Drop the Pink Elephant E-Book

Bill McFarlan

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 191

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2009

Beschreibung

"As GMTV anchor, I interview hundreds of people every year. However well they interview, every single person would find it easier to explain their case by following these simple principles." EAMONN HOLMES, GMTV Presenter "[Drop the Pink Elephant]...tackle[s] every aspect of personal communication in a crisp, entertaining style." THE PLAIN ENGLISH SOCIETY "There can be no whitewash at the White House." (Richard Nixon). These nine words turned the American nation against their President. Why? Because people hadn't linked the White House with a cover up until Nixon himself made the connection. His own denial created the story. It is perhaps the most famous Pink Elephant in history. But what exactly is a 'Pink Elephant'? Pink Elephants are the unnecessary negatives that clutter your conversation and meaning, sending out the wrong signals to anyone you communicate with. In Drop the Pink Elephant, Bill McFarlan reveals how to avoid the deadly trap of allowing poor communication skills to obscure your meaning and reduce your effectiveness. Drop the Pink Elephant is filled with helpful, simple and practical advice on how to make your words count for more. Put these straightforward lessons into practice and you will notice immediately how much more effectively you are able to communicate with others. Sharpen your conversation by: * FIRST SPOTTING, THEN DROPPING THE PINK ELEPHANT * GETTING RID OF THE JARGON * LEARNING TO SPEAK IN PICTURES * RECOGNISING WHEN YOU SHOULD APOLOGISE OR THANK PEOPLE * CAPTIVATING AN AUDIENCE N.B. No animals were hurt in the making of this book. (Can you spot your first Pink Elephant?)

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

What the papers say …

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

About the Author

World’s Top Ten Pink Elephants

Foreword

Introduction

Section One - Dump the Baggage and Create Clarity

Chapter 1 - Drop the Pink Elephant

Summary

Chapter 2 - Every Picture Tells a Story

Summary

Section Two - Be Principled in What You Say

Chapter 3 - Staying on the Louisiana Highway

Summary

Chapter 4 - Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word

Regret, Reason and Remedy

Summary

Chapter 5 - Tell the Unpalatable Truth, Rather than the ‘White Lie’

Summary

Chapter 6 - Thank You and Well Done

Summary

Chapter 7 - Who Looks Stupid When You Criticize in Public?

Avoid sarcasm (or had you managed to work that out for yourself?)

Summary

Section Three - Positively Assert Yourself

Chapter 8 - Flush Out the Watering Down Words

Yes, no and I don’t know

Summary

Chapter 9 - Talk Positively About Yourself

Be positive and proactive, especially with bad news

Assuming versus checking

Summary

Section Four - Think of the Audience

Chapter 10 - It’s All Relative

Put it into perspective

Summary

Chapter 11 - Email and Text - Bullets or Boomerangs?

The Queen’s English

Summary

Chapter 12 - Three Little Questions

What do I want to say?

Who am I speaking to?

So how should I put it?

Summary

Section Five - Create Deeper Understanding

Chapter 13 - Listen First to Understand

Pay attention to the percentages - 55, 38 and 7

Summary

Chapter 14 - Powerful Words

Summary

Chapter 15 - Think, Talk, Act … Then Tell the World

Summary

Appendix - What Do Your Words Say About You?

Index

What the papers say …

‘What a great book. I would have no hesitation in recommending this book to anyone.

‘This book is a must-read for anybody in a client/customer-facing position. I think anyone who talks to other people could benefit from reading it.’

MARKETINGMagazine

‘If your DNA’s short on charisma, here’s a guide to charm heaven. Learn how to captivate your listeners and speak so people understand you better. An easy read with perky drawings and bullet point summaries. ’

HER WORLDMagazine

‘McFarlan’s method for revolutionising communication … is as relevant to how we relate to family and friends as it is to how to get the best from a workforce.’

THE HERALD

‘Even if you normally steer clear of self-help books, do try the very funny and perceptive Drop the Pink Elephant by Scottish television presenter Bill McFarlan.’

CALEDONIA

‘It is very rare that anything that is good for you is also fun … This book, however, is enormously pleasurable to read and the words of wisdom sink in without a murmur.’

CITY TO CITIES

‘… it goes on to tackle every aspect of personal communication in a crisp, entertaining style. Plain English supporters will be particularly interested in chapters dealing with jargon (especially unfamiliar abbreviations) and grammar.’

PLAIN ENGLISHMagazine

‘This is a fascinating must-read.’

GLASGOW EVENING TIMES

© Bill McFarlan 2003, 2004

The right of Bill McFarlan to be identified as the author of this book has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP, UK, without the permission in writing of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 8SQ, UK, or e-mailed to [email protected], or faxed to ([phone].

Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The Publisher is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

CIP catalogue records for this book are available from the British Library and the US Library of Congress

eISBN : 978-1-907-31222-9

Typeset in Meridien by Sparks Computer Solutions Ltd, Oxford (www.sparks.co.uk) Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall

This book is printed on acid-free paper responsibly manufactured from sustainable forestry in which at least two trees are planted for each one used for paper production.

Substantial discounts on bulk quantities of Capstone Books are available to corporations, professional associations and other organizations.

For details telephone John Wiley & Sons on ([phone], fax [phone] or e-mail [email protected]

Dedication

This book is dedicated to:

My dad and late mum, whose love and security taught me realistic optimism.

My wife Caroline, whose loving encouragement has guided me through triumph and setback alike for 25 years.

My children Victoria, Emma and Andrew, whose tolerance of my Pink Elephant obsession is a credit to each of them.

May they - and everyone who reads this - benefit from sharing that obsession.

And special thanks to Caroline and Victoria for their incisive proof-reading of this book to ensure it follows my principles on punctuation, grammar and clarity.

Thanks also to John Moseley and the entire Wiley-Capstone team for their belief in this book and the opportunity they have created to share my principles with the world.

About the Author

Bill McFarlan is a journalist, broadcaster and Managing Director of one of Britain’s leading media consultancies.

He established The Broadcasting Business in 1989 to help individuals and businesses get their message to the world in a brighter, more positive and more vivid manner.

Since then, he’s conducted more than a thousand media training and presentation skills courses in Britain, France, Spain, the USA, the Caribbean and Africa.

He’s a regular speaker at conferences and passionate advocate of confidence-building techniques.

In tandem with his business life is a broadcasting career that began in radio in 1980 and took him through news presentation at Scottish Television to ten years with the BBC, anchoring Breakfast News, Reporting Scotland, Sportscene and World’s Strongest Man.

He’s fronted sports programmes on three satellite channels and is a regular contributor to news and current affairs programmes.

Bill lives in Glasgow with his wife and three children.

The Broadcasting Business can be contacted at www.broadcastingbusiness.co.uk or on 0141 427 2545.

World’s Top Ten Pink Elephants

Simply remove the word in bold letters to reveal the picture each phrase creates.

‘I didnothave sexual relations with that woman, Ms Lewinsky.’

US President Bill Clinton in January 1998 on his relationship with the White House intern. Ten months later he apologized for misleading the American people with what he said

‘I didnotrape Ulrika. I wouldneverrape anyone.’ Well-known UK TV presenter, whose denials were quickly followed by further allegations from numerous women

‘There can benowhitewash at the White House.’ US President Richard Nixon, who relinquished the presidency because of … a whitewash at the White House

‘Telling my story wasneverabout money.’ Paul Burrell, former butler to Princess Diana, who sold his story to the Daily Mirror for a reported £300,000

‘This isnota war on Islam.’ Tony Blair on the War on … Terrorism

‘I must state once and for all that I amnot(Prince) Harry’s father.’

James Hewitt on that growing resemblance between Princess Diana’s younger son and her former lover

‘I’mnotthick. I’mnota bimbo. And I’mnota tart.’ Big Brother 2001 runner-up Helen Adams on herself. The audience drew its own conclusions

‘Idon’tdo drugs. Idon’tdrink and drive and Idon’thave five kids to three different women.’

Former Scotland captain Colin Hendry, accused only of elbowing an opponent

‘Read my lips.Nonew taxes.’ US President George Bush … before he increased taxes

‘It didnothappen. Gennifer Flowers’ story isnottrue.’ Bill Clinton again, who later admitted under oath that he did in fact have sex with Ms Flowers