Effective communication will never go out of style. It will outlive the critics, survive shifting trends, and thrive in this tech age. As a professional, entrepreneur, or business leader, you must amplify your communication skills to accelerate your career, grow your business, or sharpen your credibility. As a corporation, you must use purposeful communication to nurture trust, coax employee engagement, boost your reputation, and steer actions to profitability. But how can you get the results you deserve with effective communication and position yourself for long-term success? In this book, you'd find the latest insights on non-verbal communication, public speaking, and business writing to build your knowledge of best practices. Then you'll learn practical techniques for honing these communication skills to influence people and thrive in your arena. Lucille Ossai draws upon recommendations from thought leaders and practitioners in the field: from researchers and authors to communication experts. Written in the author's signature simple, yet authoritative style, the book is enhanced by her experience as a communications trainer, advisor, and blogger. From her anecdotes to interviews with successful professionals, entrepreneurs, and business leaders, you'll discover what to do, what you must avoid in your communication - and how to proceed. This evergreen resource will become your invaluable companion as you strive for excellence in your industry. Snippet of the foreword: This one book takes you through everything you need to know so you can use effective communication to get results. It reveals the newest thinking on communication, alongside tried and tested classic models. Lucille masterfully tackles verbal and nonverbal techniques and generously provides tips for becoming the most influential communicator. She also lists simple strategies for powerful persuasion - not the bare bones to survive, but the practical tools to truly thrive. - Mark Bowden Expert in human behavior and body language President, National Communication Coach Association of Canada

In the course of six years of research and more than fifteen years of field work, Amie Devero has distinguished many of the key characteristics common to the thousands of organizations that maintain better than average results and ethical performance over the long term. What stood out was the degree to which they all use deep-seated core values for their decision-making and management. If you are a leader or a manager, an investor or a student, the tools and practices that are presented here will become indispensible. Powered by Principle not only explains why these types of organizations do so well, but provides a detailed, step by step guide for how to create this kind of dynamic and aligned organization. From the rationale to the exact type of process one should use to measure the expression of core values, every step is outlined here. Along the way, you will also gain knowledge of ways to develop your own thinking and mindset for this profound journey to become Principle-Powered. Regardless of your title, role or tenure, you will find a way to make your organization far better, and to make yourself better along the way.

Synthesizing elements from linguistics, philosophy, and the histories of science and spirituality, Dr. Eggert opens the door to new ways of thinking, perceiving, valuing, inquiring, and acting for leaders of entrepreneurial organizations. She maintains that the mainstream leadership paradigm both opens and closes possibilities for inspired leadership. Today's leaders need an alternative because the dominant leadership paradigm is no longer serving them well. Her book illustrates the contemplative tradition, exemplified by the 14th century mystic Meister Eckhart, and offers a set of fundamental assumptions about organizational life that can serve as precisely the sort of alternative paradigm needed to challenge the current logical-rational paradigm inherited from the Enlightenment. Indeed, by adopting the contemplative style of leadership, management in today's often distraught organizations will find new, more effective ways to approach today's very special, and wicked, organizational problems.

Dr. Eggert explores leadership styles that would arise from the comtemplative paradigm. Her book first considers several classics such as Thomas Kuhn's "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions," Kenneth Boulding's "Images," and Gareth Morgan's "Images of Organizations" that illustrate and explain how our basic set of operating assumptions affect how we think, inquire, value, perceive, and act--highlighting certain aspects and obscuring others in accordance with the reigning paradigm. Alternative paradigms, Eggert argues, offer alternative and additional ways of thinking and acting that bear on today's "wicked problems"--the chronic, unwieldy, malignant tangles that bedevil organizations today. Using the contemplative experience itself as a key metaphor for the contemplative paradigm, the second section of the book uses theologian Matthew Fox's work on medieval German mystic Meister Eckhart to identify and map the underlying assumptions of the contemplative approach to life. The focus then shifts to Contemplative Leadership, the style of leadership that would flow from contemplative assumptions. Eggert's book is fascinating, important reading for people with management responsibilities in today's public and private sector organizations.

Research, design, and development firms are actively recruiting anthropologists and other social scientists, as ethnographic research becomes more central to the creation of appropriate new products, services, and marketing strategies for U.S. and global markets. To be successful designers, professionals must learn new processes, develop training programs, modify communication styles, and share their methods to make their work possible. The current volume is written by social scientists, designers, and entrepreneurs who create new products and services. They provide frank and insightful discussions about the opportunities and challenges facing researchers and designers who are learning to collaborate.

The book highlights several major topics in order to focus on critical aspects of the industry's highly related features. It provides background information about ethnography, decsribes and analyzes the industry, presents case examples of working practices and discusses emerging methodology based on three fundamental kinds of projects (discovery, design, and evaluation). The book suggests ways emerging design professionals can (1) improve their own performance, (2) change the working processes of the industry itself, (3) contribute to basic ethnographic research, and (4) craft training programs for the next generation of professionals.

Seldom does a work on corporate communications take such a radical economic approach to the topic. Horton integrates corporate communications cost-effectively into all business activity and presents a new way to look at corporate communications as a force behind all business disciplines. He describes and reviews external and internal communication; examines human behavior in communicating; reviews corporate communication structure; and analyzes messages and media and shows how to get started toward cost-effective corporate communication.

In 11 chapters, the book presents a look at corporate communications based on economic principles. Separate chapters examine the business environment and communication; corporate communication and strategy and reputation; corporate communication and the individual; corporate communication and messages; corporate communication and media; corporate communication and measurement; and corporate communication and business structure. A major resource for senior managers, strategists, and other communications specialists.

For those of us who live in America who are not filthy rich or poor enough for the government to take care of, we face many challenges. We are a forgotten majority who work every day, pay taxes and honor our flag. We look to the end of our arm to find a helping hand and look for ways to be productive. It often appears that we are the forgotten few of whom no one speaks. It can make a person feel very lonely. In this volume you will find a number of these important issues discussed at length from the perspective of a common working person. Those who would have you believe they have all knowledge can be very blatant, shrill and even obnoxious in their effort to make their position known. This book has turned that around and used the same tactics in an honest effort to show that there is another side to be considered. The author speaks directly and to the point offering many points of personal experiences and circumstances known to all as means to make point and counter point on these subjects. This book could have easily been seventeen books but the author took the position that writing directly and to the point on each subject leaving out all of the usual chatter makes the book more interesting, more readable and much more direct and enjoyable. This book will make you laugh, think, and wonder. The author has a background of many experiences nearly all of which are those of any working person. He was not only a sheep herder, he was a driver and body guard for President Reagan, a business manager truck driver, organized crime investigator, soldier, Realtor and a hundred other things and he designed engineered and built his own home. What is written here is the writers opinion and it will not always agree with the common beliefs and mores of society---A joy to read.

Beat the competition. Go global. Influence government. Persuade customers. Increase shareholder value. These are among the pressures to perform in today's business environment, and the consequences of failure can be dire. Leaders must stay ahead of competitors and deliver results, all while trying to do the right thing by employees, customers, communities, and other stakeholders. Yet the opportunities to cross ethical boundaries are widespread and compelling. What are leaders learning as they face these challenges? Over a dozen of today's most influential leaders--people who grapple with ethical dilemmas on a near-daily basis--share real-world perspectives from the trenches, showing the breadth of ethical challenges facing today's leaders in a variety of industries and professional fields. Leaders on Ethics is a window into the minds of some of our most prominent leaders. It features first-hand presentations by CEOs and other nationally known executives, originally given to their peers during discussion forums at The Southern Institute for Business and Professional Ethics. In addressing subjects ranging from marketing with a conscience to promoting workplace diversity to dealing with the implications of globalization, these leaders provide a wide variety of perspectives on the ethics of leadership. Along the way, they reveal successes and failures and present lessons learned in navigating the tumultuous waters of today's society. The following leaders, among others, share their experiences in facing--and facing down--ethical dilemmas and challenges: *James Copeland, recently retired chairman and CEO of Deloitte & Touche, discusses ethics in public accounting and the uncertain future ofbig accounting firms. *Debra Waller, chairman and CEO of Jockey International, on the ethics of using sexual images to sell apparel to young people. *Jack Ward, chairman and CEO of Russell Corporation, on the challenge of managing workforce diversity. *Deval Patrick, former executive VP, corporate secretary and general counsel of The Coca-Cola Company, former general counsel of Texaco, and now the governor of Massachusetts, on globalization and corporate accountability. *Karen Katen, president of Pfizer Human Health and vice chairman of Pfizer, on ethical issues in the pharmaceutical industry. *Ed Zinbarg, retired chief investment officer and chief administrative officer of Prudential Life Insurance Company, on what businesses can learn about ethics from the world's major religions. *John Wieland, founder and CEO of John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods, on the ethical challenges he encountered in developing an entrepreneurial firm. *Steve Odland, chairman and CEO of The Office Depot and chair of the corporate governance task force of Business Roundtable, on what corporations are learning about best practices in ethical governance. Framed by insightful commentary by ethics and leadership expert John Knapp, this volume illuminates ethical leadership in action, and its timeless principles will serve to inspire and guide aspiring leaders, students, and entrepreneurs for decades to come.

Organizations consist of people with different orientations toward time. Each type of person makes his or her own contribution and has unique limitations. The most effective leaders understand and recognize the differences in the way people feel and think about time and use them in constructive ways. Literally, they have good timing. This book explains the concept of temporal alignment and explores ways to enhance one's skills based on a solid understanding of this important component of leadership. Time matters to leaders. They worry about the past, present, and future, but most lean heavily in one direction, becoming past-, present-, or future-oriented. This bias is associated with strengths that we can effectively use and weaknesses that can hinder us. Different situations require different time orientations. If we are aware of our time orientation or temporal alignment, we can begin to "mind" our time and grow attuned to the appropriate orientation for each situation. This book explains that when leaders develop an understanding of temporal alignment, they can accurately anticipate the alignment required by each circumstance and find ways to behave appropriately--even when the leader's personality does not fit the situation.

A groundbreaking, empowering collection of advice—richly illustrated with the stories of women at top echelons of their fields—that advances the leadership outlook for Generation X and Y women like no book before it. Over the course of a year, Selena Rezvani interviewed women executives in various industries, roles, and job functions, including Jamie McCourt, president of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Denise Incandela, president of Saks Direct at Saks Fifth Avenue, Roxanne Spillett, president and CEO of Boys and Girls Clubs of America, and Naomi Earp, chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The result is The Next Generation of Women Leaders, a penetrating, eye-opening, and ultimately empowering narrative, filled with stories of remarkable women who navigated the leadership maze and triumphed. While the leadership landscape may be shifting in women's favor, women are nowhere near an equal presence in leadership roles when compared to men. Rezvani's achievement was to engage some extraordinarily accomplished women as mentors, each of whom provided tools and information that young women can use to shape their own careers. The Next Generation of Women Leaders encourages younger women to be their own advocates when it comes to professional growth and advancement, and it provides tangible how-tos on negotiating the workplace as a woman.

Planning by civil governments, businesses, and the military services has been considered separately in both theory and practice. Those concerned with each of these applications have had little contact with those in the others, despite the common concerns and characteristics of their respective practices.

A leading figure in the research and education in planning, Branch draws upon his experience in civil, corporate, and military planning to provide a comprehensive guide to the key aspects of planning. This text is invaluable to those engaged in governmental and business planning and to students working toward careers in urban and regional planning, public administration, business management, and other fields concerned with planning.

An absolutely essential survival kit for the lost doctoral candidate! Would you like to shorten your Time to Doctorate by at least ONE whole year? We can help you do it! Follow our step-by-step guide to managing your Ph.D. project as a Pro. The book is packed with practical and easy to apply tips about: How to plan your research and organize your daily tasks How to choose a topic and an adviser How to communicate with your adviser in a win-win style How to complete the doctorate on schedule How to reduce the stress and increase the joy of staying in a graduate school Learn from original examples of successful graduates Learn avoid and cope with potential crises in your doctoral program: Professional crisis Expectation crisis Emotional crisis Survival crisis "International Student" crisis Adviser crisis Each potential crisis is explained and treated to help you avoid it or solve it!

The key to teaching business ethics successfully, says Sims, is to start with clear goals and a sensible expectation of outcomes, and with a true knowledge and appreciation of how people actually learn. Seems obvious enough, he says, but the surprise is that so few understand this. Thus, the teaching of business ethics is often an unproductive, frustrating exercise in futility. Sims hopes to change that. Proceeding with the conviction that open communications between teacher and student before, during, and after the teaching experience is vital, Sims identifies key teaching processes, gives practical advice on designing and planning the curriculum, and offers guidance on how to develop a climate conducive to effective learning. He highlights the importance of creating a classroom climate that encourages open dialogue, good moral conversation, and conversational learning. And throughout he emphasizes that learning styles and experiential learning theory are cornerstones of teaching business ethics, thus taking an approach unlike any in the literature. An important guide for those who are new to teaching this essential subject, Sims' book will also be helpful for more experienced teachers who are wondering why their own methods do not always work, or do not work as well as they believe they should. Sims identifies important processes that must be managed if business ethics is to be taught and learned successfully--processes such as creating stakeholder commitment to the goals, purposes, and outcomes of the teaching effort, and curriculum design and planning that are attuned to individual differences in learning styles, motivation, and values. Also included in Sims' processes are thedevelopment of individual school outcomes, and expectations, and the assessment procedures that can measure them. He discusses the importance of incorporating debriefing into an experiential learning exercise or discussion, and goes on to give an in-depth discussion of the pedagogical approaches that allow teachers to teach the practical and theoretical components of the subject simultaneously. Well illustrated with examples, such as an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and a way to institutionalize outcomes assessment by means of total quality management, Sims' book returns constantly to his major theme: that to teach business ethics effectively the teacher must first create a climate of trust and sharing within and between students, and between students and teacher, and that the teacher must have a concrete way to measure the impact of the teaching effort's results.

The American University of Avezzano, Italy, must create a curriculum that promotes physical education. Its geographic location makes it an ideal place to help a variety of people of different nationalities. If done correctly, a focus of this kind would establish an American school of physical education, health, recreation, camping, and outdoor activity, thus improving quality of life for both students and the community in general. In this scholarly work, author Aspr Surd provides insights on strategy and organizational structure based on comparative physical education programs; details on the functions studied and how administrators at American schools integrate physical education into curriculums; information from surveys of American colleges and universities in the East and Midwest that provide strategies on how to organize such a campus. By studying innovation in an array of curriculums, schools throughout Italy can change their daily routines and help their students. Studying the forms and methods implemented in the creation of a new school points to urgent needs and compelling opportunities both inside and outside centers of learning.

Offering a theoretically coherent and integrated introduction, the book examines how communication (symbolic activity) occurs in a range of contexts from individual perception and thought to interpersonal and public situations. It provides solid theoretical grounding for understanding the centrality of communication, integrating research on gender throughout so that it is understood as a primary screen on communicative behavior. The first section provides theoretical grounding by applying the symbolic interactionist orientation to theory, language, situations, nonverbal behavior, and listening. In the text, symbolic interactionist theory explains how selfhood arises in communication with others and how individuals' communicative interactions create and sustain their interpersonal relationships. The final section applies a symbolic interactionist perspective to communication in group, public, and interview settings.

Drawing on research in the areas of business organization, information technology, and information economics this book develops an empirical basis for integrating the three fields. It investigates information technology management based on the theoretical foundations of information economics, examines the chief information officer phenomenon and identifies the factors that lead organizations to create such a position, and analyzes organizational and managerial motivations leading to investment in information technology. Karake concludes that the way information technology is managed and the magnitude of investment in such technology depends on the organization ownership structure, that the ownership structure is a determinant of the degree of control information managers exercise, and that there is a significant relationship between the size and composition of boards of directors and the management of and investment in information technology.

This study will be of interest to students, researchers, and practitioners of information technology management and information technology performance.

Reflections is a collection of my writings through the years in defense of and support for Affirmative Action in the construction industry. It documents a struggle for economic justice that began on July 23, 1969 when Chicago community groups assembled to demand equal participation in local federal construction projects. As these programs became successful, resistance rose at a rapid clip. Who would have thought that our quest for economic justice would eventually reach the Supreme Court as a battle against "reverse discrimination?" Who would have believed that the "affirmative action" programs that integrated an exclusive white workforce, and provided new opportunities for Black firms would be challenged so vigorously that the term would not even be used by the 2008 presidential candidates? We share our experiences for others seeking change by providing examples of how Black businesses can address community problems, including educating elected officials and holding them accountable. It was though my membership in Parren Mitchell's (Maryland's first Black congressman-1971), Black Business Braintrust, that the first national legislation requiring mandatory Minority Business Enterprise MBE] utilization was forged. This book emphasizes four main areas of concern: Affirmative Action as a tool to break the pattern of exclusion by construction trade unions and apprenticeship programs. To demonstrate that local organizations with dedicated leaders can combat discrimination and create positive change that reverberates nationally. To expand the Black tradesmen workforce as a vehicle for increasing Black subcontractor numbers and developing substantial Black general contractors. The development of viable black construction firms: UBM, Inc., which I co-founded in 1974, was by 2004, the largest Black general contractor in the state of Illinois. My firm accomplished everything I sought to prove as a black business by creating the capacity to apply positive solutions to problems besieging our community.

Robert Kiyosaki's new book uses the lessons from the past and a brutal assessment of the present to prepare readers to see - and seize - the future. Like it or not, we are all involved in the greatest evolutionary event in human history. The Industrial Age is over and the Information Age continues to accelerate. The visible agents of change have become invisible...and harder to see. And the future belongs to those who can train their minds, use the past to see the future, and take the steps to create the positive change they want to see in their lives. Second Chance is a guide to understanding how the past will shape the future and how you can use Information Age tools and insights to create a fresh start. This book is a guide to facing head-on the dangers of the crises around us - and steps and tips for seizing the opportunities they present.

Drawing from decades of research, teaching, and consulting in the fields of marketing and strategy, the author demystifies the forces of market chaos, including technological change, globalization, and consumer behavior, showing readers how to identify those forces that can be turned to their competitive advantage. Featuring dozens of illustrative examples, of both winners and losers, and concluding each chapter with a series of questions designed to help readers apply the book's principles in their own organizations, Samli demonstrates how to detect changes in market conditions early, uncover latent customer needs, create new products and services, and maintain a competitive edge. There is no doubt that the business environment has become increasingly unpredictable. Yesterday's market leaders become tomorrow's has-beens; upstarts take on established giants; customers flock to new technologies while demanding old-fashioned customer service; and, of course, the Internet and the forces of globalization are accelerating the pace of change. Learning how to survive—and thrive—in this environment is of utmost importance for any company that intends to stick around. Drawing from decades of research, teaching, and consulting in the fields of marketing and strategy, the author demystifies these chaotic forces, identifying the pressures on business that create uncertainty, but also the potential for innovation for those who recognize opportunities to strengthen their competitive position. Featuring dozens of illustrative examples of both winners and losers, Samli shows readers how to turn market chaos and uncertainty to their advantage. Concluding each chapter with a series of questions designed to help readers apply the book's principles in their own organizations, Samli demonstrates how to detect changes in market conditions early, uncover latent customer needs, create new products and services, and maintain a competitive edge.

Oller and Giardetti provide a simple, comprehensive, and fully consistent theory to explain why some messages and images communicate more effectively than others -- and then show specialists in advertising, marketing, and high stake communications how to apply the theory in their work. With examples and illustrations that practitioners and academics alike will find understandable, they provide readers with a solid grounding in semiotics, the study of how meanings are constructed and construed in signs. In doing so Oller and Giardetti help high stakes communicators find new ways to reach and persuade others -- but speak against deceit and subterfuge. They make clear that messages must be consistent with the facts, and that the most successful communicators share one special trait: integrity. A readable, research-based, up-to-date treatment of an important emerging field of study, and a carefully developed guide for practitioners and academics alike.

"Images That Work" is about emotions, desires, ideas, and the hard objects, events, and tensional relations in the common world of space and time. It is about creating and presenting words and pictures in ways that communicate genuine substance from real people to other real people. Oller and Giardetti begin with the foundations of integrity, the glory of supreme effort, and the weaknesses of fads, fashions, and untested gut feelings. They draw examples from high stakes messages in advertising, entertainment, and other communications industries. In doing so they make clear that not only are effective messages consistent with material facts, they are also comprehensive in how they convey facts and yet concise and simple enough to fit into the time and space that consumers will devote to the message. And along the way they give readers a solid grounding in the fascinating and relatively new field of semiotics, a field that has already become well established in the academic community and which has begun to spread its influence to the world outside.

The following is a work dealing with the international aspects of corporate governance (CG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Specifically, the impact of an overemphasized shareholder value construct in the privatization process in Germany on the examples of Deutsche Telekom AG and Deutsche Post AG.

Using the words of its own people, this intriguing book provides an in-depth look at the incredibly successful airline that changed the rules of the game with a no-frills business model and innovative corporate culture. Southwest Airlines turns in-depth interviews with the company's leaders, managers, employees, and passengers into a powerful case study of this highly successful, game-changing business. Ranging from the early days of the company to the present, the book covers the history of the airline and its founders, while also detailing the unique corporate culture that attracts employees and passengers alike. Throughout its history, Southwest has championed a culture that puts employees first, creating a productive workforce by hiring for "attitude before aptitude" (because skills can be taught) and allowing employees to be themselves at work. The founders' philosophies of "servant leadership" and a "fun-LUVing" attitude continue to attract employees and influence the company's daily work today. In detailing the airline's inner workings in the words of its own people, this book shows other companies how they can emulate Southwest's powerful business model and strategies, as well as its hiring practices and corporate culture.