It is almost impossible to keep up with the pace and direction in which business and technology are moving today.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. AUTOMATION. BLOCKCHAIN. BIG DATA. INTERNET OF THINGS. THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.

Who actually knows what any of these concepts mean for their business, much less how to integrate them? Things are moving at a faster pace than ever before and trying to keep up has become intimidating and overwhelming. It’s tempting to bury your head in the sand than try to make head or tail of it all. But none of the buzzwords actually matter! You don’t have to jump aboard every single change and adjustment in the market, or trade in your suit for a T-shirt, jeans and sneaker combo. If you have the right context, it’s a lot simpler to understand and use technological shifts as an opportunity to transform your business.

Tech Adjacent is about understanding the principles of tech and its pace, hearing the footsteps of where it might be going, knowing how disruption and innovation work tangibly and, most importantly, leveraging it for your individual exponential success. Innovation is contextual, so while Uber, Airbnb and Facebook are grandiose Silicon Valley success stories, they have little relevance in our own market. This book shares stories and case studies of African businesses, exposing who is getting disrupted as we speak and why, as well as how new companies are leading the next wave of growth. Mushambi Mutuma’s experience and expertise in both business and as a tech entrepreneur give real-life context to rapid change, unlocking future opportunities and offering tools to predict where your audience and industry are heading. He sells no big ideas, but genuinely shares his unique perspectives and know-how to help whoever he can in the process.

Tech Adjacent isn’t just another book on growing your business in 100 days, nor is it dry academic theory. It is the guidebook for not only surviving but excelling in a world of exponential growth. Whether you are a start-up entrepreneur or a corporate executive, this guide is a must for both present and future leaders.

Are you ready to rise to the challenge of increasing the metabolic rate and success of your business? The Other End Of The Telescope is a high speed gallop through the absurdities and challenges of getting things done in large companies, and the inherent contradictions in leadership and organisational behaviours that prevent businesses from realising their potential and achieving greater success.

In this collection of thought provoking essays, Ian Russell draws on more than 25 years’ experience of leading and working in large organisations around the world to distil the key themes and challenges confronting big business today. The book tackles key topics such as organisational cholesterol, the loneliness of leadership, human capital strategy failures, performance destroying ‘head offices’ and the ‘myths’ of talent scarcity and the socalled Fourth Industrial Revolution, among others. Each essay pairs a deep understanding of the real world and lessons learned the hard way, with powerful and pragmatic insights on how big business can change the way in which it does things.

Contributions from other notable thought leaders Valter Adão, Richard Mulholland, Happy Ntshingila and Rapelang Rabana add unique voices and insights to Ian’s vibrant and straightforward views. Together they are exactly what is needed to jolt businesses and their leaders into doing things more successfully and thoughtfully. The lightness of Ian’s style makes this a highly readable book, but it does not dilute the impact of his incisive observations and insights.

Passionate, irreverent and challenging, The Other End Of The Telescope will make you think deeply about your business and your career – and your role in both.

Modern day organisations are more dependent on communication to achieve success than ever before. Rapid development and greater complexity of communication technologies, and the growing importance and popularity of social media, means that organisations can no longer rely on traditional methods alone to engage in effective business communication.

Social media and new communication forms, however, come with their own challenges and pitfalls. Organisations need to carefully and strategically consider the use of these new media as part of their effective communication plan.

Effective Business Communication In Organisations, 4th edition, builds on traditional communication forms with up-to-date theory. It discusses new communication trends and the changing nature of communication in businesses.

How should you write and present a business proposal? What is the best way to take minutes? When should a work email be formal and when chatty?

Communicating in a clear, concise manner with colleagues and clients is a key aspect of professionalism and good business practice. Yet many South African companies do not train their staff to do this, leading to confusion and lost hours - and it affects how people view your ability to do your job.

Now, help is at hand with plain-language experts Bittie Viljoen-Smook, Johan Geldenhuys and Wena Coetzee in this user-friendly guide to all aspects of written English in the workplace. Your journey to presenting yourself in an excellent, effective way starts here.

When Feyi Olubodun, CEO of one of West Africa’s leading creative agencies, witnessed one too many cases of brands failing in the African marketplace he began to ask himself questions:
- Why did brands, both global and local, so often fail to connect with the African consumer?
- What was it about the African market that brand owners were not seeing?

He began to reflect on his own marketing experiences and out of this emerged the framework for The Villager.

In Feyi’s view, the African consumer begins his life’s journey by moving from the village, his rural dwelling, to the city, carrying with him not only his own dreams but also the dreams of his community. He is a highly aspirational consumer, motivated to succeed, and he becomes the economic portal for the rest of his community back home. But although he may be exposed to global influences and technology, his essential identity remains largely intact. This is why Feyi calls the African consumer a Villager. The Village is no longer a physical space; it is a psychological construct that defines him and the filter through which he engages with and consumes brands.

In developing his construct, Feyi posits that if you wish to engage successfully in a market you may not understand, you must have the right ‘lenses’ to view a people. He believes the secret lies in applying these lenses at the confluence of commerce, culture and consumer. Data is not enough to understand the vagaries of a particular market. Drawing on his wide experience and wealth of astute observations, he provides a highly readable and indispensable guide to the mindset of the African consumer today, yet it is true to say that his insights apply, albeit in a more nuanced way, to consumer behaviour across the globe.

The Villager is essential reading for brand owners wishing to conquer new markets.

Being the best doesn’t guarantee you’ll get the business. Having the best pitch does.

Whether you’re looking for clients, investors or employees, you need to know how to pitch your products, services and ideas in a way that is most likely to secure you the deal. Justin Cohen’s internationally acclaimed six-step formula is designed to do just that. Having taught and refined his Pitch To Win programme for five years, and having helped win numerous multimillion-dollar deals in that time, Justin now shares his secrets for success in the Pitch To Win book.

In it he reveals:

• The number one reason a winning pitch gets chosen over the competition.
• The mindset of people who win the most pitches.
• A step by step guide to creating and delivering a winning pitch script.
• How to reduce nervousness and develop ‘big pitch temperament’.
• How to win without being salesy.
• How to win with integrity, by living your purpose.

This is a purpose-designed communication textbook for Accounting and Auditing students: The focus is on vital soft skills required in business environments, including report writing, conducting meetings, and oral and written communication. The communication-based chapters provide insight into the typical communication challenges of the corporate world. English grammar is presented in the form of an essential grammar toolkit. Exercises (with solutions) and case studies have a realistic business perspective. Money Talks is written in a fun and engaging way and focuses on practical applications that will equip students to become well-rounded professionals.

The Fourth edition of The Art Of Persuasive Communication situates contemporary persuasive practices against the background of the rich history of rhetoric and within the setting of a democratic state.

Throughout, the author addresses critical issues that are important to communication science scholars and practitioners, as well as those active in related disciplines such as political science, sociology, social psychology and rhetorical studies.

The Fourth edition differs from the previous one in the following ways:

• The arrangement of the contents has been revised to facilitate greater understanding
• There is much new material, especially in chapters 4, 5, 7, 8
• The role of social media is discussed and considered in chapter 7
• Chapter 8 includes a section on image management
• Chapter 9 is a new chapter focussing on political debates
• A new chapter 12 on Persuasion and the rhetorical imprint of a public rhetor has been added
• New contemporary examples related to South Africa have been included

What is the difference between verbal and non-verbal communication? How do you identify the communication needs of an organization? How do you improve your interpersonal communication skills and recognize cultural barriers to effective multicultural communication? Business Communication provides a practical framework for students and demonstrates how communication functions in today's business environment. The textbook covers discussions around communication theory, cognitive communication, organizational communication, cultural communication, stakeholder communication, the writing and listening process, and academic literacy.

Communication is often described as the glue that binds an organisation, enabling interaction with its customers, agents and the broader public. Communication flourishes in organisations and is central to their activities and functions: as marketing communication, public relations, management communication, corporate communication, etc.; in determining and implementing strategy, operations and processes; in all interaction - interpersonal, mediated, digital and social; as the foundation of corporate culture. Integrated Organisational Communication 2nd Edition covers these aspects and addresses the growing need among students and practitioners for a book that takes a broad look at organisations' communication, and then delves into the detail. This book adopts a multidisciplinary approach to organisational communication, and while it takes cognisance of individual academic and professional disciplines, it avoids alignment with any one of these.

Over the course of four years Matt Brown has interviewed hundreds of local and international entrepreneurs and business experts for his podcast, The Matt Brown Show, and in the process has created a lexicon of business, growth, start-up and funding hacks that anyone can learn from and implement. He has also come to the conclusion that the single defining factor between entrepreneurs who make it and those who don’t is internal. It’s all about the inner game. Entrepreneurs with a strong inner game live, breathe and work according to a set of principles that define everything they do.

In Your Inner Game – 12 Principles for High-Impact Entrepreneurs, Matt draws on the lessons he’s learned, both as an entrepreneur who has launched nine businesses, and as a podcast host with hundreds of interviews under his belt. He delves into what separates great businesses from their mediocre peers; the mindset that entrepreneurs should embrace if they want to grow their businesses; and, ultimately, the secret to building a business of purpose that fulfils a greater need for their founders. Full of real-life anecdotes, tips, success hacks and actionable insights that you can implement in your own start-up or business, Your Inner Game unpacks twelve principles that you can put into practise today to take your life and business from good to great.

Thoughtful, honest and willing to reveal both the highs and lows of entrepreneurship, Matt takes his readers on a journey that will give them the blueprint to relook at everything they thought they knew about business.

There is NO SUCH THING as a mindless doodle What did Einstein, JFK, Edison, Marie Curie, and Henry Ford have in common? They were all inveterate doodlers. These powerhouse minds knew instinctively that doodling is deep thinking in disguise-a simple, accessible, and dynamite tool for innovating and solving even the stickiest problems. Sunni Brown's mission is to bring the power of the Doodle to the rest of us. She leads the Revolution defying all those parents, teachers, and bosses who say Stop doodling! Get serious! Grow up! She overturns misinformation about doodling, demystifies visual thinking, and shows us the power of applying our innate visual literacy. She'll teach you how to doodle any object, concept, or system imaginable, shift habitual thinking patterns, and transform boring text into displays that can engage any audience.

Turn yourself into a superthinker and make the right decisions every time. You want to make better decisions. You want to be right more of the time professionally and personally. However, being more right consistently is a hard problem because the world is such a complex, evolving place. How do you navigate this complexity? Mental models are decision-making tools that guide our perception of the world and our behaviour in it. They help us understand life, make decisions and solve problems. The best models help us make intelligent investments, develop ground-breaking technologies and even travel to outer space. - Note your frame of reference before debating someone with different political views. If you understand how your perspective contrasts with someone else's you can prevent the conversation from getting hostile. - Apply the sunk cost fallacy to the end of a doomed project. Just because you've put a lot of hours into it doesn't mean that you have to keep going. - Before blaming someone, consider Hanlon's Razor, 'Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by carelessness'. - Try to solve mysteries with Occam's Razor, 'Among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected'. When you hear hoof beats, think of horses not zebras. Building on our knowledge of well-known models such as the Bandwagon Effect or Paradigm Shift and introducing us to the lesser known like the Eisenhower Matrix or the Boiling Frog Symbol, this indispensable book distils the most effective mental models into a single, digestible volume. It will make even the most complex models accessible and engaging to enable you to make better, more informed decisions in every part of your life.

The Survival Guide for Entrepreneurial Success from Harvard Professor, Tom Eisenmann

90% of all startups fail. But why?

For the past decade, this is a question that Tom Eisenmann has tried to answer. Focusing his research and his MBA class at Harvard University on the mistakes and missteps of entrepreneurs, for the first time, he reveals his findings, and - most importantly - how you can avoid them.

Eisenmann's fascinating, often counter-intuitive, advice debunks common Silicon Valley mythology including:

• The False Promise: How early success, often based on extenuating factors, gives founders the misplaced confidence to expand.
• The False Start: That the 'fail fast' mentality of many founders can mean launching before they're ready - wasting time and money.
• The Audacity of Goals: Silicon Valley scoffs at moderatea mbitions but the more audacious your goals, the more can go wrong.

Drawing on case studies from startups around the world, in all shapes and sizes, The Fail-Safe Startup will show you how to analyse others' failure to ensure your success.

A transformative guide to building more fulfilling relationships with colleagues, friends, partners, and family, based on the landmark Interpersonal Dynamics ("Touchy Feely") course at Stanford's Graduate School of Business

The ability to create strong relationships with others is crucial to living a full life and becoming more effective at work. Yet many of us find ourselves struggling to build solid personal and professional connections, or unable to handle challenges that inevitably arise when we grow closer to others. When we find ourselves in an exceptional relationship--the kind of relationship where we feel fully understood and supported for who we are--it can seem like magic. But the truth is that the process of building and sustaining these relationships can be described, learned, and applied.

David Bradford and Carole Robin taught interpersonal skills to MBA candidates for a combined seventy-five years in their legendary Stanford Graduate School of Business course Interpersonal Dynamics (affectionately known to generations of students as "Touchy Feely") and have coached and consulted to hundreds of executives for decades.

In Connect, they show readers how to take their relationships from shallow to exceptional, along the way offering time-tested strategies for giving feedback, negotiating boundaries, and working through disagreements. Through stories of people navigating tricky moments in relationships--all based on real dynamics Bradford and Robin have witnessed or experienced--we see the six hallmarks of an exceptional relationship in action: authenticity, vulnerability, honesty, a willingness to ask for and offer help, a shared commitment to growth, and an ability to deal productively with conflict.

Filled with relatable scenarios and research-backed insights, Connect will be an important resource for anyone hoping to improve existing relationships and build new ones at any stage of life.

Swimming With Sharks will inspire ‘a-ha’ moments that will make it more fun to be at work – or maybe even make it possible for your business to survive the turbulent economic seas that seem synonymous with building a business in the 21st century.

Entrepreneur, marketing and communications expert Gavin Moffat found remarkable parallels between his two passions: consulting to businesses as they navigate through change, and SCUBA and technical diving. While one seems to be all work and the other all play, achieving success in either requires very similar approaches.

Gavin’s style is to-the-point, irreverent, and frequently funny. This book is a conversation with a friend who asks questions that may make you squirm a little or maybe even wriggle in discomfort. But they’re questions that will make you think – and change the way you think too. Including contributions from other smart disruptive thinkers, Swimming With Sharks offers exceptional food for thought on these topics and provides guidelines on how to take action.

In business, as in life and sport, you never know it all. Lifelong learning is the name of the game. You can always improve, do things differently and add more value to your customers. You can never tick ‘learning’ off your to-do list.

Email replies that show up a week later. Video chats full of ‘oops sorry no you go’ and ‘can you hear me?!’ Ambiguous text-messages. Weird punctuation you can’t make heads or tails of. Is it any wonder communication takes us so much time and effort to figure out? How did we lose our innate capacity to understand each other?

Humans rely on body language to connect and build trust, but with most of our communication happening from behind a screen, traditional body language signals are no longer visible – or are they? In Digital Body Language, Erica Dhawan, a go-to thought leader on collaboration and a passionate communication junkie, combines cutting edge research with engaging storytelling to decode the new signals and cues that have replaced traditional body language across genders, generations, and culture. In real life, we lean in, uncross our arms, smile, nod and make eye contact to show we listen and care. Online, reading carefully is the new listening. Writing clearly is the new empathy. And a phone or video call is worth a thousand emails.

Digital Body Language will turn your daily misunderstandings into a set of collectively understood laws that foster connection, no matter the distance. Dhawan investigates a wide array of exchanges—from large conferences and video meetings to daily emails, texts, IMs, and conference calls—and offers insights and solutions to build trust and clarity to anyone in our ever changing world.

There’s something sucking the life out of audiences everywhere, transforming them from the very people who can change your business into the disengaged masses. It’s called The Boredom … and your job is to slay it!

Whether you’re a seasoned public speaker, or getting ready for your first company presentation, this candid and practical guide by renowned global speaker and presentation coach Richard Mulholland will give you key insights into:

• Grabbing and keeping an audience’s attention
• Structuring talks that command fees and change companies
• Dispelling the myths around public speaking that are getting in the way of that standing ovation
• Speaking like a true leader

It’s time to fight back. It’s time to save the world ... one bored audience at a time.

Whatever you do in life, whatever you hope to achieve, How to Influence in Any Situation will help you get there - with the power of influence. It shows you how to build the support, trust and respect you need to propel your life forwards to take on challenge after challenge.

For courses in meeting, event, and convention planning. Current, concise, and insightful-a modern guide to planning successful events Planning and Management of Meetings, Events, Expositions and Conventions, 1e is the first text of its kind to focus on planning (in addition to event management), and incorporates the Meeting and Business Events Competency Standards (MBECS). It is the most up-to-date book on planning and management in the meetings, expositions, events, and conventions (MEEC) industry and covers a wide range of topics dealing with these two crucial functions. The text follows a practical, hands-on approach and is an excellent resource for college courses, employee training, and professional reference. Developed as a collaborative work, the text features contributions from some of the best and most notable practitioners and educators in the field. Teaching and Learning Experience This text will provide a better teaching and learning experience-for you and your students. It provides: *Preparation for careers in event planning: The text follows a practical, career-focused approach. *Professional insight: Chaptersinclude advice and best practices from numerous industry insiders. *Effective review tools: Learning and review tools facilitate understanding and promote skill mastery.

Whatever you do in life, whatever you hope to achieve, "Brilliant Influence" will help you get there - with the power of influence. It shows you how to build the support, trust and respect you need to propel your life forwards to take on challenge after challenge.

Based on over twenty years of influencing experience, the author combines psychological principles with case studies and examples to show you how to:

- Use body language and appearance to establish instant rapport.

- Select words to gain lasting trust and respect.

- Understand how people make decisions so you get a 'yes', every time.

- Know how to apply a 'win-win' negotiation approach, so you never lose.

The author has an active website: www.mikeclayton.co.uk, a blog: Shift Happens At: www.mikeclayton.wordpress.com and Twitter: @mikeclayton01

Personal Branding For Entrepreneurs provides quick-fire, practical advice and real-life examples and success stories to help entrepreneurs build and market their own personal brands.

In today’s fast-paced, interconnected world, you need to have a personal brand, apart from that of your company. If you haven’t already got one, you need to start cultivating it into something of your choosing before it becomes defined by those around you. Learn what your personal brand is, why it’s critical to your success as an entrepreneur and what you need to do to grow, maintain and nurture it.

Donna Rachelson, a specialist in branding and marketing, and the author of three books, distils and shares her insights from years of experience in helping entrepreneurs grow and scale their businesses through the building of their authentic personal brands. Jam-packed with easily digestible nuggets of information and easy-to-apply actions, and with contributions from seven other entrepreneurs from different industries and at different stages of their personal branding journeys, Personal Branding For Entrepreneurs is a must-have in any entrepreneur’s personal development toolkit.

A step-by-step guide to writing a report/proposal from start to finish. The text covers structure, grammar and presentation, and includes excercises to give the reader some practice.

For undergraduate and graduate courses in Business Communication. The practical advice needed to improve writing and speaking skills for the workplace. Writing & Speaking at Work delivers practical insight and instruction to help students become effective communicators no matter where their careers may take them. Instead of detailing the various communications theories, this text focuses on the two critical communication needs of business people: writing and speaking. The fifth edition features a new chapter on how to prepare executive summaries.

For undergraduate and MBA courses in Management Communication, Writing, and Oral Presentations. Also a useful reference for Executive Seminars/Workshops. A brief, professional, reader-friendly guide to improving managerial communication. Guide to Managerial Communication is a clear, concise, practical text for cultivating effective written and oral communication in a managerial, business, government, or professional context.