BOOK REVIEW
Book Title: You Are What You Say – Not How You Say It
Author: Elliott Gomez, PhD
Publisher: Coppell, TX
List Price: $11.99
Format: Softcover, 152 pages
Publication Date: 2022
ISBN: 978-0-578-35511-5
Reviewer: Valentina Rada, MBA, PMP
Review Date: May 2022
Introduction
You Are What You Say – Not How You Say It is a guide on how to cope with stuttering in different circumstances through the lenses of the author who lived with a stutter for almost five decades.
The author of the book, Dr. Elliott Gomez (or Dr. G, as known by his students), is a retired military leader and a dedicated higher education professional who has earned his doctorate from Capella University. The main goal of the book is to provide the reader with knowledge of how to develop leadership skills regardless of whether we studder or not. Dr. G talks about stuttering in an autobiographical manner allowing the reader to be part of the journey and to better understand the challenges.
Overview of Book’s Structure
The book’s structure has a thoughtful transition from the preface to the vision and the plan of not only how to cope with stuttering but also how to envision a leader career at an early age. With the background of the stuttering beginnings, Dr. G outlines further in the book its proposed ten postulates of the stuttering coping mechanisms. At the end of the book, Dr. G talks about following our path and embracing who we are and our potential but also having a positive attitude to successfully reach our career goal destination. He shares with the reader the pride and passion he offers as an educator and how students see him not only as a teacher but as a mentor.
Highlights
The ten postulates are well structured and for each Dr. G has a personal story to share priming that way the meaning of the postulate as well as the how and the why of each postulate’s learning.
The first postulate talks about the acceptance of stuttering by identifying the problem and self-acceptance. The next postulate is about being open and letting others know about the stuttering, which leads to the third postulate of finding that “safe zone” of family and friends who would not judge but accept us for who we are, a what’s called “non-judgment zone”. The fourth postulate talks about avoiding difficult words or rehearsing preplanned speeches with the idea of being prepared for the unexpected. The fifth postulate is about engaging in public speaking and facing the fear of it.
The sixth postulate is about speaking with courage and not being embarrassed about what others think. That leads to the seventh postulate of visualizing yourself as someone else and looking for models in public speaking to follow. The eighth postulate addresses how we should look for others who stutter and listen to the way they speak or act. The ninth postulate is about how to focus our energy on what really matters and when it is needed, like before public speaking events. Finally, the tenth postulate is about focusing on and exploiting our strengths.
More…
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About the Reviewer
Valentina Rada
Texas, USA
Valentina Rada’s professional experience includes twenty years of experience in market research, retail, and restaurant industries as a research analyst and project manager. She is a Project Management Professional and an Agile Certified Practitioner. She has a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of the Incarnate Word. She is currently pursuing her education as a Ph.D. student in Organizational Leadership at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas, USA.
Valentina can be reached at valirada@hotmail.com or www.linkedin.com/in/valentina-rada
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