Business Communication Skills

You face tough communication challenges every day at work, both in person and online - a toxic boss, backstabbing coworkers, office politics, and much more. Here are immediate, effective, eye-opening actions you can take to resolve those infuriating problems. You will find stories and examples drawn from corporate communications consultant Leil Lowndes’s more than 20 years of training business professionals, from entry-level new hires to CEOs.

Every time we open our mouths, we have an effect on ourselves and the way others perceive us. The ability to speak clearly and confidently can make or break a presentation, an important meeting, or even a first date. Now, with the advent of Skype, YouTube, podcasting, Vine, and any number of reality talent competitions, your vocal presence has never been more necessary for success or more central to achieving your dreams.

How to read the room and understand the people and the situation instantly. Social awareness is not a given these days. But if you have it, it will seem like you have a superpower because of how perceptive you'll be. But the secret is that it's not hard. Get inside people's heads with a simple conversation or observation.

A best seller since 1990 and fully updated in 2010, Professional Writing Skills: A Write It Well Guide provides a step-by-step process for planning business letters, memos, e-mail, and other business documents. Learn how to position your message from the reader's point of view, write persuasively, include the right information, and organize the information logically. Expanded sections on language, punctuation, and grammar offer busy professionals the tools they need to get their message across clearly, concisely, and professionally.

Strengthen your soft skills and reach your leadership potential. If you listen to nothing else on developing your interpersonal skills, listen to these ten articles. We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the most important ones to help you identify your social and emotional strengths and weaknesses, approach them with a learning mindset, and become a more effective leader today.

You loved John Maxwell's best-selling Winning with People, and now you're ready for some specific action steps to build on the knowledge you gained. 25 Ways to Win with People has just what you need! This complementary companion to the full-length book is ideal for a quick refresher course on interpersonal relationships.

Do you HATE public speaking? Are you TERRIFIED to stand in front of people? When you think of speaking, do you get nervous, anxious, even sweaty? You don’t have to be afraid any longer. It can seem like everyone is a gifted speak when you watch TED talks or compare yourself to skilled co-workers giving presentations. Don't get caught up in comparison. Instead, take action to improve YOUR ability and to overcome your fear. If you struggle when you speak, then you are not alone. Public speaking is the number one fear in America.

Simply Said is the essential handbook for business communication. Do you ever feel as though your message hasn't gotten across? Do details get lost along the way? Have tense situations ever escalated unnecessarily? It all comes down to communication. We all communicate, but few of us do it well. From tough presentations to everyday transactions, there is no scenario that cannot be improved with better communication skills. This book presents an all-encompassing guide to improving your communication.

Public speaking can be terrifying. For David Nihill, the idea of standing in front of an audience was scarier than cliff jumping into a thorny pit of spiders and mothers-in-law. Without a parachute or advanced weaponry. Something had to change.

In what doesn't sound like the best plan ever, David decided to overcome his fears by pretending to be a comedian called "Irish Dave" for one full year, crashing as many comedy clubs, festivals, and shows as possible.

Despite the capability to be "in touch" 24/7, many people are disengaged and disillusioned. Business leaders know the struggle to engage and empower a workforce that clocks in, then checks out. Parents know the challenges to connect with teenagers who text better than they talk! And how do you answer the most challenging question every partner dreads: "If you loved me you would know what's wrong?"

Are you earning what you're worth? Master negotiator Roger Dawson shows you how to get a better deal from your current employer and how to negotiate the best deal from a new employer. And you won't come off as greedy, overly aggressive, or selfish. In fact you'll learn how to win salary negotiations and still leave your boss feeling like he or she has actually won! You'll also learn how to become more valuable to your employer or prospective employer and how to develop power and control over your career and gain an amazing ability to get what you want.

Communication should be clear and concise, and we should get to the point quickly. The problem is we don’t always know how to do this. What does it mean to be concise? How can a complex topic be summarized in just a few lines? This award-winning book is a step-by-step guide for clear, concise communication in everyday work conversations. Being concise is not about trying to condense all the information into 60 seconds. It is about having clear intent, talking about one topic at a time, and focusing on solutions instead of dwelling on problems.

"What an asshole!" How many times have you said that about someone at work? You're not alone! In this groundbreaking book, Stanford University professor Robert I. Sutton builds on his acclaimed Harvard Business Review article to show you the best ways to deal with assholes...and why they can be so destructive to your company.

The time-tested secrets taught in this book include Cicero's three-step strategy for moving an audience to action and Honest Abe's Shameless Trick for lowering an audience's expectations. And it's also replete with contemporary techniques such as politicians' use of code language to appeal to specific groups and an eye-opening assortment of persuasive tricks, including Stalin's Timing Secret and the Yoda Technique. Whether you're an inveterate lover of language books or just want to win a lot more anger-free arguments, this audiobook is for you.

Negotiation is a skill people need to use every day. In this audio exclusive, learn the negotiation skills required to navigate difficult situations that arise in everyday life. From buying a car to purchasing a home, one needs to know how to effectively negotiate, especially when the other party is a seasoned professional. Harvard professor, Joshua N. Weiss, Ph.D., gives us to tools to negotiate when we have a major stake in the game or when we're perceived as the "weak consumer."

Success as an entrepreneur takes a lot more than big ideas and dedication. With threats of burnout and rejection at nearly every turn, the entrepreneurial journey is riddled with obstacles-but the staff, experts, and voices of Entrepreneur want you to know you're not alone. Entrepreneur Voices on Emotional Intelligence brings you real-world strategies to help you get brutally honest with yourself and boost your emotional intelligence.

Imagine if you had the magical ability to read people's minds. You would always know what they were really thinking, and how they formed their opinions. You would be able to tell if they were lying. You would know what decisions they were going to make even before they did. Wouldn't it be great if you could always know just the right thing to say to influence them effectively? Well, it turns out that this isn't a magical superpower at all - it is simply the ability to analyze people.

Whether you're climbing the ladder at your current company or seeking a new job, in today's fast-paced work environment, you must proactively and continuously position yourself for success. Your credibility, visibility, personality, and personal style all make up your brand. Career Distinction outlines the proven personal branding process and provides case studies of successful professionals that will help you not only survive, but thrive, in today's dynamic and ultracompetitive workplace.

Quantum Negotiation is a handbook for getting what you need using a mindset and behaviors based on a refreshingly expansive perspective on negotiation. Rather that viewing every negotiation as an antagonistic and combative relationship, this book shows you how to move beyond the traditional pseudo win-win to construct a deal in which all parties get what they need. By exploring who we are as negotiators in the context of social conditioning, this model examines the cognitive, psychological, social, physical, and spiritual aspects of negotiation to help you produce more sustainable, prosperous, and satisfying agreements.

Whether you are a new player or a seasoned veteran, Secrets to Winning at Office Politics can help you increase your personal power without compromising your integrity or taking advantage of others. This smart, practical guide shows you how to stop wasting energy on things you can't change and start taking steps to get what you want.