Why Americans must stop shaking our heads at one another and start communicating more honestly with ourselves.
How to hear more clearly and speak more truly to rebuild relationships in your family, your workplace, your community and your society.
Ended
“We have to make an effort in the United States,” a trembling Robert F. Kennedy told a grief-stricken crowd immediately after the assassination of Martin Luther King. “We have to make an effort to understand.”
A half-century later, how are we doing in our effort to understand?
We’ve had so many “national conversations about race,” we are blue in the face. Online discussions instantly devolve into attempted rhetorical murder. People dread their family holiday dinners and exchange tips on how to avoid controversial—read, meaningful—subjects.
As the nation staggers from one of the most contentious presidential elections in its history to the next, it seems communication can’t solve anything.
David Murray hasn't given up.
Murray is the author of the memoir Raised by Mad Men, about his 1960s-era advertising parents. He’s editor and publisher of Vital Speeches of the Day. And he’s the founder and executive director of the global Professional Speechwriters Association. Murray has spent his whole career at the center of a community of professional communicators, writing on political, business and personal communication for three decades.
In An Effort to Understand, Murray shares his insights—challenging, entertaining, funny and often intensely personal—to help Americans communicate more effectively with the people they love, the people they work with and even the friends and strangers who they confront from across the political divide.
But first: with themselves.
Through observational examples from contemporary culture and his personal life, Murray shows you:
• How to listen more carefully.
• How to choose battles more wisely.
• How to avoid insulting people accidentally.
• How to think more generously.
• How to argue more productively.
• How to repair a relationship (and when to stop trying).
• How to use humor as a salve and not a hammer.
• How to make more peace in your life, and contribute to a more cohesive family, community, workplace and society.
As Robert Kennedy said in his speech the last time America was so wounded, “What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country.”
This book is an attempt to help us treat one another the way we all know we must. This book is An Effort to Understand.
The audience for this book is every adult who’s looking for a new way to look at the world that might lead to a better way to be in the world.
Here's what readers had to say about David Murray's last book, Raised By Mad Men.
“David Murray searches to uncover the significance of his father’s life’s work. Did helping companies sell more products amount to anything more? And what legacy is left for this child of ‘Mad Men’? If you don’t know David and the rich contributions he’s made through his books and counsel, read it and discover.”—Pete Weissman, CEO, Thought Leader Communications
“An honest and funny memory of the writer's parents, who were both in the advertising business in the 1960s and 70s.” —Laurie Meyer, former vice president of corporate communication, Walgreens
“A moving memoir ... Murray uses the TV series Mad Men as a counterpoint in giving an account of his parents' advertising careers. Fans of the series will find in Murray's father a real-life and more likable Don Draper. Murray deftly weaves the history of modern advertising into his narrative and writes in a style that would make his father proud.” —Jerry Tarver, Professor Emeritus, Speech Communication, University of Richmond
“David Murray's loving portrait of his larger-than-life parents gives us fascinating insights into their characters. It also tells the story of a tumultuous era in which the medium of advertising evolved from selling things to driving social change.” —Ron Shewchuk, corporate communications executive
“A beautiful and stirring look at the real people who changed the way business talked to human beings. And why it's still important today. Must read for anyone who communicates for a living.” —Dain Dunston, Executive Communication Consultant
“Engaging and meaningful for the openness with which Murray lets us into his personal observations of his parents and his thoughts on the way their achievements and choices shaped his view of the world, his personal philosophy and his professional pursuits. This is a wonderful, personal read that I couldn't put down once I began it, and I highly recommend it.” —Shawn Bannon, vice president of executive communication, PNC
David Murray is editor and publisher of Vital Speeches of the Day, an 85-year-old collection of the best oral communication in the U.S. and the world. He’s also executive director of the Professional Speechwriters Association. He’s been a prominent commentator on communication issues for 25 years.
Murray cowrote the New York Times-bestselling memoir Tell My Sons (Random House, 2013) and a memoir about his advertising copywriter parents, Raised By Mad Men.
Murray’s writing on communication and other subjects has appeared in many media outlets including The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Magazine, Advertising Age, Sailing Magazine, Golf Magazine, Car Collector Magazine, Vibe.com, the Huffington Post and Chicago Public Radio.
He lives with his wife and daughter in Chicago.
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$19
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• 1 copy of the autographed limited edition of the book "An Effort to Understand"
• An invitation to the book launch and an ensuing Chicago Writer’s Pub Crawl led by David Murray.
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• Upon publication, an invitation to join the exclusive Communicators Club—a community of "Effort to Understand" readers who want to carry on the conversation.
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• Exclusive access to publication updates.
• An invitation to the book launch and an ensuing Chicago Writer’s Pub Crawl led by David Murray.
• Upon publication, an invitation to join the exclusive Communicators Club—a community of "Effort to Understand" readers who want to carry on the conversation.
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• 5 copies of the autographed limited edition of the book "An Effort to Understand."
• A free six-month digital subscription to Vital Speeches of the Day magazine.
• Exclusive access to publication updates.
• An invitation to the book launch and an ensuing Chicago Writer’s Pub Crawl led by David Murray.
• Upon publication, an invitation to join the exclusive Communicators Club—a community of "Effort to Understand" readers who want to carry on the conversation.
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• 10 copies of the autographed limited edition of the book "An Effort to Understand."
• A free six-month digital subscription to Vital Speeches of the Day magazine.
• Exclusive access to publication updates.
• An invitation to the book launch and an ensuing Chicago Writer’s Pub Crawl led by David Murray.
• Upon publication, an invitation to join the exclusive Communicators Club—a community of "Effort to Understand" readers who want to carry on the conversation.
• An invitation to participate in a freewheeling webinar conversation with David Murray, about the implications of "An Effort to Understand." Ask him anything.
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• One free pass to any Professional Speechwriters Association professional development event between now and the end of 2020.
• A free six-month digital subscription to Vital Speeches of the Day magazine.
• Exclusive access to publication updates.
• An invitation to the book launch and an ensuing Chicago Writer’s Pub Crawl led by David Murray.
• Upon publication, an invitation to join the exclusive Communicators Club—a community of "Effort to Understand" readers who want to carry on the conversation.
• An invitation to participate in a freewheeling webinar conversation with David Murray, about the implications of "An Effort to Understand." Ask him anything.
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