The Art of Plain Speaking : How to Write and Speak in a Way That Will Impress the People That Matter

This is a guide for anyone who wants to connect better with people in the workplace by speaking clearly and with purpose. It is a result of five years at Charlie Corbett’s consultancy, Bullfinch Media, where he helped convince executives that speaking plainly, thoughtfully, and behaving with humanity, is the best way to win business, boost morale and advance careers. It provides carefully detailed wisdom on how to write well, speak publicly and stand out in your job, as well as how to craft compelling communications, make the best of social media and handle the press. The Art of Plain Speaking aims to improve the experience faced by many in the modern workplace, a world where senior management are entirely absent from the shop floor – replaced by indecipherable emails from HR – and where people speak in esoteric corporate riddles, believing that sounding clever is more productive than speaking clearly. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents Preface Acknowledgments Introduction 1. How to come up with good ideas 1. Read 2. Talk to people 3. Rest 4. Do some exercise 5. Create your own ideas factory Summary Notes 2. How to write well Back to basics: sentence construction Some general advice on writing well How to structure your articles Some writers of great prose Summary Notes 3. How to write a headline Different types of headlines Summary Notes 4. How to keep the grammar police at bay Stick to the basics Here are a few grammatical rules to ignore and rules to obey (in no particular order) Some definitions of common grammatical terms Summary Note 5. How to create compelling corporate communications Making yourself heard amid the communications din Be yourself Creating and reinforcing core messages How to write and design a corporate website that achieves its objectives A bit about house style and tone of voice Advice on pitches and presentations Dealing with pre-pitch anxiety How not to write external communications Summary Notes 6. How to stand out in your job Written communications Your personal brand Getting noticed A note on leadership Coping with other people: office personality types Some other workplace advice Summary Notes 7. How to speak well in public A few tips on speaking style Speaking on a panel Dealing with nerves Stage fright Summary 8. How to make the best use of social media How to behave on social media Creating an everyday social media strategy for business Summary 9. How to make the press work for you Print and online media: the basics Speaking to reporters: don’t get caught out How to conduct broadcast interviews Disaster recovery Twitter storms How to survive a Twitter storm Building relationships Summary Notes 10. Words to avoid if you want to speak or write with clarity The corporate register of absurd platitudes Appendix Index Why read this book? Because in the digital age, where we are daily inundated with useless information, those people who can use language and stories to differentiate themselves will thrive. Personal and corporate brands must be built on 'authenticity'. And there is no better way to be authentic than to speak and write plainly. In our cynical twitter age, the day of the slick ad man has passed. Every person in every company - no matter what their job - must be able to articulate clear messages in a way that will attract the attention of people and keep them reading, watching or listening. We're all journalists now. So why not get an ex journalist to teach you how it's done? This book covers everything from how to come up with good ideas, how to write engaging copy with eye-catching headlines, how to speak elegantly in public, how to survive and thrive on social media, and how to get your message across effectively to clients, potential clients and the press. The author argues that effective communication does not require a degree in English or a lifetime working in the media. You do not need to be an expert in grammar or sentence construction to write and speak well. You merely need to find simple ways to come up with original ideas, and then be able to articulate those ideas in a way that is clear and meaningful. The Art of Plain Speaking teaches you how to do this in a simple step-by-step way After more than a decade working as an editor and journalist, Charlie Corbett took his first, tentative steps into the corporate world in 2012. And was appalled by what he found there: a confusing and nonsensical place, where common sense and basic humanity had been replaced by jargon, dehumanising language and soulless dictates from faceless rule-makers. A world where senior management was entirely absent from the shop floor - replaced by indecipherable emails from HR - and where people spoke in esoteric corporate riddles, believing that sounding clever was more productive than speaking clearly and with purpose. He found people spent more time defending their personal fiefdoms, or massaging their careers, than helping to build a successful business alongside their peers. This book is a result of five years at Charlie's consultancy, Bullfinch Media, where he helped convince executives that speaking plainly, thoughtfully, and behaving with humanity, is the best way to win business, boost morale and advance careers. This is a step-by-step guidebook to surviving and thriving in the modern work place: from how to write well, speak publicly and stand out in your job, to crafting compelling communications, making the best of social media and handling the press. -- Provided by publisher