Business Development Skills

Whether you talk, text, or email, Effective Communication at Work has everything you need to help boost your workplace performance and productivity. From honing listening to polishing speaking and writing skills, this essential guide delivers simple, powerful strategies and timely tips that can help you increase the impact of your business communication and correspondence both online and offline. Learn how to build stronger relationships and advance your career by mastering the art of effective communication.

Developing successful relationships is critical to our success in both our personal and professional lives. The Power of Understanding People shows you how to establish and develop extremely effective relationships by providing you with techniques to better identify and understand the intrinsic needs of others. As a result, you will achieve better team dynamics, increased sales and client satisfaction, higher levels of employee engagement and performance, and even more satisfying marriages and friendships.

Average schools don't inspire greatness - and greatness is what our world needs if we are going to produce world-changing learners. In Culturize, author and education leader Jimmy Casas shares insights into what it takes to cultivate a community of learners who embody the innately human traits our world desperately needs, such as kindness, honesty, and compassion. His stories reveal how these "soft skills" can be honed while meeting and exceeding academic standards of 21st-century learning.

Karl Albrecht defines social intelligence (SI) as the ability to get along well with others while winning their cooperation. SI is a combination of sensitivity to the needs and interests of others, sometimes called your "social radar", an attitude of generosity and consideration, and a set of practical skills for interacting successfully with people in any setting. Social Intelligence provides a highly accessible and comprehensive model for describing, assessing, and developing social intelligence at a personal level.

The most successful women are often not the most talented, the most gifted, or even the most experienced. What these women have is a knack for communicating that opens doors and gives them influence. Gleaning from powerful research, best-selling author and life strategist Valorie Burton unearths practical insights you can put to work in your life immediately.

Take charge of your career by eliminating communication barriers and taking charge of your business relationships. Make your work environment less tense and more productive by improving communication skills. Set relationship expectations, work with people how they like to work, and give positive feedback and constructive feedback.

Whether you're trying to communicate your business idea to an investor, encourage your children to embrace your moral values, or break an addiction to endless web surfing - if you lack the skill of influence, you will be unable to convince yourself or anyone else. The human mind is like a titanium lock. If you communicate poorly - through endless talking, inattentive listening, or over-the-top pressure - it's like spinning the numbers on the lock over and over uselessly. But if you develop the key skills of influence, it's like knowing the exact combination to that lock.

Your guide to becoming an explanation specialist. You've done the hard work. Your product or service works beautifully - but something is missing. People just don't see the big idea - and it's keeping you from being successful. Your idea has an explanation problem. The Art of Explanation is for business people, educators, and influencers who want to improve their explanation skills and start solving explanation problems.

The Art of Conversation will show you step by step how to converse skillfully and enjoyably with other people, at home, at work, on the phone, and in the street. Even if you're daunted now, discover the difference good conversation can make in every aspect of your life.

Networking is often considered a necessary evil for all working professionals. With social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at our disposal, reaching potential investors or employers is much easier. Yet, these connections often feel transactional and agenda-driven, leaving professionals feeling burnt out and stressed out.

In The Storytelling Edge, the strategy minds behind Contently, the world renowned content marketing technology company, reveal their secrets that have helped award-winning brands to build relationships with millions of advocates and customers. Join as they dive into the neuroscience of storytelling, the elements of powerful stories, and methodologies to grow businesses through engaging and accountable content.

Author Thomas Erikson explains that there are four key behavior types that define how we interact with and perceive the people around us. Understanding someone’s pattern of behavior is the key to successful communication. Erikson breaks down the four kinds of behavior types - Reds who are dominant and commanding, Yellows who are social and optimistic, Greens who are laid-back and friendly, and Blues who are analytical and precise - and explains how to identify and interact with each type of person.

Professionals and entrepreneurs do a great job of keeping up appearances. But if they're honest with themselves, they're short on living the life they really want. Train Your Brain for Success provides the perspective to analyze how you got where you are and, more importantly, learn the skills to get where you truly desire to be. Train Your Brain for Success explains specific ways of thinking and acting that will get anyone where they want to go, fast.

Whether you are looking to position yourself as an industry expert, extend your sphere of influence, or gain the support and backing of vital constituencies, The 7 Principles of Public Speaking will give you the tools you need to achieve your goal.

Communication is essential in a healthy organization. But all too often when we interact with people - especially those who report to us - we simply tell them what we think they need to know. This shuts them down. To generate bold new ideas, to avoid disastrous mistakes, to develop agility and flexibility, we need to practice Humble Inquiry. Ed Schein defines Humble Inquiry as "the fine art of drawing someone out, of asking questions to which you do not know the answer, of building a relationship based on curiosity and interest in the other person."

In this hilarious and highly practical book, author and professional speaker Scott Berkun reveals the techniques behind what great communicators do, and shows how anyone can learn to use them well. For managers and teachers - and anyone else who talks and expects someone to listen - Confessions of a Public Speaker provides an insider's perspective on how to effectively present ideas to anyone. It's a unique, entertaining, and instructional romp through the embarrassments and triumphs Scott has experienced over 15 years of speaking to crowds of all sizes.

Many of us dread having to convey our ideas to others, often feeling ill-equipped, anxious, and awkward. Public speaking experts help by focusing on planned communication experiences such as slide presentations, pitches, or formal talks. Yet, most of our professional and personal communication occurs in spontaneous situations that creep up on us and all too often leave us flustered and stumbling for words. Stanford lecturer, podcast host, and communication expert Matt Abrahams provides tangible, actionable skills to help even the most anxious of speakers succeed when speaking spontaneously.

Drawing on his highly successful sales background and decades of research, he lays out a simple, repeatable, predictable, and ethical process that will enable you to lead others to discover for themselves what and why they need to change. Whether you hope to make a sale or improve a relationship, Jolles’ wise advice will help you ensure that changing someone’s mind is never an act of coercion but rather one of caring and compassion.

33 Strategies of War is a comprehensive guide to the subtle social game of everyday life, informed by the most ingenious and effective military principles in war. It's the I-Ching of conflict, the contemporary companion to Sun Tzu's The Art of War, and is abundantly illustrated with examples from history, including the folly and genius of everyone from Napoleon to Margaret Thatcher, Hannibal to Ulysses S. Grant, movie moguls to samurai swordsmen.

What do you have in common with West Point graduates, NFL players, and Fortune 500 CEOs? You too can learn effective leadership principles from two New York Times best-selling authors. John C. Maxwell will eloquently guide you on a journey through the five levels of relationships, capped with eight ways you can win with people. Brian Tracy’s leadership audio program offers proven ideas and strategies for setting standards of performance in your organization.