Communicating well in business is tough, and the subtlest mistakes can immediately derail even the best deals. Whether getting your intended point across is a born talent, or learned over time, all executives can improve—including the most senior ones—if they’re truly willing to be critiqued.  How to effectively communicate, on the next Language of Business.

We debuted our new set today and check out the pictures below.  Filming will occur over the next three weeks and click on the guests' names below for their LinkedIn profiles or company web sites. This episode will air in late March / early April.

Melanie Calzetti-Spahr, who will discuss how to mentor and prep younger employees in the workplace. 

Bill Kenney has begun a new company, Test My Pitch, which provides detailed feedback on presentations. Here's his profile.

Brenda Bence, joining us from Skype in Singapore, will discuss high-level executive leadership / coaching. Here's her profile.

Marjorie Whittaker, who will discuss business communication / training for non-native English speakers. This is her LinkedIn profile.

Dr. Camille Baulant spending this week in Boston and we interviewed her in a special additional segment on the French economy.  This is her LinkedIn profile.

John Thomas, Julie Marcus, Adam Averback and Sean Sanker are my guests and this episode should air in less than two weeks.  The Language of Business is now broadcast on over 30 stations in the US, coast-to-coast.  It's been extremely helpful, to date, achieving our primary objective to generate project leads for our Boston College Consulting and Business Plan courses. 

John Thomas, is a Managing Director, and a member of the Global Leadership Team at L.E.K. Consulting. John also heads L.E.K.’s global Aviation & Travel practice and is also active in our Private Equity practice. John has more than 23 years experience in strategy, financial, commercial, operational and organizational consulting to the aviation industry and has worked with most of the leading airlines around the world on a broad range of major issues.
 
Julie Marcus provides management direction through market research and business intelligence to executive search firms, Fortune 500 companies and private organizations for competitive intelligence, talent recruitment and executive search on a global level. 

Adam Averback Your Party. Our Excitement. Your Ideas. Our Creativity. Your Guests. Our Talent. Together we’ll make it happen.  Party Excitement brings innovative ideas, outstanding talent and amazing energy to every event. Our goal is to meet and exceed all of your expectations.

Sean Sanker Bay State IT offers IT consulting, network and desktop support, and managed IT services both remote, and onsite. We pride ourselves on providing a superior level of IT support extending throughout every facet of your organization. Whether your needs are basic network - desktop support, or you're looking to implement large networks, data backups, disaster recovery, virtual environments, and network monitoring Bay State IT is here to offer a truly comprehensive IT support solution for your business.

Several people have reached out for me to follow-up my WBZ interview with some written commentary on China.  Here's a short essay summarizing my thoughts, and I hope it serves as nice reading for the upcoming holiday weekend.

Sincerely,

Greg

2013 was a challenging year for China.  While its efforts to improve the standard of living for its people continued to result in wage increases, it has come to realize these cannot be automatically passed on through higher prices to the US and other countries to which it exports. Economically, they're temporarily stuck in neutral. Partly as a result, Chinese President Xi Jinping indicated three top priorities for 2014: to reduce graft, improve environmental conditions and increase personal consumption. 

Through the worldwide media, we’re given an almost weekly check-in to gauge progress, and determine if the People’s Republic is on course.  While these reports are helpful for Americans to understand the bigger picture, they often fail to mention that it is the high-ranking executives running large companies, the factories producing materials, and the people who purchase the goods, who must shoulder the burden of implementing these goals.  In order to be successful, behavioral change from everyone will be necessary, and many of the cultural traditions that define China, and those affiliated with its recent business reform processes, will need to be modernized. It's not just a wage increase issue. 

With nearly 4,000 years of recorded history, along with data from testing capitalism in its special economic zones, one would assume China should be capable of avoiding prolonged economic problems that we face in the west.  After all, under central planning, they have had lots of practice and have ascended to become the world’s #2 economy.  In some respects, China is unique in that its export-driven model has survived in various forms for an extended period, much longer than most anticipated.   Additionally, they had the opportunity of studying the economic missteps of Japan and other Asian neighbors during the lost decade of the 90s.  So, their ongoing reforms should be working, right?  

Unfortunately, improvements aren’t coming as quickly as planned.  Businesses are going to have to act differently and consumers must change their purchasing habits, and not follow tradition by saving so much of what they earn. 

For years, China has relied on low labor and material costs to gain market share from other countries in the Pacific Rim.  But they’ve learned that long-term sustainability is far more crucial than short-term profit. 

President Xi is correct that reducing corruption, fixing the environment and increasing household spending need to be achieved.  However, true change can only come if the Chinese people begin re-thinking the way they do business with companies and with each other, and if Chinese consumers begin to increase their personal spending.   

While change has been slower than some might like, there are positive signs improvements have already begun.  I spent a week last month in Beijing wrapping up a 6-month business consulting assignment, and have been traveling regularly to China since the mid-1990s.  Every visit provides a unique, in-person opportunity to observe the latest round of development, but rarely do I take away a universal theme.  That is, until now. 

I heard loud-and-clear a united desire to be proactive and to confront this new reality of economic uncertainty among manufacturing experts, business executives and consumers. 

This type of new-age thinking traditionally comes about reactively, when emerging from a recession or under the rollout of a governmental stimulus.  Especially in the case of China, unilaterally taking action, departing from convention, or tinkering with the cultural DNA of a nation, would not normally be open for debate.  But, fortune has always favored the bold, and established traditions need periodic re-thinking, too, even if in preparation for another 4,000 years. 

Many thanks to co-founder and co-owner of Party Excitement Entertainment, Adam Averback, who hosted us earlier this morning as we wrapped filming for episode #11 on the use of business consultants.  Our 30-second promo is coming on Monday, with the full episode airing in less than two weeks.  

Picture below reprinted with permission. 

Many thanks to BC, in particular our Dean Jeff Ringuest, BC PR dept, and WBZ for a great night on Nightside discussing China's economic trends and how they affect the US economy. They broadcast in 38 US states and Canada and I so, very much appreciated this opportunity! They extended it by one hour due to number of calls being received and positive listener feedback.

Thanks for listening everyone!  The links to the podcast are here and pictures above are reprinted with permission, including the press release issued to the Boston Globe.

We have officially kicked off the planning for the September MBA Business Planning and Entrepreneurship course.  We are looking for 20 entrepreneurs who need business plans written. All IP and commercialization rights retained and all work completed free of charge.  Here is a 1-page overview.

Send any inquiries to my email address, please. Here's a picture of last year's winner, Bump Water.

Many thanks to Maggie Doyle, Chris Mahan, Michael Marchetti and John Walsh for hosting our Entrepreneurial Finance class last night at the Boston Opera House, where we discussed the success of Mamma Mia! and the business of theatre.  Photos reprinted below with permission.