How to Speak to Business Leaders
By Jason Alba
Course info
Course info
Description
In the first module, we talk about your potential power and influence, and why you should walk down this path of understanding and using business leadership language. Then, we talk about words and phrases in finance, marketing, HR, and at the general executive level. Finally, we'll talk about the surrounding words and phrases to avoid, giving some examples and the reasons why to avoid them.
About the author
Jason Alba is founder of JibberJobber.com, an online relationship manager for professionals to manage their career and job search. Jason is the author of I’m on LinkedIn – Now What??? and coauthor of I’m on Facebook – Now What??? and specializes in helping professionals with career management, network, and personal branding.
More from the author
Transcript
Hi everyone, my name is Jason Alba. Welcome to my course: How to Speak to Business Leaders.
I started my technical career programming an intranet while still in college, and later went on to become an IT manager and then General manager of a software firm. In 2006 I was laid off and chose to start a company to help job seekers organize and manage their job search. My website, JibberJobber.com, also helps people keep track of and nurture networking relationships. I’m passionate about professional development and have over two dozen professional development courses on Pluralsight.
In this course I talk about how you can get better at communicating with business leaders. Specifically, we talk about words and phrases that you will likely come across as you are involved in meetings that are not technical, but business-focused.
We’ll talk about the value you bring to the table as a technologist, talking with and advising business leaders. Too often I’ve seen technologists who indeed have something to add to business decisions marginalize themselves and not contribute at a leadership level because they haven’t bought into the value they have.
We’ll talk about specific words and phrases that are used at the leadership level, broken down by business function. At first you might think we have about a dozen terms for each function, but in reality I introduce additional related words and phrases, which can really expand your business vocabulary.
The end result to these tactics is that you (a) will be more comfortable in a business conversation, (b) understand what people are talking about, and (c) be able to contribute more effectively. Also, you should have a framework to help you identify and define terms used at your company or in your industry, even if we haven’t discussed them here.
By the end of this course, you’ll be in a much better position to add value in these conversations. After watching this course, continue your learning by diving into other professional development courses, like:
- How to Get Your Next Promotion
- Working and Communicating with Different Personalities
- Prioritizing Tasks and Managing Time for Greater productivity