101 Tips for Improving Your

Business Communication
101 Tips for Improving Your
Business Communication

Edward Barr
101 Tips for Improving Your Business Communication

Copyright © Business Expert Press, LLC, 2021.

Cover design by Charlene Kronstedt

Interior design by Exeter Premedia Services Private Ltd., Chennai, India

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other
except for brief quotations, not to exceed 400 words, without the prior
permission of the publisher.

First published in 2021 by

Business Expert Press, LLC
222 East 46th Street, New York, NY 10017
www.businessexpertpress.com

ISBN-13: 978-1-95334-998-9 (paperback)

ISBN-13: 978-1-95334-999-6 (e-book)

Business Expert Press Corporate Communication Collection

Collection ISSN: 2156-8162 (print)

Collection ISSN: 2156-8170 (electronic)

First edition: 2021

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
 Description
This book contains business communication information that may not
have been taught in college, information that has been accumulated over
years of business experience and teaching. Anyone can read these brief
tips to learn how to better communicate in business while saving the time
that might have been invested in reading many books.
The tips cover the fundamental areas of writing, speaking, and inter-
personal c­ ommunication, as well as offer general business communica-
tion advice. Each tip is a practical application that can be implemented
immediately. Each tip is also illustrated by a story from the author’s work
life in various industries. Lastly, the book also lays a foundation for an
understanding of how the brain influences all communication.

Keywords
business communication; audience; BLUF; body language; brain;
­customer; differentiation; eye contact; gestures; emotional intelligence;
networks; novelty; PowerPoint; posture; props; question; quote;
­simplicity; statistic; story; speaking; writing; you
 Contents
Preface��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ix
Acknowledgments�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������xi
How to Use This Book��������������������������������������������������������������������������xiii
Introduction����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� xv

Part I The Brain��������������������������������������������������������������������� 1

Part II Business Communication Tips for Success����������������� 11

Section 1 General Business Communication����������������������������������13
Section 2 Writing���������������������������������������������������������������������������91
Section 3 Presenting and Speaking�����������������������������������������������163
Section 4 Interpersonal Business Communication������������������������195

Conclusion�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������239
Bibliography���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������241
About the Author��������������������������������������������������������������������������������243
Index�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������245
 Preface
You hold in your hands the book of Communication Tips I wish some-
one had given to me before I began my career in marketing and business
communication.
I knew the fundamentals of speaking and writing from my college
courses and thought I was pretty good at both. When I began my career
as a teacher, I had plenty of experience presenting before middle school
audiences trying to attract and keep their attention (not an easy task with
12-year-olds). But, when I transitioned into business and began reading
books about business communication, I found few practical tips to help
me succeed every day in front of critical business audiences.
Now, after a long and successful career as a businessperson and
teacher, I decided to list tips to help those who need to know the wisdom
that isn’t found in business textbooks or taught in classes. You can buy
plenty of books with many details about all of the topics I have surveyed
in this book, especially writing and speaking. If you need deep levels of
detail and theory, I can direct you to them, including some major college
textbooks. But, if you’re looking for advice that you can use immediately
to improve your communication in business and improve your stature as
a communicator, you have found the right book.
I worked for 30 years as a marketing, communication, and fund
development professional, including service as Chief Marketing Officer
at iCarnegie, a Carnegie Mellon University firm, as a Vice President of
Marketing in a statewide hospital system, and as a Director of Corporate
Communications for a video startup. In addition, I have taught Profes-
sional Writing, Marketing, and Business Communication at Carnegie
Mellon University for 25 years (and taught Negotiation, Strategy, and
Entrepreneurism on occasion). For my efforts, I won the Heinz College
“Faculty Excellence Award” in 2006, and I was named “Distinguished
Educator” in 2011 by the Pittsburgh chapter of the American Marketing
Association. I have taught in England, The Netherlands, India, China,
Mexico, Panama, Australia, Kazakhstan, and all over the United States,
x Preface

and, lastly, I have served as a consultant to local, national, and inter-

national companies, including Cinepolis, Cognizant, and a variety of
smaller firms and political campaigns. In other words, I have earned my
stripes by having to create messages that would attract the attention of
diverse audiences and move those audiences to action.
 Acknowledgments
For my wife, Holly Welty-Barr, who makes the good things in my life
­possible and who lent me unending support and invaluable advice in
writing this book. Also, to Scott Isenberg who believed in this book and
Debbie DuFrene, an outstanding editor who reviewed the book and
made many suggestions for its improvement. I thank you.
 How to Use This Book
You can read a few tips per week over the course of the year and you
will improve your business communication. You can read tips related to
specific topics in writing, speaking, or general business communication.
If you’re preparing for a presentation in your staff meeting, you can read
just the tips that deal with presenting. If you are preparing a major pre-
sentation to executives or an international audience of peers, you can find
helpful tips about that.
In many ways, this is a book about common business sense. For
instance, when you are making a presentation to executives, you must
prepare to answer every question an executive might ask before she
can ask you. You’ll never be happier than on the day that you deliver a
presentation to executives and they have no questions to ask. It means
you were thinking deeply and strategically, just the way they want you
to act. It means you have understood the audience, the first rule of
communication.
Enjoy reading the book. It aggregates knowledge I have learned
after 50 years of business and teaching. I know it will improve your
­communication game.
 Introduction
Do you REALLY want to be promoted? If you do, I have the key for you.
Communicate better.
Sure, you expect me to say that, right. After all, I teach commu-
nication at one of the best universities in the world and I have taught
communication for some of the best corporations on the planet. But,
it’s true. Plenty of business news stories make the case for communica-
tion skills as a way to promotion. Download and read this article from
“The Bloomberg Recruiter Report: Job Skills Companies Want But Can’t
Get.”1 The report makes skillful use of quadrants. In the upper right
quadrant under “Less Common, More Desired,” you will find “Strategic
Thinking, Creative Problem-Solving, Leadership Skills, and, you guessed
it, Communication Skills.”
The Bloomberg Report also says, “Business schools are supposed to
produce graduates who have the abilities companies need most. But, cor-
porate recruiters say some highly sought-after skills are in short ­supply
among newly minted MBAs.” Bloomberg surveyed 1,320 recruiters
and 600 businesses to arrive at their conclusions. But, they didn’t have
to prove it to me. For years, I’ve seen the sad news. For instance, the
New York Times wrote two articles: “What Corporate America Can’t
Build: A Sentence”2 and “Literacy Falls Among College Graduates.” Yes,
literacy, the ability to read and write, falls for college grads.
So, what does this have to do with your promotion? Everything! If
you can communicate, you will differentiate yourself. You will possess
a skill in great demand. You will stand above the MBAs who have great
quant skills but weak writing and speaking skills. You will face a job mar-
ket that can’t find the skills you have. You will be fought over. Recruiters
will fall at your feet.

1
 https://bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-job-skills-report/
2
 https://nytimes.com/2004/12/07/business/what-corporate-america-cant-
build-a-sentence.html
xvi Introduction

Employers want communicators! Recruiters shared with the Wall

Street  Journal the attributes they were seeking in job candidates.
In the article titled “How to Get Hired,”3 recruiters in the survey cited
“­Communication and interpersonal skills” (89 percent) as the most
sought after student attribute. It was followed by “Ability to work well
in a team,” (87 percent) “Personal ethics and integrity,” (85 percent) and
“Analytical and problem solving skills” (84 percent).
A report from ExecuSearch titled “The 5 Top Skills Employers are
Looking for in 2020,” listed “communication,”4 and specifically says,
“Regardless of position, level or industry your ability to communicate
with others can define your success . . .”
Another article, entitled “This is the most in demand skill of the
future,”5 in INC. magazine in 2019 says, “In the AI abundant world
of tomorrow, where technology will do much of the heavy lifting, the
ability to deliver compassion and empathy . . . will become much more
valuable . . . Also, soft skills represent the top three missing skills of job
­applicants, according to the Society of Human Resource Management’s
‘2019 State of the Workplace.’”6 These and other business-related articles
tell you that you will move faster on your path to the best jobs through
powerful communication.

3
 https://wsj.com/articles/SB109577501492723498
4
 https://blog.execu-search.com/top-skills-employers-are-looking-for-2020/
5
 https://inc.com/ryan-jenkins/this-is-most-in-demand-skill-of-future.html
6
 https://shrm.org/about-shrm/Documents/SHRM%20State%20of%20
­Workplace_Bridging%20the%20Talent%20Gap.pdf
 Part I

The Brain
To best understand communication, you need some rudimentary
­knowledge of how the brain works. I do not claim to be an expert on
brain function, just someone who has continued to be fascinated by the
small bits I learn from the books of renowned neuroscientists and assorted
others including neuromarketing experts. I take that knowledge and fit it
inside the context we all inhabit. This is the context.

1. EVERYONE IS OVERWHELMED WITH INFORMATION

We get too many e-mails, tweets, text messages, blog posts, cata-
logues, newsletters, radio commercials, TV spots, popups, banner
ads, billboards, and so on.
We can hardly deal with the onslaught. Each of these mediums
presents us with numerous issues. Consider continuous partial atten-
tion; we cannot focus on one task and complete it. Instead, we try
to juggle five or six things at the same time, maybe more. We read
our e-mail, work on our report, talk on the phone, and check our
­Facebook posts at nearly the same time. I say “nearly” because sci-
ence has proven that no one can pay attention to more than one
thing at a time. We can’t truly focus on two things simultaneously.
Forget texting and driving; you either text or drive.
2. HOW BAD ARE THINGS?
We have a very short attention span, 8 seconds and shrinking. That
is compared to a goldfish with a 9-second attention span. Atten-
tion has become the gold standard. If you can capture attention,
you have a chance of getting your message through. I say you have
a chance (you’ll learn the challenges you face later on). On top of
that, if your message does not dominate that short attention span,
it may get rejected.
2 101 Tips for Improving Your Business Communication

A web developer in Omaha, Nebraska, Andrew Fisher, auctioned

on eBay the use of his forehead as advertising space. He sold the rights
to a company that owned a product “SnoreStop” and for a month’s
display, Andrew earned $37,375. Not bad for a month’s work.
We see Andrew’s forehead and we see a message. We visit the
men’s room and we see messages above the urinals. (I can’t speak to
the ladies rooms but I’m guessing they have messages too.) We see
body art (tattoos) on many people. We see little polo players on the
clothes of the cool people who wear Ralph Lauren clothing, as well as
many other product and company names and logos, FUBU, Tommy,
DKNY, Sean Jean, and so on. And that does not begin to consider
the bombardment of billboards, posters, radio, and television ads we
encounter on a daily basis.
3. WE CAN’T DEAL WITH IT ALL
Then there are the 55,000 text messages sent every second. And
3  million e-mails are sent every second. And the 5,700 tweets are
sent every second. And then, there are blog posts, and so on. Every
political campaign sends at least one e-mail every day, probably three
or four on other days.
Data never sleeps. It just keeps rolling in, ever flowing. I admit,
I’m adding to it herewith. But I’m trying to help you with the
insights I have gained from neuroscientists so that you can actually
reduce your messaging by getting it right the first time.
4. WORKERS ARE CONTINUOUSLY INTERRUPTED
We try to focus, but our e-mail pings. Then someone stops by our
cube to ask a question or BS. Our phone buzzes with texts. A cus-
tomer calls with a question. The interruptions never end. We lose
much of our day trying to re-focus, which scientists indicate takes
15 minutes to 30 minutes. In the process, we either ignore or forget
most of the messages sent at us.
We have much more distraction than communication, and we
grow more and more frustrated because our messages don’t work,
our products don’t sell, and our companies fail.
5. UNDERSTAND THE BRAIN AND COMMUNICATE
­EFFECTIVELY!
According to many scientists, we have learned more about the
human brain in the past decade than we ever knew. EEG and fMRI,
 The Brain 3

especially, have given us much information about how that 3-pound

tool at the top of our heads works.
6. IT ONLY WEIGHS THREE POUNDS
But, it does amazing calculations and functions, including keeping
our hearts beating and keeping us breathing! The brain can perform
200 million billion calculations with its 80–100 billion neurons and
its 1.1 TRILLION cells. Pretty amazing, right?! Its neurons fire any-
where from five to fifty times per second. The brain has more wiring
than the world’s biggest supercomputer, 200,000 miles of “wiring!”
7. YOUR BRAIN WEIGHS LITTLE BUT CONSUMES MUCH
OK, so it’s only a little guy, weighing a measly three pounds. The
brain makes up for its small size by consuming as much as 20–25
percent of the oxygen and glucose you consume. Who said thinking
wasn’t hard work? Now you know why you need a nap at the office
at midday!
8. IT DOES MOST OF ITS WORK NON-CONSCIOUSLY!
And, you don’t even know it. Your brain helps regulate your body
temperature. It regulates your heartbeat. It helps you breathe. Yes,
your brain does those things while you’re busy thinking you control
the world. Yes, we think we consciously control things. But, we take
in 11 million bits of information per second (mostly through our
eyes) and we only process 40–50 bits of it. That means, 99.99 percent
of our brain function is non-conscious.
We will purchase more beef if the sign tell us “75% lean ground
beef ” than if it says, “25% fat ground beef,” although both are iden-
tical. We don’t rationalize this. We decide non-consciously. Why,
because of a technique called “framing” largely unconscious to us.
We will buy more German wine when German music is playing in
the liquor store.
If you and others enter a room with a backpack on the floor,
you are likely to be more cooperative; however, if money is on the
floor, you will be more competitive. If you are exposed to an Apple
logo, you are likely to be more creative than if you are exposed to
an IBM logo. Hey, maybe we should have Apple logo wallpaper
at work! If you are holding a warm cup of coffee and are asked to
evaluate a stranger, you will evaluate that person more positively
(warmer).
4 101 Tips for Improving Your Business Communication

… today brain scientists are slowly displacing the conscious mind with
the nonconscious mind as the center of human mental activity. This
shift is as important, and as profound, as the shift, in astronomy, from
the earth-centered to the sun-centered solar system
—Genco, Pohlmann, Steidl1

Wow! That is saying something! We are using our non-conscious

brains to get around in this world. We think we use consciousness
but many studies show us otherwise.
9. WHAT WAS LIFE LIKE 100,000 YEARS AGO?
Things were rough, to say the least when we lived in caves. The men
woke up hungry and ready to hunt. This was the age of eat or be
eaten. Humans had a slight disadvantage—they were smaller, slower,
and weaker than most animals. Every kind of animal out there was
interested in a nice warm human dinner. But, we had developed
thumbs, good hand movements, and developed tools, as in weapons.
We stood upright to see the competition better and we developed
perspective. Our trachea elongated and we were able to make sounds
that allowed us to communicate. These advancements helped us to
survive and thrive.
10. WOMEN’S LIVES WERE EQUALLY CHALLENGING
Women woke to the cries of their children and their hunger. Together
with the other women, they stayed close to home looking for roots
and fruit, as well as water. They cared for the sick and came to rely on
each other. They built social networks, became masters of empathy
and learned quickly to interpret body language and facial expres-
sions. Women internalized the notion of community, knowing that
if ostracized, they might perish, along with their children.
11. OUR PREFRONTAL CORTEX ALLOWED US TO PLAN
One hundred thousand years ago, we were “thinking”—where shall
we plant, hunt, bury our relatives? We drew cave paintings, switched
tasks, practiced rituals, and experienced emotions. We used our
“executive function,” our thinking brain, that is, “thinking” in the
way we usually define it as conscious activity.

1
  Genco, S.J., A.P. Pohlmann, and P. Steidl. 2013. Neuromarketing for Dummies,
21. Canada: John Wiley and Sons.
 The Brain 5

12. OUR BRAINS FUNCTION MUCH THE SAME TODAY

We wake hungry and aggressive. Instead of battling wild beasts,
we battle traffic and the person in the next cubicle who wants
our job. We function with the same “Triune Brain” (three-part).
So, what is this three-part brain? Scientists refer to it as the
“­
Lizard-Limbic-Neocortex Brain,” as well as the “Hindbrain-
Midbrain-Forebrain.” You may have heard it described as “Sur-
vival Brain-Emotional Brain-Thinking Brain.” This name also
suits it well: “Mammalian Paleo-mammalian Neo-mammalian.”
Regardless of which nomenclature you prefer, they all describe
the same thing.
13. REMEMBER HOW THE THREE-PART BRAIN EVOLVED
The lizard brain guided humans, just as it guided lizards, through the
dangers of the world. When it encounters something new and unu-
sual, it asks some very basic questions: Should I kill it, eat it, mate
with it, or run? As the emotional brain evolved, it added to the lizard
brain memory and feelings about the important stuff it encountered.
The thinking brain allowed us, unlike the animals, to use memo-
ries to build plans and societies. But, most of the three-part brain’s
functions were (and are) being carried out non-consciously. Why?
To keep us alive!
14. WHY ARE SCIENTISTS DISPLACING THE CONSCIOUS
MIND?
Imagine that you are a centipede. You’ve got these hundred legs and
you suddenly must consciously decide how to place one in front of
the other for a quick walk down a leaf. That’d be pretty troubling,
wouldn’t it? Leg 1, leg 2, leg 3, leg 5. No wait. Leg 4. Oh crap!
Or, imagine you are a human being and you must continually, con-
sciously regulate your heart beat, lung action, respiration, and blood
pressure. Controlling all those functions consciously, you’d never get
anything else done!
15. OUR CONSCIOUS MINDS LET US REMEMBER THE PAST,
LEARN FROM IT AND PREPARE FOR THE FUTURE
That’s challenging enough. So, we rely on our non-conscious
minds using “gut feelings,” doing things the “down and dirty”
way and using the power, as Malcolm Gladwell called it, of the
“blink.”
6 101 Tips for Improving Your Business Communication

16. WE ARE NOT MR. SPOCKS

What comes to mind when you think of Dr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy
of Star Trek fame)? Spock retrieves and evaluates information,
right? He processes it quickly and dispassionately, like a computer.
He makes choices based on logic, created from his thinking brain.
He doesn’t change his behavior or thinking unless he is given new
information. He’s a data wonk. We like to believe we are all Spocks,
of lesser but similar skill. We think that we “think about” things,
that we use our thinking brain to make decisions. Sure, we do to
some extent. We might have used conscious deliberation when learn-
ing to ride a bicycle, but after we learned, we committed it to our
non-conscious to process ever after. Try riding your bike today and
consciously thinking about balance! We committed the riding skill
to “System 1.”
17. ARE YOU OPERATING ON SYSTEM 1 OR SYSTEM 2?
Well, actually you are both. Daniel Kahneman popularized these sys-
tems and won awards in the process. When you use System 1 think-
ing, it is fast, automatic, effortless, associative, emotional, intuitive,
and inaccessible to conscious awareness. When you use System 2
thinking, it is slow, controlled, effortful, rules governed, neutral,
deliberate, analytical, and accessible.
18. MOST OF US CHANNEL Dr. McCoy
Dr. McCoy, unlike Spock, is a System 1 guy. He uses his instinct
combined with previous experience and emotional cues. He doesn’t
always get his facts right and he does most things out of habit. If he
were a buyer, he’d buy things spontaneously because they “felt right.”
He would buy emotionally and justify rationally. If you wanted
to sell him something, you’d use repetition, positive themes, and
images. On the other hand, if you want to sell Spock, you’d use “the
facts, just the facts, ma’am.”
19. YOUR BRAIN IS A COGNITIVE MISER AND IS SYSTEM 1
ORIENTED
Your brain wants to keep you alive. You should thank it regularly!
To keep you alive, it needs to conserve its energy, save the power for
your lizard brain, the place where some of your best instincts reside.
Remember, your lizard brain is responding autonomously to the
 The Brain 7

questions: should I kill it, eat it, mate with it, or run? Pretty basic,
yes, but critical, especially when you lived in a cave. It isn’t what we
call “thinking.” We consider “thinking” a totally conscious action.
20. YOUR LIZARD BRAIN IS SCANNING FOR THREATS
­CONSTANTLY, MANY TIMES PER SECOND
You’ve experienced this, unfortunately non-consciously, when you
walk through a dark parking lot at night or a dark room in your
own house. Your lizard brain works full time, scanning for some-
thing unknown and possibly dangerous. Messages do not go to your
thinking brain (neocortex) unless immediate action is needed.
21. YOUR LIZARD BRAIN RESPONDS TO NOVELTY
Here’s a scenario: Driving along on autopilot, out of the corner of
your eye you see a car coming up fast off your left bumper and the
son of a frog cuts you off. The image moves through your eye to your
retina, which sends a signal to your occipital lobe (vision center). The
signal passes to your thalamus and on to your amygdala. Your amyg-
dala assesses the signal, which also goes to your cortex. The amyg-
dala blocks your slow thinking and sets up a response. Your brain
releases norepinephrine and your body automatically prepares for
fight or flight. Major muscles groups are ready to act. Your pituitary
gland is prompted to release the stress hormone epinephrine, which
increases your heart rate and dilates your pupils. Blood flows to your
large muscle groups. Your lungs dilate, too. Cortisol suppresses your
immune system to reduce inflammation from any potential wounds.
Your salivation decreases because this isn’t the time for food. Your
amygdala is working overtime—you’ve experienced amygdala hijack.
You are emotional. Your fear and anger are aroused. Your limbic and
endocrine systems are activated. You are not “thinking!” (And, this is
simply a result of being cut off by another driver. Imagine if someone
shoved a pistol in your face!)
22. YOU DIDN’T REACT MUCH DIFFERENTLY THAN A
­MONKEY
Forget about driving a car. If you walk through the woods and you
spot a curved shape on the ground at your feet, the same thing hap-
pens, as in the car driving scenario. The shape goes to your occipital
lobe from your retina then on to the thalamus and hippocampus
8 101 Tips for Improving Your Business Communication

for evaluation, on to the amygdala and then flash to your prefrontal

cortex that will, perhaps, tell you, after you have felt your heart rate
and blood pressure rise, that the object is a stick, not a snake. Guess
what: the same process occurs in a monkey.
23. BUT WE HAVE A BIGGER PREFRONTAL CORTEX (PFC)
We might all be monkeys except for our PFC. This gives us the dis-
tinct advantage when it comes to “executive functions”: planning
and goal setting. But still, we act before we think. Researchers have
found that we become consciously aware of our intention to act
300 milliseconds after the relevant areas of our brain become active.
Then 200 milliseconds later, we act. When we think we have made a
decision consciously, we tend to “post-rationalize,” that is, we invent
the reasons why we did things. We must remember these things
when we send messages.
Let’s look at this 3-pound masterpiece and wonder of the known
universe (in a greatly simplified view).

TWO HEMISPHERES: The right receives most inputs from the left
side of the body and vice versa. It is good at pattern recognition and
holistic thinking. The left receives inputs mostly from the right and
specializes in language and rule-based reasoning.

THE FOUR LOBES: I know; it sounds like a singing group. But,

these help you to understand the map of the two hemispheres: the
frontal lobe (Gee, I wonder where that is), the parietal lobe (straight
back from the central sulcus (fissure)), the occipital lobe at the back,
and the temporal lobe between the parietal and the occipital. (Don’t
worry; there won’t be a test on this.)

PREFRONTAL CORTEX: This part, situated in the front part of

your brain, sets goals, makes plans, directs voluntary actions, and
executes.

ANTERIOR CINGULATE CORTEX: This part steadies your

attention and monitors your plans.

CORPUS CALLOSUM: This passes information between your

brain’s hemispheres.
 The Brain 9

THALAMUS: This is the brain’s switchboard. Messages are sent

through it.

HYPOTHALAMUS: This controls your temperature and other

functions to keep you in balance. Master of the master gland,
the pituitary gland, this is the place where endorphins and stress
­hormones are located.

HIPPOCAMPUS: This has to do with the creation of memory and

detection of threats, receiving inputs from the neocortex.

AMYGDALA: This also serves as a memory organ but it focuses

on emotional processing. It interacts with the prefrontal cortex to
generate emotions related to anger, happiness, sadness, surprise, and
mostly fear. When you respond out of sheer terror, your amygdala
has the top spot, functioning as your alarm system! Clang! Clang!
Clang!

CEREBELLUM: This controls your complex motor coordination.

MID-BRAIN, PONS, AND MEDULLA: These transition between

the brain and the spinal cord. These control respiration and heart
rhythm, among other vital things.

24. NEURONS COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER

Together neurons make most of our actions happen. They func-
tion as our “on-off switches.” Each neuron has dendrites that receive
information and axons that carry information to them. At the end of
the axon, a gap exists between it and the dendrites. That gap is called
a synapse. Across that gap travels excitation or inhibition signals.
25. NEUROTRANSMITTERS CLOSE THE GAPS!
We have many neurotransmitters but a few are worth a cursory and
simplistic mention. These include:

• SEROTONIN: This regulates mood, sleep, and digestion.

• DOPAMINE: This regulates reward and attention and is
often called the “feel good” transmitter for its relationship to
that aura we feel when we’ve exercised or eaten a big chunk
of chocolate.
10 101 Tips for Improving Your Business Communication

• NOREPINEPHRINE: This transmitter alerts and arouses,

among other things.
• ACETYLCHOLINE: This controls wakefulness, among
other things.

Neuropeptides play important roles. You will recognize the

names of some of these:

• OPIODS: They buffer stress, soothe, and produce pleasure.

• OXYCOTIN: This is the “love” chemical. It’s related to
­nurturing, bliss, trust, and connection.
• VASOPRESSIN: This promotes pair bonding (but may
promote aggression in men).
• CORTISOL: This is released by the adrenal glands during
stress. It has stimulating effects on the amygdala.
• ESTROGEN: This affects your libido, mood, and memory.

26. YOUR NEURONS ARE YOUR ACTIONS

You will pay attention to a message depending on your brain and the
neurons within it. The electrochemical reactions make us who we
are and what we do. To communicate well, you need a basic under-
standing of the brain, its design, its functions, and the chemicals it
releases.
When you understand the brain you will be better able to under-
stand all forms of communication, including how to grab someone’s
attention, how and why to connect with them emotionally, how and
why to create a connection and network, how to create a pitch, how
to influence your colleagues, and many other important aspects of
communication. We will look at them here in a little more detail.
 Index
Accomplishments, 153 face-to-face, 201–202
Acetylcholine, 10 precise, 80–81
Active voice, 130–132 team, 237–238
Aggregating, 224, 225 virtual, 187–188
American Sign Language, 173 workplace, 82–83
Amygdala, 9 Communicators, 224–225
Analogy, 55–57 Conditional language, 58–60
Anchoring, 231–232 Conflict, 235–236
Answering, 61–62 Conversation, 210–212
Anterior cingulate cortex, 8 Corpus callosum, 8
Appearance, 164 Cortisol, 10
Aronson, Elliot, 132 Cover letter, 148–150, 155–156
Articles, 115–118 Credibility, 163–165
Attire, 82 Crisis, 203–206
Audience, 13–16 Culture, 219–221
attention, 25–26 Curse of Knowledge, 75–77
benefits to, 17–18 Customers, connecting with,
communicators and, 224–225 104–106
responding to, 184–185 Customer service, 207–209
Authority, 49–50
Departure, 83
Bad boss, 222–223 Differentiation, 96–99
BLUF Method, 23–24 Direct language, 221
Board on Administration, Regulation Distraction, 36–38
and Finance (BARF), 53–54 Document design, 140–141
Body language, 83, 171–172 Dopamine, 9
Brain, 1–10 Drucker, Peter, 14, 17, 156
BS, 94–95
Buffett, Warren, 56 Edmondson, Amy, 237
Business clichés, 84–85 Education, 164
Elevator pitch, 190–191
Cerebellum, 9 E-mail, 142–147, 220
Chinese, 115, 117, 118 Emojis, 66–67
Chunking, 140 Emotional intelligence, 233–234
Churchill, Winston, 55, 161, 178 Emotions, 43–44, 199–200
Cialdini, Robert, 29, 49, 50 Energy, 83
Coherent paragraphs, 138–139 English as a Second Language (ESL),
Commitment and consistency, 49 115, 116
Communication, 47–48, 239 Enthusiastic, 195–196
action, 127–129 Environment, 82
culture in, 219–221 Estate Tax, 45
customer service, 207–209 Estrogen, 10
246 Index

Expectations, violating, 51 Monologue, 210

Experience, 163
Negotiation, 229–230
Face-to-face communication, Networking, 217–218
201–202 openers for, 227–228
First sentence, 119–120 Neurons, 9, 10
Fluency, 30 Neuropeptides, 10
Four lobes, 8 Neurotransmitters, 9–10
Fracking, 46 Norepinephrine, 10
Framing, 3 Novelty, 30, 34–35

Gesture, 173–175 Obama, Barack, 93, 107, 160–161

Getting things right, 78–79 Ocasio, William, 38
Gladwell, Malcolm, 5, 226 Oddity, 34–35
One point at a time, 68
Hippocampus, 9 Openers, 227–228
Hypothalamus, 9 Opiods, 10
Orwell, George, 44
Idiomatic expressions, 86–88 Oxycotin, 10
Imperative mode, 159
Interactions, 82 Paragraphs, coherent, 138–139
Interviews, 213–214 Parallel structure, 125–126
Passive voice, 133–134
Journalist, 91–93 Patterson, Neal, 22
Pearl Harbor, 56–57
King, Stephen, 25–26 People, emotional, 199–200
Persuasion, 49–50
Language, 176–177 Phone call, 220
body, 171–172 Phrasal verbs, 113–114
conditional, 58–60 Positive, staying, 157–158
direct, 221 PowerPoint (PPT), 178, 182–183
universal, 66 PPIA Fellowship Program, 15
Likability, 164 Precise communication, 80–81
Liking, 50 Prefrontal cortex, 8
Listening, 197–198 Prejudice, 109
Presentation checklist, 169–170
Macintosh, 43–44 Primacy, 41–42
Magical Number Seven, 166 Priming, 69–70
Make America Great Again Profile, 152–153
(MAGA), 52 Props, 180–181
Man, Interrupted (Zimbardo), 202
Marketing thinking, 153–154 Questioning, 27–28
Medium, 21–22 Quote, 29
Meeting, 73–74, 220
Memory, 52–54 Rapid cognition, 226
Message in 280 characters, 63–65 Readability index, 160–161
Metaphor, 55–57 Recency, 41–42
Miller, George A., 166 Reception, 82
 Index 247

Reciprocity, 49 Talking, 100–101

Reframing, 45–46 Tavris, Carol, 132
Relatability, 30 Team communication, 237–238
Requests For Proposals (RFPs), 102 Teaming (Edmondson), 237
Resume, 151–154 Tension, 30
Rhode, Joe, 34–35 Thalamus, 9
Right questions, 71–72 Thank You notes, 215–216
Rule of Three, 41, 182 Transitional devices, 135–137
Two hemispheres, 8
Say a few words, 192–193
Scarcity, 50 Uber, 198
Sentence, 121–122 Universal language, 66
Sentence length, 123–124
Serial position effect, 41 Vasopressin, 10
Serotonin, 9 Video presentation, 187–189
Sexism, 109–110 Virtual communication, 187–188
Shaking things up, 167–168 Voice, 178–179
Show, don’t tell, 102–103
Silence, 186 Welch, Jack, 39
Simplicity, 39–40 “What’s in it for me?” (WIIFM), 17
Social media, 89–90 Words
Social proof, 49 choosing, 107–108
Statistics, 32–33 knowing the, 111–112
Storytelling, 30–31 Workplace communication, 82–83
Subject-Verb, 121, 128
Subject-Verb-Object, 121, 122, 128, “You,” 19–20
130
Success, 47–48 Zimbardo, Philip, 202