A word in my ear

Last week, I had the pleasure of meeting Business Spotlight author Bob Dignen briefly in the centre of Munich.

Bob, who writes our Business Skills articles, is a director of York Associates, an organization in Britain that specializes in language, communication and intercultural training.

"YA", as they are commonly known, have been pioneers in the area of business communication for more than 20 years. Their four directors - Nick Brieger, Jeremy Comfort, Bob Dignen and Steve Flinders - have also played a key role in the development of Business Spotlight.

I make no apology for what might seem like blatant advertising - and no, I don't work on commission basis for YA or anyone else. My point is this: I like working with them not just because they are professional and innovative, but because they are great people. (As, I should say, are all the authors we work with on a regular basis.)

In other words, I experience in my work what Business Spotlight preaches in each issue: we like working with people who we like. As another excellent communications trainer and author, Evan Frendo, says: "The real key to international business success is being able to build and maintain relationships."

Bob Dignen - who had touched down in Munich at the end of a ten-day training and presenting tour that had taken him to Serbia, York, Zurich and Ingolstadt - also practices what he preaches about business communication. He listens and he asks a lot of questions.

Bob also talked about his experience of working with project teams in companies and of learning to live with ambiguity and different viewpoints. For example, many common words for describing ways of working - such as "pragmatic", "dynamic", "thorough" or "structured" - can have positive or negative connotations, depending on your personality and culture. Deal with it!

At our meeting, we also made an important decision, which means we'll be hearing more from Bob Dignen on Business Spotlight Online in the future. And that really is positive!