Message Not Received – Why Business Communication Is Broken and How to Fix It

<p>List of Figures and Tables xv</p>
<p>Preface xvii</p>
<p>Part I Worlds Are Colliding</p>
<p>Introduction: The Intersection of Business, Language, Communication, and Technology 3</p>
<p>Subject: The Other Scourge of Business Communication 5</p>
<p>Technology and the Cardinal Importance of Business Communication 5</p>
<p>What s the Big Whoop? 6</p>
<p>From Pencils to WhatsApp: A Little History Lesson 7</p>
<p>Book Overview and Outline 8</p>
<p>My Communication Bona Fides 17</p>
<p>Next 19</p>
<p>1 Technology Is Eating the World: The Dizzying Nature of Today s Existence 21</p>
<p>Whoops 22</p>
<p>Accelerating Technological Change 25</p>
<p>The Rise of the Machines 28</p>
<p>Trailing the Goldfish: Our Declining Attention Spans 30</p>
<p>A Communications Revolution 31</p>
<p>The Age of the Entrepreneur 32</p>
<p>Disruption Is Cool 34</p>
<p>SEO, and the Really Long Tail 35</p>
<p>The Sliding Scale of Search 37</p>
<p>Google and the Never–Ending Jargon Train 40</p>
<p>Marketing Madness 41</p>
<p>Mobile Mania 44</p>
<p>BYOD 44</p>
<p>The Rise of the Tech Celebrity 45</p>
<p>A New Body Politic 46</p>
<p>Other Trends 47</p>
<p>Next 48</p>
<p>Notes 48</p>
<p>2 The Increasingly Overwhelmed Employee: Is This Becoming the New Normal? 51</p>
<p>Mad Men No More 52</p>
<p>Abundant Leisure: Keynes Was Wrong 56</p>
<p>Drowning in Data 57</p>
<p>Demonizing the Tech Companies 59</p>
<p>The Limits of Technology s Tentacles 60</p>
<p>A Different Kind of Workplace 61</p>
<p>Is Being Overwhelmed Even a Choice Anymore? 64</p>
<p>Next 69</p>
<p>Notes 70</p>
<p>Part II Didn t You Get That Memo?: Why We Don t Communicate Good at Work</p>
<p>3 What We Say: Examining Words at Work 73</p>
<p>Jargon: The Cause of So Much Noise 75</p>
<p>Beyond Jargon: Other Communication and Language Atrocities 90</p>
<p>Next 93</p>
<p>Notes 93</p>
<p>Appendix to Chapter 3 95</p>
<p>Notes 98</p>
<p>Part III Message Received</p>
<p>4 How We Say It: E–Mail Is Dead. Long Live E–Mail! 99</p>
<p>A Communications Dynasty: Explaining E–Mail s Impressive Reign 102</p>
<p>E–Mail Nation 112</p>
<p>How We re Working Isn t Working 114</p>
<p>Next 125</p>
<p>Notes 125</p>
<p>5 Why Bad Communication Is Bad Business: The Unintended Consequences of Mixed and Missed Messages 127</p>
<p>One Size Does Not Misfit All 129</p>
<p>Message Not Received 130</p>
<p>Decreased Clarity, Credibility, and Trust 131</p>
<p>Lost Sales 131</p>
<p>Severed Relationships and Burnt Bridges 132</p>
<p>Poor Execution and Strategic Blunders 135</p>
<p>Lower Productivity 137</p>
<p>Inefficiency, Waste, and Severed Relationships 138</p>
<p>Increased Risk of Project Failure 139</p>
<p>Other Long–Term Employee Issues 141</p>
<p>Net Effect: A Vicious Cycle 142</p>
<p>Next 142</p>
<p>Notes 142</p>
<p>6 Don t Call It a Paradigm: Guidelines for Effective Business Communication 145</p>
<p>Language 147</p>
<p>E–Mail 148</p>
<p>Selecting a Communications Medium 150</p>
<p>Handling the Fallout 150</p>
<p>Next 151</p>
<p>Notes 151</p>
<p>7 Words and Context: Building a Solid Communication Foundation 153</p>
<p>A Trip Down Memory Lane 154</p>
<p>The World of Words 155</p>
<p>Communication Context, Awareness, and Technique 165</p>
<p>Next 174</p>
<p>Notes 175</p>
<p>8 Life Beyond E–Mail: How Progressive Organizations Are Using New Tools to Enable More Effective Collaboration and Communication 177</p>
<p>Communication and Collaboration Circa 2004 178</p>
<p>The Benefits of Old Tools 181</p>
<p>E–Mail Detox 182</p>
<p>If Not E–Mail, Then What? 184</p>
<p>True Communication and Collaboration in Action 187</p>
<p>Slaying the E–Mail Dragon: Klick Health 187</p>
<p>Keep Calm and Jive On 198</p>
<p>The Internal Social Network 204</p>
<p>New Tools: No Guarantees 210</p>
<p>Next 211</p>
<p>Notes 212</p>
<p>Part IV What Now? <br /><br />Coda: Was This Message Received? 215</p>
<p>Acknowledgments 219</p>
<p>Thank You 221</p>
<p>Selected Bibliography 223</p>
<p>About the Author 227</p>
<p>Index 229</p>