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Summary
Summary
Get your message across the right way with clear communication
Message Not Received provides the tools and techniques that make an effective writer and public speaker. Particularly on topics related to data and technology, effective communication can present a challenge in business settings. This book shows readers how those challenges can be overcome, and how to keep the message from getting lost in the face of mismatched levels of knowledge, various delivery media, and the library of jargon that too often serves as a substitute for real, meaningful language. Coverage includes idea crystallization, the rapidly changing business environment, Kurzweil's law of accelerating change, and our increasing inability to understand what we are saying to each other. Rich with visuals including diagrams, slides, graphs, charts, and infographics, this guide provides accessible information and actionable guidance toward more effectively conveying the message.
Today, few professionals can ignore the tsunami of technology that permeates their lives, advancing far more rapidly that most of us can handle. As a result, too many people think that successful speaking means using buzzwords, jargon, and invented words that sound professional, but don't actually communicate meaning. This book provides a path through the noise, helping readers get their message across succinctly, efficiently, and effectively.
Adapt your approach for more effective communication Learn the critical skill of crystallizing ideas Tailor your style to the method of delivery Ensure that your message is heard, understood, and internalizedIt doesn't matter whether you're pitching to a venture capitalist, explaining daily challenges to a non-tech manager, or speaking to hundreds of people - jargon-filled word salad uses a lot of words to say very little. Better communication requires a different approach, and Message Not Received gives you a roadmap to more effective speaking and writing for any audience or medium.
Author Notes
PHIL SIMON is a frequent keynote speaker and recognized technology authority. He is the award-winning author of six previous management books, including the award-winning The Age of the Platform . While not speaking and writing, he advises organizations on matters related to communication strategy, data, and technology. His contributions have been featured in the Harvard Business Review , CNN, Wired , the New York Times , NBC, CNBC, Inc. magazine, BusinessWeek , The Huffington Post, Forbes, Fast Company , and many other media outlets. He holds degrees from Carnegie Mellon and Cornell University.
Table of Contents
List of Figures and Tables | p. xv |
Preface | p. xvii |
Part I Worlds Are Colliding | |
Introduction: The Intersection of Business, Language, Communication, and Technology | p. 3 |
Subject: The Other Scourge of Business Communication | p. 5 |
Technology and the Cardinal Importance of Business Communication | p. 5 |
What's the Big Whoop? | p. 6 |
From Pencils to WhatsApp: A Little History Lesson | p. 7 |
Book Overview and Outline | p. 8 |
My Communication Bona Fides | p. 17 |
Next | p. 19 |
1 Technology Is Eating the World: The Dizzying Nature of Today's Existence | p. 21 |
Whoops | p. 22 |
Accelerating Technological Change | p. 25 |
The Rise of the Machines | p. 28 |
Trailing the Goldfish: Our Declining Attention Spans | p. 30 |
A Communications Revolution | p. 31 |
The Age of the Entrepreneur | p. 32 |
Disruption Is Cool | p. 34 |
SEO, and the Really Long Tail | p. 35 |
The Sliding Scale of Search | p. 37 |
Google and the Never-Ending Jargon Train | p. 40 |
Marketing Madness | p. 41 |
Mobile Mania | p. 44 |
BYOD | p. 44 |
The Rise of the Tech Celebrity | p. 45 |
A New Body Politic | p. 46 |
Other Trends | p. 47 |
Next | p. 48 |
Notes | p. 48 |
2 The Increasingly Overwhelmed Employee: Is This Becoming the New Normal? | p. 51 |
Mad Men No More | p. 52 |
Abundant Leisure: Keynes Was Wrong | p. 56 |
Drowning in Data | p. 57 |
Demonizing the Tech Companies | p. 59 |
The Limits of Technology's Tentacles | p. 60 |
A Different Kind of Workplace | p. 61 |
Is Being Overwhelmed Even a Choice Anymore? | p. 64 |
Next | p. 69 |
Notes | p. 70 |
Part II Didn't You Get That Memo?: Why We Don't Communicate Good at Work | |
3 What We Say: Examining Words at Work | p. 73 |
Jargon: The Cause of So Much Noise | p. 75 |
Beyond Jargon: Other Communication and language Atrocities | p. 90 |
Next | p. 93 |
Notes | p. 93 |
Appendix to Chapter 3 | p. 95 |
Note | p. 98 |
4 How We Say It: E-Mail Is Dead. Long Live E-Mail! | p. 99 |
A Communications Dynasty: Explaining E-Mail's Impressive Reign | p. 102 |
E-Mail Nation | p. 112 |
How We're Working Isn't Working | p. 114 |
Next | p. 125 |
Notes | p. 125 |
5 Why Bad Communication Is Bad Business: The Unintended Consequences of Mixed and Missed Messages | p. 127 |
One Size Does Not Misfit All | p. 129 |
Message Not Received | p. 130 |
Decreased Clarity, Credibility, and Trust | p. 131 |
Lost Sales | p. 131 |
Severed Relationships and Burnt Bridges | p. 132 |
Poor Execution and Strategic Blunders | p. 135 |
Lower Productivity | p. 137 |
Inefficiency, Waste, and Severed Relationships | p. 138 |
Increased Risk of Project Failure | p. 139 |
Other Long-Term Employee Issues | p. 141 |
Net Effect: A Vicious Cycle | p. 142 |
Next | p. 142 |
Notes | p. 142 |
Part III Message Received | |
6 Don't Call It a Paradigm: Guidelines for Effective Business Communication | p. 145 |
Language | p. 147 |
p. 148 | |
Selecting a Communications Medium | p. 150 |
Handling the Fallout | p. 150 |
Next | p. 151 |
Notes | p. 151 |
7 Words and Context: Building a Solid Communication Foundation | p. 153 |
A Trip Down Memory Lane | p. 154 |
The World of Words | p. 155 |
Communication Context, Awareness, and Technique | p. 165 |
Next | p. 174 |
Notes | p. 175 |
8 Life Beyond E-Mail: How Progressive Organizations Are Using New Tools to Enable More Effective Collaboration and Communication | p. 177 |
Communication and Collaboration Circa 2004 | p. 178 |
The Benefits of Old Tools | p. 181 |
E-Mail Detox | p. 182 |
If Not E-Mail, Then What? | p. 184 |
True Communication and Collaboration in Action | p. 187 |
Slaying the E-Mail Dragon: Klick Health | p. 187 |
Keep Calm and Jive On | p. 198 |
The Internal Social Network | p. 204 |
New Tools: No Guarantees | p. 210 |
Next | p. 211 |
Notes | p. 212 |
Part IV What Now? | |
Coda: Was This Message Received? | p. 215 |
Acknowledgments | p. 219 |
Thank You | p. 221 |
Selected Bibliography | p. 223 |
About the Author | p. 227 |
Index | p. 229 |