Can Improving You Communication Skills Help You Succeed?

by Muhammad Javed

Below is the introduction from my new book titled "7 PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION: Key Strategies From Prophet Muhammad’s (ﷺ) Life that will Turbocharge your Leadership Effectiveness, and Career Growth".

Communication skills can be succinctly defined as “the ability to convey information and ideas effectively.” Communication skills are also referred to as interpersonal skills or soft skills or social skills, or social intelligence. Verbal skills involve the spoken language, while non-verbal communication includes body language, facial expressions, and eye contact.

Social skills are the outer zone where we interact with others in a variety of settings, roles, and situations. This is where our personality, self-awareness, ability to self-regulate, and motivation – all come into play in a complex manner to navigate through the path of life, interacting with people – be it our family, colleagues at work, bosses, authorities, friends and so on. Those who possess this x-factor –social intelligence or people skills are at a significant vantage point over those inept at dealing with people.

In Lewis Terman’s study of geniuses, the really high IQ students he studied for over two decades did not necessarily become high achievers and movers and shakers in society and leaders in their respective fields as he had hypothesized; but it was ‘social intelligence’ that was a better indicator of success than just smarts.[1]

In this book, we will delve into just that – what are the principles of interacting with people? What principles of effective communication can we derive reflecting on the interactions of Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) in various scenarios and with categories of people in different roles – as a family man, friend, relative, neighbor, leader, parent, spouse, and so on.

Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) was not only the greatest religious leader, but he was also the most successful social reformer, the best of judges, the most just ruler, a great family man and friend as well as powerful general who converted a group of nomads into a powerful, disciplined fighting machine that consolidated Arabia and went on to defeat the superpowers of the world, which left an impact on the rest of humanity and the history of mankind. His (ﷺ) life is a treasure trove of effective leadership lessons and communication strategies to learn from.

A lot of factors shape the way we interact with others. It is a combination of nature and nurture. Our nature – God-given personality – determines how extroverted or introverted we may be; if we prefer being around people and draw our energy from that or we prefer recharging our battery in isolation; it may determine whether we are so goal-oriented that we don’t pay attention to the results when dealing with others or that we prefer harmony to such an extent that a minor tribulation in our social interactions seems like an earthquake. Nurture refers to the various factors that shape us as we grow up – the religious values instilled in us, observations of parents, teachers and other influential figures, upbringing, friends, media, our role models – historical or current – all mold our personality and our behavioral preferences.

Communication is an art and a skill that can be learned, put into practice, improved upon, and internalized as habits, with constant reflection and refinement. As discussed earlier – there are principles of positive interactions that can win the hearts and minds of people – that facilitate internal contentment and the pursuit of success. Ridhaa, or yearning for the pleasure of our Creator by having the right intentions, is the most fundamental principle that we will start with.

P.S.: If you would like to buy the e-book or paperback, you can purchase your copy hot off the press on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/PRINCIPLES-EFFECTIVE-COMMUNICATION-Turbocharge-Effectiveness-ebook/dp/B09DKBP5B9