From English To Performance: Words, Expressions, Phrases, An

A couple of years ago, I was struggling to find a short and comprehensive book that would allow me to add value quickly as a non-native aspiring management consultant. I wondered why English books looked so academic, and if some people were feeling the same.

I had to go through many books and courses with no time available. Down the line, I came to reach a plateau. I couldn’t seem to make any improvement out of my additional readings and speaking. I started putting together my English toolbox of words, expressions, ideas, and phrases to break the plateau and reach the executive English-speaking level.
Meanwhile, I discovered that high-level business professionals don’t speak English; they compile a code of thinking. Ever since, the whole paradigm in which I was learning shifted. I found that if you wanted to speak like an executive, you would first need to crack their code of thinking. This finding confirmed when I got into top professional environments, first in consulting, and then at the World Bank.

I thought I should share my experience to provide a less academic peer-to-peer way of learning executives’ business English, with a shorter learning curve as well.

In this book, I am trying to give you a unique immersion in that code of thinking, using a simple layout that allows the quickest learning. In every chapter, you will uncover a part of the code and resolutely become an effective team player.

You have seven chapters in the book:

•MEET
•TALK
•IMPRESS
•NEGOTIATE
•DESCRIBE
•ANALYZE
•WRITE

Being an effective communicator in English is a sign of intelligence and productivity. It is highly valuable in competitive environments where you come across a lot of brilliant people. You want to find the best words to communicate all the creativity, intelligence, humor, and wisdom you have got. Eventually, you would change people’s minds, win jobs, win negotiations, or business contracts.

This book allows you to dive into an organized immersion with very realistic samples. Whether you are operating in startups, business development, project management, or human resource management, it will help you work more effectively. If you succeed, you will love working in English more than ever.

I think it’s worth mentioning that this book doesn’t mean to teach you the consulting trade per se. I assume you are already well versed in your field of competence, so I will not dwell on theory or concepts.

Finally, this is not an exhaustive book, as you will not find everything in it. However, it is a good benchmark for non-native (and native) professionals.