Say it Right the First Time
By Loretta Malandro, Ph.D.
Publisher: McGraw Hill
ISBN: 0-07-146145-0

This book was a breath of fresh air that stood out from others in its genre. The premise of the book was simple, powerful and compelling. Managers, leaders and business owners can build effective organizations - or a "high performance culture" as the book calls it - by making everyone in the company accountable for how others react to what is said. This approach enables organizations to sidestep common problems that often stalemate progress: star personalities, personal conflicts and conflicting agendas.

The author explains it best in her book. "Being 100% accountable means choosing to be responsible for your impact at all times. It means letting go of the traditional 50/50 model of 'I'll do my part if you do your.' This model breeds a culture of blame, silent conspiracies and at the core - a lack of trust."

With the premise established, Malandro then shows the reader how to successfully implement a high performance culture in his or her business. Advice on common communication problems and how to navigate them is particularly useful. 

Break-Through Business Development
By Duncan Macpherson and David Miller
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 978-0-470-84096-2

The premise of this book is simple. Twenty per cent of your customers will be responsible for 80 per cent of your business. Therefore, the best way to build your business is to turn these "best" customers into business advocates that will help you grow your company through their networks.

What's nice about this book is that it is also actionable. The authors provide clear an easy steps that the reader can follow along with downloadable online templates. Another nice thing is that a lot of examples are Canadian-based.

The publisher promotes the book as a "... 90-day plan to build your client base and take your business to the next level." It's a big promise, one that may not be unrealistic if the ideas in the book are diligently applied.

Relational Presentations
By Rober A. Lane & Chantal Bossé
Publisher: Aspire Communications
ISBN: 978-0-9794156-1-6

What a promise! Imagine attending a presentation where the audience is not bored by a canned Power Point (.ppt) presentation. Now imagine that your company is presenting and gets and overwhelmingly positive response from your spiced up presentation.

Relational presentation is a very useful book for anyone who wants to move beyond the standard PowerPoint show. It's not about the sizzle, but rather presents a fundamentally different way to approach presentations that works more like a website than a slideshow. This book is packed full of extremely useful information. Remarkably, it does this using plain language that is easy to follow. Some of the information is generic, while some is specific to PowerPoint 2003 & XP.

The bottom line: if you use power point presentations in your business, the tips in this book can help unlock the true power of Power Point to separate your message from that of your competitors.