Pages: 10

This chapter examines the divergence between the substance and structure of contemporary business and professional communications instruction and the actual strategies and tools professionals need to perform as effective communicators and to gain opportunity for advancement. Rather than a focus on basic mechanics and standardized formats that serve as the foundation of modern curricula—to get ahead in business, professionals require practical skills and capabilities that reflect lessons only learned through extensive senior management experience. Professionals need to be prepared to isolate the unique dimensions of each communication assignment through disciplined analysis, deliberate tailoring of responses, and preparation of persuasive presentations.

Pages: 15

This chapter examines how to decipher and address the full complexity of communication assignments given to senior professionals and managers. As professionals rise within the ranks of their respective corporations, assignments become increasingly more complex while being accompanied by decreasing amounts of guidance. Assignments that involve resolution of competing interests among the management or choices that must be made among less-than-ideal solutions demand a purposefully-crafted methodology. By identifying and prioritizing all the pertinent constraints that bound the assignment as well as a thorough appreciation of the causal and influencing factors that define management's expectations, professionals can formulate responses that are both strategic and pragmatic, effectively addressing the core objectives of their directives.

Pages: 16

This chapter examines the challenges that come with navigating difficult assignments that are increasingly beyond your areas of technical expertise and extend beyond your immediate chain of command. Negotiating assignments of broad corporate significance that place you in the spotlight of colleagues and management rely on the ability to conduct your analysis and shape your response based on thorough knowledge of the logic of the company's organizational structure, its approach to information sharing and decision-making, and the mechanisms it employs to standardize operations and performance. These factors are critical in determining who is affected by your work, what aspects might concern them, and the appropriate means of delivering precisely and exclusively the detail each organization needs.

Pages: 18

This chapter examines the factors that contribute to developing an individual style that makes your communications notable and memorable. Giving a sustained and recognized voice to your work is accomplished through versatility and precision of language, purposeful punctuation, and an application of a small repertoire of stylistic devices to create emphasis and rhythm. It is also achieved by deliberate alignment of your presentation's form, substance, and pace of information delivery with the audience's expectations. Adding a personally identifiable voice to your writing and speech is what transforms good ideas into quotable expressions of thoughts.

Pages: 17

This chapter examines the principal criteria that differentiate successful graphic or statistical displays from ones that provide sophisticated artwork or design but fail to persuasively communicate the desired message. By examining visualizations designed to depict what has happened, why it happened, and what needs to be done, basic assessment criteria are derived that can be used to assess the adequacy of the analytic design: Whether the overarching message has been precisely articulated; appropriate and sufficient supporting evidence has been presented and effectively displayed; the presentation avoids distractions; and the information design maximizes clarity, comprehension, and retention.

Pages: 16

This chapter reviews one of the most common communication errors committed by professionals: Not knowing when a report, a presentation, a meeting, or a conversation needs to end. Thoughts and opinions are routinely solicited by management from individuals whose communications, in length and duration, are commensurate with a subject's urgency and importance. In contrast, failing to recognize it is time to conclude an interaction can result in being perceived as pretentious or dismissive of the interests of the attending parties. Whether in writing, informal conversations, or in formal presentations, maintaining a positive reputation means knowing how to self-monitor to ensure you’re staying on point; minimizing extraneous information; avoiding doting on the obvious; not overwriting your purpose; and—most importantly—knowing when and how to wrap things up.

Pages: 16

This chapter explores the ways in which people arrive at decisions. Mistaking logic for reasoning often leads professionals to an overly narrow focus on finding individual fallacies and to reaching incorrect assumptions about whether a line of argument is or is not persuasive (or proven). To ensure an appropriate perspective when evaluating arguments requires insight into effective strategies for structuring information. Visualizing all elements of an argument (not only its claim, but also the explicit and implicit components underpinning the claim) provides the necessary perspective from which to assess an argument's strengths and weaknesses and to determine how most effectively to strengthen or challenge the thinking.

Pages: 17

This chapter applies the lessons provided throughout this book to the specific context of a personalized job application. To successfully pursue new assignments and corporate promotions, one must artfully apply several key concepts: Completely analyzing the assignment, tailoring language and information, employing effective visualization of information, and structuring a persuasive argument. Using these techniques and strategies can create a letter of application that speaks directly to the interests of the hiring agency, can provide the basis for designing a resume that highlights and amplifies your strengths and readiness to assume the new responsibilities, and can form the substance of a study guide that will ensure your best possible performance during the job interview.