Business Development Skills

As an introvert, do you ever feel like the things you're best at—deep thinking, keen observation, focused listening, and strategic planning—are not highly valued in your workplace because they are internal rather than external? Have you ever been ignored or passed over while the extrovert in the next office is recognized and rewarded? Do you feel like you have to pretend to be someone you're not in order to get ahead? Just because your greatest strengths are internal doesn't mean your workplace doesn't need them. In fact, your invisible skills are essential to any business's success!

Strategic thinking has become a core competency for business leaders globally. Overused and under-defined, the term is often used interchangeably with other strategic management terms. This book delineates and defines strategic thinking as an advanced, conceptual cognitive capability, focusing on the nonlinear, divergent, a-rational, and informal nature of strategic thinking. This unique and practical book is an original primer of how successful strategists learn to think strategically.

Janine Driver was trained as a lie-detection expert for the ATF, FBI, and the CIA. Driver - who is known in professional circles as "the Lyin' Tamer" and has demonstrated her world-renowned expertise on such programs as The Today Show, The Dr. Oz Show, and Nancy Grace - now offers listeners essential tools that will enable them to detect deceptions, recognize a liar, and ultimately improve their lives.

Would you rather get a root canal than face a group of strangers? Does the phrase “working a room” make you want to retreat to yours? Devora Zack, an avowed introvert and successful consultant who gives presentations to thousands of people at dozens of events annually, feels your pain. She found that other networking books assume that to succeed, you have to act like an extrovert. Not at all. There is another way.

A classic guide to tricks and tactics for winning arguments, with commentary on the use of and defense against each tactic. The best summary of this audiobook is "being right doesn’t mean you’re gonna win, and this is why". It’s the ultimate guide to spotting the many different kinds of bull people pull in order to win over the crowd, rather than argue the point at hand. There’s very few of them that don’t immediately bring examples to mind, and having it laid out clearly like this is the perfect armour to stop people derailing you.

What if the best way to grow your network isn't by introducing yourself to strangers at cocktail parties, handing out business cards, or signing up for the latest online tool, but by developing a better understanding of the existing network that's already around you? We know that it's essential to reach out and build your network. But did you know that it's actually your weaker or former contacts who will be the most helpful to you? Or that many of our best efforts at meeting new people simply serve up the same old opportunities we already have?

We've all been taught that we must suppress or avoid emotions at work, but this inevitably leads to a loss in productivity, diminished creativity, and crushing job dissatisfaction. Research shows 85 percent of us avoid communicating crucial workplace problems upward, and many of us who are employed are actively looking for a different job. What's going on?

This book teaches you the vital skills you need to confront others, communicate effectively, and live a more conflict-free life. In this updated edition, communications expert Barbara Pachter shares a practical, step-by-step guide to tackling conflicts in any situation, including a new section on navigating sticky situations online.

Why do we so often fail to connect when speaking with business colleagues, family members, or friends? Wouldn't you like to make yourself heard and understood in all of your relationships? Using vivid examples, easy-to-learn techniques, and practical exercises for becoming a better listener and making yourself heard and understood, Dale Carnegie will show you how it's done, even in difficult situations.

Take Command offers powerful tools and time-tested methods to help you live an intentional life by transforming how you approach your thoughts, emotions, relationships, and future. Filled with stories of everyday people and based on expert research and interviews with more than a hundred high-performing leaders, Take Command is a “must-read” (Alan Mulally, former CEO of Ford and Boeing) that gives you the strategies you need to unlock your full potential and create the life you want.

On average, people leave about 20 percent of potential mutual gains untapped in any negotiation. This is akin to taking 20 percent of the value in any deal and dumping it into a garbage canister. Finding that hidden 20 percent, the “sweet spot”, is a skill that takes practice but is also one that anybody can learn. In Negotiating the Sweet Spot, Leigh Thompson offers surefire best practices and tools to use in daily negotiations and conflict situations.

A guide to personal and professional empowerment through civility and social skills by two White House social secretaries who offer an important fundamental message - everyone is important, and everyone deserves to be treated well. Part etiquette, part leadership, part personal empowerment, Treating People Well is a guide to developing social skills in order to build more successful relationships in life and at work.

Your voice says a lot about you. Based on the tone and expression of your voice alone, your listeners may make up their minds about you before they even process the meaning of your words. And if what you say is at odds with how you say it, they can miss your message altogether. As important as our voices are, few of us know how to use them to their full potential. Full Voice offers a fun, tested method to harness the power of your voice to become a more effective and flexible communicator.

Disregard the myth of the lone professional “superman” and the rest of our culture’s go-it alone mentality. The real path to success in your work and in your life is through creating an inner circle of “lifeline relationships”–deep, close relationships with a few key trusted individuals who will offer the encouragement, feedback, and generous mutual support every one of us needs to reach our full potential.

Ever felt tongue-tied in conversations? You're not alone. Many of us struggle to express ourselves, connect with others, or handle tricky discussions. But imagine being able to chat confidently with anyone, anywhere. Picture yourself resolving conflicts effortlessly, building stronger relationships, and feeling heard and understood. This book is your roadmap to becoming a conversation master. Inside, you'll discover five simple yet powerful rules that will transform the way you communicate.

In a televised social experiment before millions of viewers, police sergeant Derrick Levasseur demonstrated that techniques used by undercover detectives could help people achieve their goals in everyday social situations. The result: he walked away with more than half a million dollars. In The Undercover Edge, Derrick shares his personal mind-set surrounding human behavior and motivation. Even more than that, he provides easy yet groundbreaking tools acquired while overcoming personal adversity.

In the midst of a world filled with disagreements and disputes, the art of effective argumentation stands as a beacon of clarity. Doug Madden, in How to Argue Like a Lawyer, transforms the courtroom strategies used by seasoned attorneys into everyday tools for clear communication, productive disagreements, and mutual understanding.

The Art of Communication is for anyone who senses that they could be communicating on a deeper level. There's more to conversation than just clear, rational thinking. Left-brain rationality is important, of course, but neuroscience increasingly shows that the right-brain skills of creativity, intuition, and spontaneity are essential in good communication. In this guide, you'll discover ways of tapping into the full conversational potential that lies dormant within you, adding a level of nuance and watching the result as your relationships blossom.

In Mastering Civility, Christine Porath shows how people can enhance their influence and effectiveness with civility. Combining scientific research with fascinating evidence from popular culture and fields such as neuroscience, medicine, and psychology, this audiobook provides managers and employers with a much-needed wake-up call, while also reminding them of what they can do right now to improve the quality of their workplaces.

You will never look at people the same way again - including yourself - after this lively look at how we make character judgments. Drawing on cutting-edge social science research as well as their own work with Fortune 500 executives, members of Congress, and Nobel Prize winners, authors Matt Kohut and John Neffinger demystify the process we use to size each other up.