Harvard Business Review - Successful Writing and Speaking: The Communication Collection (9 Books)

Successful Writing and Speaking: Communication Collection

Nancy Duarte
Bryan A. Garner
Jeff Weiss
Antony Jay
Holly Weeks

Harvard Business Review Press
Boston, MA

ISBN-13: 978-1-63369-195-7

HBRs 10 Must Reads series is the definitive collection of ideas and best practices for aspiring and experienced leaders alike. These books offer essential reading selected from the pages of Harvard Business Review on topics critical to the success of every manager.

Titles include:

HBRs 10 Must Reads on Change Management

HBRs 10 Must Reads on Collaboration

HBRs 10 Must Reads on Communication

HBRs 10 Must Reads on Innovation

HBRs 10 Must Reads on Leadership

HBRs 10 Must Reads on Making Smart Decisions

HBRs 10 Must Reads on Managing People

HBRs 10 Must Reads on Managing Yourself

HBRs 10 Must Reads on Strategic Marketing

HBRs 10 Must Reads on Strategy

HBRs 10 Must Reads on Teams

HBRs 10 Must Reads: The Essentials

On
Communication

HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW PRESS

Boston, Massachusetts

Find more digital content or join the discussion on www.hbr.org.

Copyright 2013 Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation

All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior permission of the publisher. Requests for permission should be directed to , or mailed to Permissions, Harvard Business School Publishing, 60 Harvard Way, Boston, Massachusetts 02163.

The web addresses referenced in this book were live and correct at the time of the books publication but may be subject to change.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

HBRs 10 must reads on communication.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-4221-8986-3 (alk. paper)

1. Business communication. 2. Communication in management. 3. Interpersonal communication. I. Harvard business review. II. Title: HBRs ten must reads on communication. III. Title: Harvard business reviews 10 must reads on communication.

HF5718.H34 2013

658.45dc23

2012037908

ISBN: 9781422189863

eISBN: 9781422191514

Contents

Gary A. Williams and Robert B. Miller

Robert B. Cialdini

Deborah Tannen

Jay A. Conger

Leslie Perlow and Stephanie Williams

Nick Morgan

Stephen Denning

Kimberly D. Elsbach

John Hamm

Holly Weeks

Change the Way You Persuade

by Gary A. Williams and Robert B. Miller

ITS HAPPENED TO YOU BEFORE . You call a meeting to try to convince your boss and peers that your company needs to make an important movefor instance, funding a risky but promising venture. Your argument is impassioned, your logic unassailable, your data bulletproof. Two weeks later, though, you learn that your brilliant proposal has been tabled. What went wrong?

All too often, people make the mistake of focusing too much on the content of their argument and not enough on how they deliver that message. Indeed, far too many decisions go the wrong way because information is presented ineffectively. In our experience, people can vastly improve their chances of having their proposals succeed by determining who the chief decision maker is among the executives they are trying to persuade and then tailoring their arguments to that business leaders decision-making style.

Specifically, we have found that executives typically fall into one of five decision-making categories: Charismatics can be initially exuberant about a new idea or proposal but will yield a final decision based on a balanced set of information. Thinkers can exhibit contradictory points of view within a single meeting and need to cautiously work through all the options before coming to a decision. Skeptics remain highly suspicious of data that dont fit with their worldview and make decisions based on their gut feelings. Followers make decisions based on how other trusted executives, or they themselves, have made similar decisions in the past. And controllers focus on the pure facts and analytics of a decision because of their own fears and uncertainties.

The five styles span a wide range of behaviors and characteristics. Controllers, for instance, have a strong aversion to risk; charismatics tend to seek it out. Despite such differences, people frequently use a one-size-fits-all approach when trying to convince their bosses, peers, and staff. They argue their case to a thinker the same way they would to a skeptic. Instead, managers should tailor their presentations to the executives they are trying to persuade, using the right buzzwords to deliver the appropriate information in the most effective sequence and format. After all, Bill Gates does not make decisions in the same way that Larry Ellison does. And knowing that can make a huge difference.

Executives make it to the senior level largely because they are effective decision makers. Learning mostly from experience, they build a set of criteria that guides them. Each decision is influenced by both reason and emotion, but the weight given to each of these elements during the decision-making process can vary widely depending on the person.

In a two-year project, we studied the decision-making styles of more than 1,600 executives across a wide range of industries. Our work focused on how those people made purchasing decisions, but we contend that the results have broader applicability to decision making in general. We interviewed participants about various facets of their decision-making processes. For instance, how strong was their desire to have others educate them about the issues involved in a particular decision? How willing were they to move beyond the status quo? How much risk were they comfortable with in making the decision? These characteristics and preferences are often set early in a businesspersons career and evolve based on experience. In other words, people have a natural tendency toward a certain style of decision making that gets reinforced through successesor that changes after repeated failures.

Idea in Brief

You call a meeting to try to convince your boss that your company needs to make an important move. Your argument is impassioned, your logic unassailable, your data bulletproof. Two weeks later, though, you learn that your brilliant proposal has been tabled. What went wrong? Its likely the proposal wasnt appropriately geared toward your bosss decision-making style, say consultants Gary Williams and Robert Miller. Over the course of several years research, the authors have found that executives have a default style of decision making developed early in their careers. That style is reinforced through repeated successes or changed after several failures. Typically, the authors say, executives fall into one of five categories of decision-making styles: Charismatics are intrigued by new ideas, but experience has taught them to make decisions based on balanced information, not just on emotions. Thinkers are risk-averse and need as much data as possible before coming to decisions. Skeptics are suspicious of data that dont fit their worldview and, thus, make decisions based on their gut feelings. Followers make decisions based on how other trusted executives, or they themselves, have made similar decisions in the past. And controllers focus on the facts and analytics of decisions because of their own fears and uncertainties. But most business presentations arent designed to acknowledge these different stylesto their detriment. In this article, the authors describe the various subtleties of the five decision-making styles and how best to persuade executives from each group. Knowing executives preferences for hearing or seeing certain types of information at specific stages in their decision-making process can substantially improve your ability to tip the outcome in your favor, the authors conclude.