Make Yourself Clear How to Use a Teaching Mindset to Listen, Understand, Explain Everything, and Be Understood

How can you communicate effectively and create meaningful interactions in an increasingly digital world? By teaching.

In Make Yourself Clear, educational experts and entrepreneurs Reshan Richards and Stephen J. Valentine explain the many parallels between teaching and business and offer companies, both large and small, concrete advice for building the teaching capacity of their salespeople, leaders, service professionals, and trainers.

The rise of digital communications has led to three emergent, often problematic, forces: automation, an increase in the speed and volume of information transfer, and an unmet need for people to feel more than satisfied in their interpersonal transactions, particularly between sellers and consumers. 

Through a mix of research, anecdotes, case studies, and theoretical speculation, this book equips readers to build understanding within their current and future audiences by leveraging the tools, methods, and mindsets used by successful teachers. You will be equipped to understand others better, and in turn, to be better understood.

Make Yourself Clear is not prescriptive, nor does it suggest rigid steps, pillars, or frameworks. Instead, it provides immediately recognizable and relatable context, suggesting actions that can be tried, measured, tested, and iterated upon in any communication context that involves the exchange of information and ideas.

• Ground your business communications in proven techniques
• Profit from expert instruction given by those who have helped thousands of readers and workshop students
• Develop your sales career by applying effective teaching practices to customer and colleague interactions
• For educators, adopt the latest best practices into your teaching style

Backed by thorough research and extensive real-world testing, Make Yourself Clear opens a door to more productive communication and more effective interactions. It offers compelling and relevant insights to longtime fans of the work of Richards and Valentine and newcomers alike, leading to real and lasting benefits.

Dr. Reshan Richards is Chief Learning Officer and Co-Founder of Explain Everything Inc. and teaches at Teachers College, Columbia University and the Columbia University School of Professional Studies. He is co-author of Blending Leadership.

Stephen J. Valentine is an educator, school leader, writer, and serial collaborator. He serves as the Assistant Head, Upper School, and Director of Academic Leadership at Montclair Kimberley Academy. He is Coordinating Editor of Klingbrief, author of Everything but Teaching, and co-author of Blending Leadership.

Foreword xiii

Acknowledgments xvii

About the Authors xix

Introduction: Working at the Intersection of Teaching and Business 1

Part 1 Authenticity 13

1 Pursuing Win-Win-Win Scenarios 15

2 Recovering Human Judgment 27

3 Recovering Choice in Human Interactions 33

4 Adjusting to Hear and Be Heard 43

5 Respecting the Game 53

Part 2 Immediacy 59

6 Leveraging Momentum and Context 61

7 Generating Immediacy for Others 69

8 Rebuilding Teaching around Immediacy 75

9 Rebuilding Training around Immediacy 87

10 Communicating with Immediacy 97

11 Selling with Immediacy 113

12 Getting Immediacy Right 121

Part 3 Delight 127

13 Identifying the Conditions for Delight 129

14 Offering Choice 137

15 The Power of Engagement 145

16 Novelty Is Not Your Friend 155

17 Boredom Is Not Your Enemy 163

18 The Unit of Delight 173

19 After Delight 185

20 An Invitation 193

Conclusion: Closing the Class 201

Afterword: How We Designed This Reading Experience 209

References 215

Index 225 

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.