Make Yourself Clear

Make Yourself Clear

by Dr. Reshan Richards, Dr. Stephen J. Valentine
Released May 2019
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9781119558590

Read it now on the O’Reilly learning platform with a 10-day free trial.

O’Reilly members get unlimited access to books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial

Book description

How can you communicate effectively and create meaningful interactions in an increasingly digital world? By teaching.

In Make Yourself Clear, educational experts and entrepreneurs Reshan Richards and Stephen J. Valentine explain the many parallels between teaching and business and offer companies, both large and small, concrete advice for building the teaching capacity of their salespeople, leaders, service professionals, and trainers.

The rise of digital communications has led to three emergent, often problematic, forces: automation, an increase in the speed and volume of information transfer, and an unmet need for people to feel more than satisfied in their interpersonal transactions, particularly between sellers and consumers. 

Through a mix of research, anecdotes, case studies, and theoretical speculation, this book equips readers to build understanding within their current and future audiences by leveraging the tools, methods, and mindsets used by successful teachers. You will be equipped to understand others better, and in turn, to be better understood.

Make Yourself Clear is not prescriptive, nor does it suggest rigid steps, pillars, or frameworks. Instead, it provides immediately recognizable and relatable context, suggesting actions that can be tried, measured, tested, and iterated upon in any communication context that involves the exchange of information and ideas.

  • Ground your business communications in proven techniques
  • Profit from expert instruction given by those who have helped thousands of readers and workshop students
  • Develop your sales career by applying effective teaching practices to customer and colleague interactions
  • For educators, adopt the latest best practices into your teaching style

Backed by thorough research and extensive real-world testing, Make Yourself Clear opens a door to more productive communication and more effective interactions. It offers compelling and relevant insights to longtime fans of the work of Richards and Valentine and newcomers alike, leading to real and lasting benefits.

Table of contents

  1. COVER
  2. FOREWORD
  3. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  4. ABOUT THE AUTHORS
  5. INTRODUCTION: WORKING AT THE INTERSECTION OF TEACHING AND BUSINESS
    1. Learning (for a New) Now
    2. From Business and Teaching to Business Is Teaching
    3. Make Yourself Clear
  6. PART 1: AUTHENTICITY
    1. 1 Pursuing Win‐Win‐Win Scenarios
      1. Add Yourself to the Situation
      2. Bust Up Bias to Build Understanding
      3. Win‐Win‐Win
    2. 2 Recovering Human Judgment
      1. Slow Down to Make Room for Learning
    3. 3 Recovering Choice in Human Interactions
      1. Move As the Line Moves
      2. Grow the Potatoes
    4. 4 Adjusting to Hear and Be Heard
      1. Close the Communication Loop
      2. Deliver Your Message
      3. Seek Full Enrollment
      4. Calibrate for the Familiar
    5. 5 Respecting the Game
    6. MAKE YOURSELF CLEAR WITH AUTHENTICITY
  7. PART 2: IMMEDIACY
    1. NOTE
    2. 6 Leveraging Momentum and Context
      1. Interrupt Interruptions
      2. Adjust for Others
    3. 7 Generating Immediacy for Others
    4. 8 Rebuilding Teaching around Immediacy
      1. Think Like the Best Teachers
      2. Ask More of the Student
      3. Make It Messier
    5. 9 Rebuilding Training around Immediacy
      1. Train People to Be Immediate
      2. Make Room for More Learning
    6. 10 Communicating with Immediacy
      1. Train Systems to Be Immediate
      2. Ignore Immediacy at Your Own Peril
      3. Communicate in Immediate Environments
      4. Manage Crises Born of Immediacy
    7. 11 Selling with Immediacy
      1. Use Feedback to Extend Your Platform
    8. 12 Getting Immediacy Right
    9. MAKE YOURSELF CLEAR WITH IMMEDIACY
  8. PART 3: DELIGHT
    1. 13 Identifying the Conditions for Delight
      1. Begin Again with Immediacy and Authenticity
      2. Identify Those Who Are Bored or on Autopilot, Frustrated or Fearful
    2. 14 Offering Choice
      1. Choose Your (or Their) Own Adventure
      2. Mimic the Real World
    3. 15 The Power of Engagement
      1. Deepen Their Experience
      2. Choose the Uncommon Way Forward
    4. 16 Novelty Is Not Your Friend
      1. Remember This Formula: Novelty + Neutrality = Not Okay
      2. Follow Resnick's Roadmap
    5. 17 Boredom Is Not Your Enemy
      1. Search for Meaning and Help Others Find It
      2. Remember This Formula: Novelty + Trajectory = Okay
    6. 18 The Unit of Delight
      1. Add Dimensions of Delight
      2. Offer the Private Plane, Not the Bus
      3. Creep alongside Your Mission
    7. 19 After Delight
      1. Work toward Good Homework
      2. Plan for Retrieval and Personal Relevance: Part 1
      3. Plan for Retrieval and Personal Relevance: Part 2
    8. 20 An Invitation
    9. MAKE YOURSELF CLEAR WITH DELIGHT
  9. CONCLUSION: CLOSING THE CLASS
    1. Think Like a Teacher
    2. Make Yourself Clear
    3. Teach
  10. AFTERWORD: HOW WE DESIGNED THIS READING EXPERIENCE
    1. Scholarly Practices
    2. Educational Research Practices
    3. Primary Roles
    4. Paths
    5. Instructor Evaluation
  11. REFERENCES
  12. INDEX
  13. END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

Product information

  • Title: Make Yourself Clear
  • Author(s): Dr. Reshan Richards, Dr. Stephen J. Valentine
  • Release date: May 2019
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781119558590