Influencing with Integrity: Management Skills for Communication and Negotiation

"Influencing other people is an integral part of life. Specifically, it exists in all communication between people. This process of communication and influencing is complicated by the fact that the words and phrases we use can have as many definitions as there are people in the interaction. Given our individual experiences and assumptions about the world, we ascribed vastly different meanings to the behaviors, symbols, and events around us. In this sense, we each speak a separate language. And until we can translate the meaning of one person's word into the language of another, we are vulnerable to the well-known snafus of miscommunication and misunderstanding. Developed over the past decade. the author's theory of communication (called the Syntonics model) rests on one of the most important new developments in the study of human behavior, a process known as neurolinguistic programming (NLP). Experts and innovators alike are applauding Dr. Laborde's unique contribution to this field: she has given her readers easy access to a highly sophisticated theory without simplifying or distorting it. Advanced as well as basic concepts and techniques are presented here. Used with regard for other people and their desired outcomes - in a word, with integrity - the mastery of these management tactics will increase your ability to communicate, negotiate, and maximize your verbal and nonverbal impact. Simultaneously, your newly acquired insights minimize any vulnerability to being manipulated. Nowhere in this volume will the reader find trivial, obvious, or 'quick-fix'solutions to management problems. Instead, Influencing with Integrity provides a practical and powerful approach to high-level business affairs. And her approach emphasizes the long-term wisdom of using the syntonic skills to increase people's satisfaction rather than to manipulate them for one's own advantage. Dr. Laborde has demonstrated the value of these techniques in seminars for such corporate clients as ITT, American Express, IBM, and Coca-Cola. Her checklist for organizing and running efficient business meetings is itself worth the price of this book - as are her chapters on sales presentations, negotiations and clarification questions (called the Pointers). Influencing with Integrity is replete with illustrations, tables, and anecdotes that exemplify and elucidate key concepts. This is a book at its best: informative, easily grasped and applied, and not without wit" -- Jacket.