Welcome back to the Skills 360 for today’s lesson on using metaphors to make your speech more powerful.
Have you ever heard of Alfred Sloan? He was the head of General Motors during the Great Depression. He once gave a speech where he talked about GM at the time as a “great ship in a fierce storm.” From that description, you get a sense of danger, of a big boat getting tossed around in the unpredictable ocean waves. And you can imagine that everyone on that ship has to work hard to get through the storm which, like all storms, would one day end.
Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on having a confidential discussion during a business trip.
If you’ve got colleagues or clients in other parts of the world, you probably rely a lot on email and the phone. But meeting in person continues to be important for building relationships and trust, and for discussing important issues. That’s one reason, of course, why the overseas business trip remains important.
And there’s one type of discussion that can be especially difficult: discussing a confidential matter. Perhaps you need to deliver bad news, or share sensitive information or tell someone about an important change. Meeting face-to-face in these types of situations is often the best way to break the news.
So what’s the best way to go about this? Well, to begin, it’s important to set a positive tone to put the other person at ease. Next, you might want to ask him or her how things are going. That can help break the ice, and the other person might actually mention the topic you want to discuss. Once you’ve started this way, you can introduce the sensitive information you want to deliver. And because the information is sensitive, you need to ask for discretion. Finally, depending on the nature of the discussion, you might also have to provide reassurances. After all, after we hear important information, we might wonder how it will impact us.
In today’s dialog, we’ll hear Cam, who works for an American clothing company. He’s visiting the head of the company’s Chinese office, David. The company manufactures some of its clothing in China, and has been considering how to expand their retail activities in Asia. Cam needs to have a confidential discussion with David to share some important news.
Listening Questions
1. How does Cam ask for David’s perspective on the current situation?
2. Cam needs to tell David about a decision regarding retail in China. What point does Cam mention to introduce this decision?
3. How does Cam reassure David near the end of the conversation?
Welcome back to the Skills 360 for today’s lesson on how you can sound more credible or believable.
In the last lesson, we looked at what you should say to sound credible. In this lesson, we’re going to take a look at what not to say. In other words, there are some things that can damage your credibility. These are habits or expressions that will make people trust you less, not more.
Welcome back to the Skills 360 for today’s lesson on how to sound credible, or believable.
It’s election year in the USA, and you’ve probably been hearing some pretty big talk from the candidates. One of the most glaring problems with so much of these candidates’ statements is that of credibility.
Sounding credible means that people can trust you, and trust what you say. And not just because you tell them to. Sounding credible also means people will respect you and believe you have the competence to get the job done. So, how do you make people believe that? What exactly should you say to sound credible?
Welcome back to the Skills 360 for today’s lesson on more great tips for improving your business English skills.
You’ve probably heard that one of the traits of a great business leader is the ability to communicate. So, what does it mean to be a good communicator? What does a good communicator actually do? Well, there are a few things that every good communicator does. In our last lesson I covered a few of these special techniques, and today I want to add to that list.
