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Category: Book (Page 1 of 9)

10 hints to write clearly (free ebook)

05/04/2023 /

HC3010536Diplomats, like many other professionals, have to write many different types of documents. Whatever the type — legislation, a technical report, minutes, a press release or speech — a clear document will be more effective, and more easily and quickly understood.

The European Commission (Directorate-General for Translation) has published a few years ago a simple guide titled with many useful and practical hints (not rules) on “how to write clearly“.

Here are the 10 hints included in the publication:
1. Think before you write
2. Focus on the reader
3. Get your document into shape
4. KISS:Keep It Short and Simple
5. Make sense
6. Cut out excess nouns
7. Be concrete, not abstract
8. Prefer active verbs to passive
9. Beware of false friends, jargon and abbreviations
10. Revise and check

The guide is available in all 23 official languages of the European Union.
You can find the online version here  (choose the preferred language)

How to say NO

25/05/2022 /

How can I do that without risking to demotivate my team, especially now, at a time when we are all managing continuous change?

How can I say ‘no’ to my team mates, colleagues from other teams, sometimes even my direct manager, and keep a good professional relationship in place?

This free book provides useful tips for such an important part of assertive communication and of the process of building trust. The books helps you looking at how we can say ‘no’ in a way that allows us to build better relationships with others, and how this is helpful in building long-term successful teams.

Image Source: Pixabay – Geralt

Web 2.0 and Social Media

25/11/2020 /

Web 2.0 applications and social media have provided new venues for businesses to inform, understand and connect with their customers. This free book provides a general understanding of using blogs, podcasts, live streaming, wikis, social buzz, social media, and more to enable businesses to rethink their approach and leverage new digital media’s advantages.

Theoretical concepts such as RSS feeds and practical examples such as constructing a WordPress blog are covered in detail. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Reddit, Tumblr, Pinterest, Klout, and others are examined from a business perspective.

Social MediaImage source: Flickr – mkhmarketing  (CC BY 2.0)

Og Mandino’s 10 Simple Scrolls to be successful

15/04/2020 /

Augustine “Og” Mandino was a man who lived a very interesting life. He is best known for his bestselling book “The Greatest Salesman in the World” one of the classics of self-help.

The book is not a manual to become a top salesperson, but rather an inspiring tool to motivate yourself to be successful.

Mandino’s 10 scroll principles are easy and life-changing:

Scroll 1 – Today I begin a new life.
Scroll 2 –  I will greet this day with love in my heart.
Scroll 3 –  I will persist until I succeed.
Scroll 4 –  I am nature’s greatest miracle.
Scroll 5 –  I will live this day as if it is my last.
Scroll 6 – Today I will be master of my emotions.
Scroll 7 –  I will laugh at the world. (Keep perspective)
Scroll 8 –  Today I will multiply my value a hundredfold.
Scroll 9 –  I will act now, I will act now, I will act now.
Scroll 10 –  I will pray for guidance.

The full text of the book is available at Archive.org

Og Mandino's 10 Simple Scrolls to be successful

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What Emotional Intelligence Really Is

18/03/2020 /

“The emotionally intelligent person knows that they will only ever be mentally healthy in a few areas and at certain moments, but is committed to fathoming their inadequacies and warning others of them in good time, with apology and charm.”

– Alain de Botton

The more we are open to changing and adapting to live in a multitude of contests, the more emotionally mature we are. But that doesn’t come easy. Not even close.

Emotional intelligence seems to be all the hype today, one of the most saught-after soft skills by employers. Emotional intelligence though is something we should all pursue not to sound cool at our next job interview, but to travel the obstacle-ridden path that is called life.

The good news? It can be learned.

Even more good news? Alain de Botton has published “The School of Life: An Emotional Education” to teach you how.

 

emotional intelligence

Image: Pixabay (CC0 – Creative Commons)

Stress measurement in less than one minute

26/02/2020 /

In this manual based on the writings of professor Richard S. Lazarus, the authors present the development of the Emotional Stress Reaction Questionnaire (ESRQ). With this tool, psychological stress can be measured in less than one minute.

The first part of the book presents the development of the ESRQ, its theoretical foundation and psychometric properties. The second part illustrates how the instrument can be used in personal coaching focusing on stress management.

Read the full book here!

Image: Pixabay – geralt (CC Creative Commons)

The Bus Metaphor

22/01/2020 /

The right people in the right seats on the bus: this is the metaphor from the first Jim Collins best-seller ‘Good to Great’. In that book – published in 2001 – the author identifies what leaders need to do, in order to see their teams and organizations excel. And he uses the power of an image to communicate the following concept.

According to Collins, leaders who are able to transform their organizations begin not by setting a direction, but by getting the right people on the bus – and the wrong people off the bus.

Actually great leaders understand the following three simple truths:

1. If you begin with “who,” rather than “what”, you can more easily adapt to a changing world.

2. If you have the right people on the bus, the problem of how to motivate and manage people largely goes away, because they will be self-motivated by the inner drive to produce the best results and to be part of creating something great.

3. If you have the wrong people, it doesn’t matter whether you discover the right direction; you still won’t have a great company.

Assembling the team is the first crucial point. Then a leader has to develop a vision (the direction of the bus), to remove obstacles to high performance (that is, maybe people are not exactly in the right seats and need to be assigned to the right role) and to help people with diverse talents and interests building trust in each other.

It is an hard work, but leaders need it to accomplish objectives with the right people.

The right people in the right seats on the bus

Image source: Flickr

15 Best Books to improve your leadership

23/10/2019 /

In an article  published on Lifehack, Joe Vennare identifies some 15 best books especially would-be leaders need to read to define leadership and how to apply it, to communicate and motivate teamwork, and to keep going on.

According to John Coleman, ‘broad reading habits are often a defining characteristic of our greatest leaders’. Reading has shown to lead many benefits in leadership development.  It improves communication, emotional intelligence and organizational effectiveness and reduces stress.

Nowadays business people seems to be reading less. Sometimes because they are not sufficiently convinced of the importance of reading. In other cases because they don’t know what they should read or  they think they don’t have the time.

 

Image source: Pixabay (CC0)

The Power of Less

06/03/2019 /

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by all that you have to accomplish, all the deadlines, responsibilities?

Do you ever wonder how on earth you can juggle it all, obtain good (if not excellent) results, while still remaining sane?

Well, here is the simple answer: you just can’t.

It is important to learn how to prioritise our tasks and identify small steps that can help us to reach our goals in a progressive way. Only by doing so will we be able to be productive and stress-free at the same time.

In his book “The Power of Less”, Leo Babauta talks about how to find what is truly important to you and how to pursue it successfully in order to lead a satisfying life.

Here is a quick (only 4 minutes!) summary of the book: Four Minutes Books – The Power of Less

And here is the book for those of you who wish to read all of it: The Power of Less

Improve your English speaking

23/01/2019 /

The free e-book I Still Can’t Speak English by Jason West, downloadable at bookboon.com can finally help you to learn to speak English quickly by curating your own free and hugely effective social learning and social media English course.

From the Introduction of the book: “If you have studied English for some time; if you have taken lots of different classes, studied using lots of different course books, listened to lots of audio and still do not feel confident when you speak English (but desperately want to); this ebook is for you.”

 

 

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