The best way to get ahead in sales is by developing the critical soft skills that will enable you not just survive but thrive. Chronic complainers, no accountability finger-pointers, or learning-resistant laggards-these culture-killers costs sales organizations more in productivity than being weak in the so-called hard skills of selling. Sales leadership expert Colleen Stanley shows how emotional intelligence and the development of these critical soft skills improve sales leadership effectiveness and outperforms doubling down on more sales technology tools and fads. In Emotional Intelligence for Sales Leadership, Colleen provides sales secrets that: Shows sales leaders why 'real world' empathy and emotion management are the key to building strong relationships with their sales team. Offers simple steps on how sales leaders create sales cultures that embrace feedback and change through the development of critical emotional intelligence skills. Provides guidance on how to identify key emotional intelligence skills needed in your hiring process to build resilient sales teams. Walks readers through the process of training sales teams on soft skills that ensure the consistent execution of the right selling behaviors. The missing link is in hiring for?and?developing emotional intelligence skills in sellers and sales leaders. Emotional Intelligence for Sales Leadership will connect with anyone charged with growing sales in business-to-business or business-to-consumer sales.

A winning combination of how-to guide and reference work, The Only Business Writing Book You'll Ever Need addresses a wide-ranging spectrum of business communication with its straightforward seven-step method. These easy-to-follow steps save you time from start to finish, and helpful checklists will boost your confidence as they keep you on track. You'll learn to promote yourself and your ideas clearly and concisely-whether putting together a persuasive project proposal or dealing with daily email. Laura Brown's supportive, no-nonsense approach to business writing is thoughtfully adapted to the increasingly digital corporate landscape. She provides practical tips and comprehensive examples for all the most popular forms of communication, including slide presentations, resumes, cover letters, web copy, and a thorough guide to the art of crafting e-mails and instant messages. Insightful sidebars from experts in various fields demystify the skills of self-editing, creating content, and overcoming writer's block, and Brown's reference-ready resources on style, punctuation, and grammar will keep your writing error-free. Nuanced, personable, and of-the-moment, The Only Business Writing Book You'll Ever Need offers essential tools for success in the rapidly changing world of business communication.

Many leaders consider "executive presence" a make-or-break factor in high-powered promotions. But what is this elusive quality, and how do you develop it?

This book explains how to build the charisma, confidence, and decisiveness that top leaders project. Whether you're delivering a critical presentation or managing a hectic meeting, you'll be inspired to approach the situation with new strength.

"Splashy slides, confident body language, and a lot of eye contact are fine and well. But if a speech is rambling, illogical, or just plain boring, the impact will be lost. Now everyone can learn to give powerful, on-target speeches that capture an audience's attention and drive home a message. The key is not just in the delivery techniques, but in tapping into the power of language.

Prepared by an award-winning writer, this authoritative speech-writing guide covers every essential element of a great speech, including outlining and organizing, beginning with a bang, making use of action verbs and vivid nouns, and handling questions from the audience. Plus, the book includes excerpts from some of history's most memorable speeches--eloquent words to contemplate and emulate."

DISTINGUISHED FAVOURITE: NYC Big Book Awards 2017 Content, in all its forms, is the single most critical element of any marketing campaign. Finding a successful equilibrium between content marketing and content strategy is difficult, but essential. Content - The Atomic Particle of Marketing goes beyond superficial descriptions of how to produce engaging social media content to offer the results of many years of deep quantitative research, and hours of interviews with senior marketers at some of the world's leading brands. Written by a recognized industry thought leader, Content - The Atomic Particle of Marketing explores how content functions in the broader framework of all marketing, as well as organizational concerns and IT decision making. It demonstrates the value content brings not only to "owned" media initiatives, such as a company website or blog, but also the essential role content plays in all other marketing initiatives, from social media to advertising to offline channels. It will enable readers to make the organizational, staffing, tools and process decisions necessary to get content up and running across divisions and organizational silos. Deeply researched and insightful, Content - The Atomic Particle of Marketing is, quite simply, the definitive research-based guide to content marketing.

This book examines the social organizational discourse of task-oriented business meetings in a Kuwaiti financial organization and an American non-profit trade organisation. Focusing primarily on the linguistic behaviours demonstrating agency and power of managers and staff members displayed during these meetings, the project is based on ethnographic data collected during eight months of fieldwork. The author examines the similarities and differences between the linguistic behaviours of both organizations, particularly relating to the production of collective "we," "us," and "our" utterances and directive speech acts issued to explore how managers and co-workers perform agency and power in meetings. This distinctive book will shed light into the influence of language on the actions and relationships of managers and co-workers in business meetings, and will be of interest to applied linguists and discourse analysts in the field of business discourse in addition to business professionals in management and finance.

A proven program for turning effective listening into a powerful business tool Managers and other employees spend more than 40 percent of their time listening to other people but often do it so poorly that the result is misunderstood instructions, misdirected projects, and erroneous actions—millions of dollars’ worth of mistakes just because most people don’t know how to listen. In this new edition of her classic guide to the art of effective listening, Madelyn Burley-Allen shows you how to acquire active, productive listening skills and put them to work for you—professionally, socially, and personally. With her time-tested techniques, you’ll learn how to:

• Eliminate distractions and improve your concentration on what is being said
• Locate key words, phrases, and ideas while listening
• Cut through your own listening biases
• Interpret body language clues
• Ask constructive, nonthreatening questions that elicit real information
• Get others to listen to you
• Master a whole range of listening skills that you can use on the job and in your personal life

Listening: The Forgotten Skill uses an interactive learning approach with work-sheets, charts, graphs, and self-tests that help you pace and monitor your own progress.

Using internationally-recognized case studies, including brands such as BMW and Burberry, this book explains how companies can use specific strategies and tools to develop and maintain brand desire among new and existing customers. Desire is big business. If companies can create true desirability for their brands, customers will not only express preference and loyalty, they also show a willingness to act as brand champions, participate in online communities, co-create innovative ideas, and show the sort of commitment that is normally associated with fervent employees. However, desire doesn't just happen. Brands need to nurture it by offering both security and surprise. This isn't just about marketing, but rather a reflection of an organization-wide culture and perspective. Using international case studies, Brand Desire explains how companies can engage customers emotionally and create value for them. Managers can successfully build and maintain brand desire through specific strategies and tools, such as: * promoting a principles-driven organization that is grounded in its heritage and distinctive competences; * creating a supportive culture that encourages the active participation of people in brand development; * providing an opportunity for people to communicate more with each other and to encourage socialization through communities and events; and * offering outstanding experiences: being consistent in delivery, from first communications through to after-sales service and support. In a crowded sales environment, brand desire can elevate any product or service so that it stands out from the crowd - and stays there. Brand Desire demonstrates how desirable brands are about desirable experiences, and shows what companies can do to maximize those experiences for their customers.

The perfect gift for aspiring leaders: 16 volumes of HBR 20-Minute Manager. This 16-volume, specially priced boxed set makes a perfect gift for aspiring leaders who are short on time but need advice fast, on topics from creating business plans and giving feedback to managing time and presentations. The set includes Creating Business Plans, Delegating Work, Difficult Conversations, Finance Basics, Getting Work Done, Giving Effective Feedback, Innovative Teams, Leading Virtual Teams, Managing Projects, Managing Time, Managing Up, Performance Reviews, Presentations, Running Meetings, Running Virtual Meetings, and Virtual Collaboration. Don't have much time? Get up to speed fast on the most essential business skills with HBR's 20-Minute Manager series. Whether you need a crash course or a brief refresher, each book in the series is a concise, practical primer that will help you brush up on a key management topic. Advice you can quickly read and apply, for ambitious professionals and aspiring executives--from the most trusted source in business. Also available as an ebook.

Communication is vital for project success. Experts know it. Industry-wide research verifies it. Yet projects continue to fail because of poor communication. As a result, stakeholders and organizations don't realize the benefits of their projects and project teams. This book presents a new way to look at communication within projects. It combines real-world examples and practical tips with theory, research, and professional standards you can apply to any size and type of project. Gain actionable insights into identifying your audience, choosing the right tools, managing change, and handling conflict. Expand your professional toolkit with templates, activities, and resources. Develop your project communications expertise with reflective questions and recommendations. Whether you are a project manager, team member, project sponsor, or stakeholder, this book is for you. For educators, the book is ideal for students studying project management and related fields. Make your project communications a critical factor in your project success!

What people are saying about "The New How"

"How are you going to get rid of your Air Sandwich if you don't even know what it is? Provocative and practical at the same time."--Seth Godin, author of "Linchpin"

""The New How" is informative and provides exciting insights because the suggestions are practical and doable. Merchant gets the new reality--leadership fails not so much from flawed strategy as it does from failed processes of engagement from those responsible for implementing the strategy. In high-performing organizations, everyone acts like a leader, and they own the strategy and take actions to ensure its success. If you care about making a difference, read this book."--Barry Posner, author of "The Leadership Challenge"

"Collaboration is a powerful, competitive weapon: this book shows you how to use it to win markets."--Mark Interrante, VP Content Products, Yahoo, Inc.

"In a world in which the pace of change is ever quickening, collaboration, not control, is the route to a successful organization. This book tells you how to make your organization collaborative. And Nilofer Merchant's writing is a model of clarity."--Barry Schwartz, author of "The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less"

"Want to transform your organization into a collaborative enterprise? Nilofer Merchant provides insightful and practical strategies in "The New How.""--Padmasree Warrior, CTO, Cisco Systems, Inc.

"Merchant's book is a practical guide for the journey from strategy to implementation. The collaborative tools described here can help companies reach strategic success--and avoid pitfalls along the way."--Tom Kelley, General Manager, IDEO, and author of "Ten Faces of Innovation"

Once in a generation, a book comes along that transforms the business landscape. For today's business leaders, "The New How" redefines the way companies create strategies and win new markets.

Management gurus have always said "people matter." But those same gurus still relegate strategy to an elite set of executives who focus on frameworks, long presentations, and hierarchical approaches. Business strategy typically has been planned by corporate chiefs in annual meetings, and then dictated to managers to carry out. "The New How" turns that notion on its head. After many years of working with Apple, Adobe, HP, and many other companies, Nilofer Merchant discovered the secret sauce: the best way to create a winning strategy is to include employees at all levels, helping to create strategy they not only believe in, but are also equipped to implement.

In "The New How," Nilofer shows today's corporate directors, executives, and managers how they can transform their traditional, top-down approach to strategy planning and execution into collaborative "stratecution" that has proven to be significantly more effective.Enhance performance and outcomes by deflating the "air sandwich" between executives in the boardroom and employeesRecognize that strategy and execution are thoroughly intertwinedUnderstand how successful strategy is founded in effective idea selection-a pile of good ideas doesn't necessarily build good strategyCreate company strategy and link it to targeted execution, using the practical models and techniques provided

Start with What Works helps you to create new growth opportunities using the resources you already have at hand. It sounds obvious but frequently, managers discount the value of their familiar resources, and instead, they look outside for something new. This can demotivate employees and be costly in terms of money and time. It’s often a lot quicker, cheaper and safer to see your existing resources with fresh eyes. This book shows you how to recognise overlooked potential in existing resources, and how to flip the right switches to activate that potential.

Covering nine lessons you can use for a variety of situations, each will feature a case study and a new mindset to adopt. With practical tools and templates, each will trigger fruitful discussions and insights for your organisation. You’ll learn how to apply them to the situations you face, so that you can identify new opportunities, and turn those opportunities into action.

Finally business professionals will be able to learn how to communicate effectively. This book builds the essential writing, speaking, and listening skills needed to succeed. An entire section is devoted to helping non-native speakers of English in their efforts to produce readable, well-edited work. It includes Communication Dilemmas boxes that pose interesting, real-life communication choices and challenges. Six brief interviews with real communication experts are presented that explore a variety of different corporate environments. New sections are also included on social networking communications and the electronic career search. Business professionals will discover how to apply newly acquired communication skills throughout their careers.

ORBIT (Observing Rapport Based Interpersonal Techniques) is an approach to interviewing high-value detainees, encompassing not only analysis and research into the methodology, but also a framework for training. ORBIT: The Science of Rapport-Based Interviewing for Law Enforcement, Security, and Military offers comprehensive treatment of ORBIT's unique perspective on human rapport and the role it plays in the interrogation of difficult subjects, including suspects, detainees, and high value targets. Alison and colleagues provide an overview of ORBIT, which was developed from analysis of nearly 2000 hours of recorded interrogations. They go on to define rapport, explaining how and why it works by reference to this corpus of data-by far the largest of its kind in the world. ORBIT reveals what this data shows: that rapport-based methods work, and that coercion, persuasion, and threats do not. Outlining the development of their own unique stance on rapport and its influences, the authors demonstrate, through real-life examples and careful analysis, why harsh methods must be rejected and why compassion and understanding work.

The distinctive point of the book is its innovative interdisciplinary approach to business communication, with interconnections between linguistics, sociology, and critical organisational studies as applied to the corporate world. It offers a first-hand insight into primary business discourse with a deeper understanding and analysis of business processes and mechanisms underlying and reflected in enterprise software-mediated communication. It answers the question what 'doing business' in the digital age is about and illustrates 'business discourse' from practitioners' point of view. Grounded in the analysis of empirical data, pertaining both to internal and external business communication, the author reflects on the reality of accelerated and pressurised communication in global IT corporations. Following a communication-centred approach, this monograph puts the topic of enterprise software-mediated business discourse into a multi-layered perspective of how global corporations operate, what their primary goals are, and what kind of (political) power they execute. Moreover, it demonstrates how profit-driven corporations can be viewed and interpreted as strategically acting systems within a specific sociological framework.