Showing results by publisher "Brilliance Audio" in Communication & Social Skills

Listening might seem like the easiest thing in the world to do. But most people retain only a fraction of what they hear, resulting in miscommunications and lost opportunities. When you actively listen, you learn to gather perspectives, bridge differences, and resolve problems. Absorbing what a person is saying, thinking, and feeling sets the stage for dramatically improved relationships and increased professional success.

Having leverage—in the form of intelligence, charm, beauty, money, status, or insider knowledge—often gives you an advantage in an interaction. When it doesn’t, or when you don’t have any, people often turn to tricks and schemes that run the risk of damaging personal relationships. In The Upper Hand human behavioral scientist and sought-after speaker, advisor, and coach Dr. Abbie Maroño shows you how to influence people and situations in your favor with skill and integrity—and without the need for leverage or coercion.

Whether it’s a manipulative boss, a controlling partner, or a toxic friend or roommate, chances are you’ve encountered mind games in your relationships. The 13 Power Moves of Dark Psychology will help you decode gaslighting and deception by reading body language, recognizing behavior patterns, and understanding the methodology of individuals who employ dark psychology—or subtle techniques meant to manipulate and control you in harmful ways.

We've decided by consensus that consensus is good. In In Defense of Troublemakers, psychologist Charlan Nemeth argues that this principle is completely wrong: left unchallenged, the majority opinion is often biased, unoriginal, or false. It leads planes and markets to crash, causes juries to convict innocent people, and can quite literally make people think blue is green. In the name of comity, we embrace stupidity. We can make better decisions by embracing dissent. Dissent forces us to question the status quo, consider more information, and engage in creative decision-making.

Every day at work, people do three things: talk, listen, and pretend to listen. That's not surprising when you consider that the average attention span has dropped to 8 seconds. To break through, says high-stakes communications expert Paul Hellman, you need to focus on your audience, be slightly different, and deliver with finesse.

When it comes to treatment for depression, we have been getting it all wrong. Instead of focusing on just the biochemistry, we need to focus on the importance of relationships. Feeling Better offers a step-by-step guide using a research-proven approach called interpersonal psychotherapy, or IPT, which can help you deal with the issues that may be contributing to your unhappiness. You’ll learn to identify and engage with allies and supporters, deal with difficult people, and, if need be, walk away from harmful relationships.

In our increasingly interconnected world, effective communication is the formula for success in any industry. Whether you’re speaking in public, writing an email, or navigating an important negotiation, how you present yourself through language is all-important in today's global business world. In How to Communicate Effectively with Anyone, Anywhere, two New York University professors reveal a new approach to global communication across key performance areas, including effective emailing, public speaking, and negotiation.

The allure of Southern women is undeniable. Men are captivated by them, other women are mystified. Even the South's most treacherous enemy, General William Sherman, fell victim to the fluttery charms of a Georgia belle and loved her to the end of his life. So, what does a Southern woman have that other women do not possess?

Have you ever heard yourself or someone else say: "Some of my best friends are...(Black, White, Asian, etc.)"? or "I don't think of you as...(Gay, Disabled, Jewish, etc.)"? or "I don't see color, I'm colorblind"? These statements and dozens like them can build a divide between us and the people we interact with. Though well-intended, they often widen the diversity gap sometimes causing irreparable harm personally and professionally.

It really is true: What you say and how you say it speaks volumes about your professional promise and leadership potential. Whether it's giving an impromptu sales pitch or keynoting a major business conference, public speaking can make you or break you.

We live in a world that's very different from the one in which Emily Post came of age. Many of us who are nice (but who also sometimes say "f*ck") are frequently at a loss for guidelines about how to be a good person who deals effectively with the onslaught of rudeness we all encounter. To lead us through this this miasma of modern manners, syndicated columnist Amy Alkon - The Advice Goddess - gives us a new set of manners for our 21st-century lives.

In today's fast-paced, unstable workplace achieving success requires speaking up, promoting oneself and one's ideas, and taking initiative. Extroverts, fearless in tooting their own horns, naturally thrive in this environment, but introverts often stumble. If you question your ability to perform and succeed in this extroverted work culture, The Introvert's Complete Career Guide is custom fit for you. In this supportive, all-inclusive handbook, Jane Finkle demonstrates how to use your introverted qualities to their best advantage.

In a good negotiation, everybody walks away a winner. Drawing on her nearly two decades of experience negotiating multimillion-dollar agreements with the most savvy people in sports, Molly Fletcher provides the strategies and tactics business professionals need to find common ground, strengthen relationships, and close more deals.

Emotional intelligence, more than IQ and technical know-how, gives a valuable competitive edge to organizations and is crucial to the success of individuals. Used to its full advantage, you can learn to improve relationships to achieve your desired outcomes, perform better in interviews and develop your decision making on a day-to-day basis.

Technology has transformed the way we communicate. We send and receive more and more emails every day. We text. We tweet. We have reduced our communications down to efficient sound bites - and at the same time, many of us seem to know less and less about how to connect. Deeply, profoundly connect.

Women are steadily showing up in powerful positions, and better communication and public speaking give women the ability to develop their full potential, seize every opportunity, and realize their aspirations. Whether pitching for new business, delivering a talk at a conference, raising money for a non-profit, or communicating one-on-one with coworkers, women can become effective, powerful communicators when they learn to speak with authenticity and confidence.

When it comes to negotiation, there is an ugly double standard. As women, if we make concessions to further a deal, we're viewed as weak. But if we play hardball, we can be seen as overly aggressive - and the strategy backfires. No wonder most women hate negotiating.

Emotional intelligence (EI) has been called “advanced common sense” and is proven to be a far better predictor of success than IQ. And unlike cognitive function, your emotional capacities are flexible, adaptable, and highly expandable. Filled with inspir­ing stories from companies who have tapped into the power of EI, along with profiles of people facing real-world dilemmas and easy-to-implement action plans, The Other Kind of Smart opens your eyes to crucial, yet often ignored, life lessons.

Whether it's at home or at work, so much of our lives involves negotiating to get what we want. From negotiating a higher salary, to lowering costs from suppliers, to hammering out a new contract with a major customer, or even deciding where to go on vacation, the only way to consistently arrive at successful conclusions is to master the art of negotiation.

Whatever happened to journalism? When did American news media go from the respected, trusted purveyor of truth to anything but? How did we go from the “Glory Days of Television News” to today’s growing distrust and derision of “the media?” Is the Internet our only journalistic hope? Can we remake the media into a meaningful part of the check-and-balances system fundamental to the democratic principles on which this country was founded?