Failure to Communicate, by Holly Weeks

Your stomach’s churning; you’re hyperventilating — you’re in a badly deteriorating conversation at work. Such exchanges, which run the gamut from firing subordinates to parrying verbal attacks from colleagues, are so loaded with anger, confusion, and fear that most people handle them poorly: they avoid them, clamp down, or give in.

But dodging issues, appeasing difficult people, and mishandling tough encounters all carry a high price for managers and companies — in the form of damaged relationships, ruined careers, and intensified problems.

In Failure to Communicate, Holly Weeks shows how to master the combat mentality, emotional maelstrom, and confusion that poison difficult conversations. Drawing on her many years as a consultant and coach to leaders and executives, the author explains:

· Why we turn to ineffective tactics when the heat is on

· How to avoid the worst pitfalls of difficult conversations, and how to pull yourself out if you fall in

· Ways to regain your balance and inject respect into stressful conversations, even when you’ve been confronted, infuriated, or wronged

· Strategies for mitigating aggression and defensiveness, and for clearing the fog of misconceptions

· How to get through the hardest conversations with your reputation and relationships intact

Using proven techniques paired with detailed real-life examples, Weeks equips you with the strategies and practices you need to transform even the toughest conversations.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Holly Weeks is an independent consultant and the president of Holly Weeks Communications in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She teaches at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge.

Data Driven, by Thomas Redman

Your company’s data has the potential to add enormous value to every facet of the organization—from marketing and new product development to strategy to financial management. Yet if your company is like most, it’s not using its data to create strategic advantage. Data sits around unused—or incorrect data fouls up operations and decision making.

In Data Driven, Thomas Redman, the “Data Doc,” shows how to leverage and deploy data to sharpen your company’s competitive edge and enhance its profitability. The author reveals:

· The special properties that make data such a powerful asset

· The hidden costs of flawed, outdated, or otherwise poor-quality data

· How to improve data quality for competitive advantage

· Strategies for exploiting your data to make better business decisions

· The many ways to bring data to market

· Ideas for dealing with political struggles over data and concerns about privacy rights

Your company’s data is a key business asset, and you need to manage it aggressively and professionally. Whether you’re a top executive, an aspiring leader, or a product-line manager, this eye-opening book provides the tools and thinking you need to do that.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Thomas C. Redman is President of Navesink Consulting Group and was the first to extend quality principles to data and information. He is the author of Data Quality: The Field Guide, Data Quality for the Information Age, and Data Quality: Management and Technology.