehensive guide to using these principles effectively to amplify your ability to change the behavior of others. Click here to learn more.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

by Patrick Lencioni

Building strong teams is a cornerstone of building a thriving business. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team creatively outlines how to recognize and address behaviors that can inhibit teams from performing at their absolute best. In this book Patrick Lencioni offers a leadership fable that is enthralling and instructive. Throughout the story of Kathryn Petersen, Decision Tech’s CEO, Lencioni reveals the five dysfunctions which go to the very heart of why teams, even the best ones, often struggle. He outlines a powerful model and actionable steps that can be used to overcome these common hurdles and build a cohesive, effective team. Click here to learn more.

Public Relations

by Edward L. Bernays

How to move people to where we want them to be is key to leadership. Public Relations by Edward Bernays outlines his innovative approach to influence by shaping the culture that legitimates and encourages the changes or behaviors we desire, in an ethical way. Public relations as described in this volume is, among other things, society’s solution to problems of maladjustment that plague an over-complex world. This book provides know-why as well know-how. Bernays explains the underlying philosophy of public relations and the PR methods and practices to be applied in specific cases. He presents broad approaches and solutions as they were successfully carried out in his long professional career. Click here to learn more.

Books By Logos Authors

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