Teaching Interpersonal Communication in a Business Communication Course

"Americans sit through some 11 million meetings every day — with the unproductive ones costing companies $37 billion a year. 

"We've already learned that meetings fall apart thanks to sloppy agendas, un-articulated ground rules, and other structural mistakes. 

So we decided to look at how some of the most effective executives in history . . . run the meetings that invariably fill their calendars." . . .

"Ever feel like the cable company or your phone service provider is charging too much? Ever feel helpless to do much about it? You're not crazy." . . .

"If you pay attention you’ll hear handshakes whisper, yell, fret, or fawn. And handshakes of the rich and famous; they’re amplified." . . .

"Writing about two paragraphs outlining your goals will help you feel more confident and energetic, Gavin Kilduff, an assistant professor of management and organization at New York University, says his research shows. That can be especially critical before entering a new group."

Lying well is hard — but not in the way you might think.

We usually look for nervousness as one of the signs of lying. Like the person is worried about getting caught. But that’s actually a weak predictor. Some people are so confident they don’t fear getting caught. Others are great at hiding it.

Some get nervous when questioned so you get false positives. And others are lying to themselves — so they show no signs of deliberate deception. So lying isn’t necessarily hard in terms of stress. But it is hard in terms of “cognitive load.” What’s that mean? . . .

"If you don't consider yourself a touchy, feely person, you will love this new study that researched where people are most comfortable and uncomfortable being touched."

Finding yourself in a new situation can make you feel uncomfortable, no matter how normally confident you are. Whether you find yourself at a networking event or a job interview, or are just the new guy at the office, here are seven ways to appear confident when you're really not:

"According to an infographic from Get In Front Communications, subscribers to the Harvard Business Review rated the ability to communicate 'the most important fact in making an executive promotable.' They ranked it more important than ambition, education and hard work" . . .

Here's one way to find out if you are, in fact, a citizen of the world and a master of languages. Take the quiz, and remember to click the key icon when you're done to find out the answers.

"Although most of us don’t suffer from prosopagnosia, we all struggle with face-recognition in varying degrees. This was demonstrated to audience members at the World Science Festival when they tested their face-recognition abilities with an interactive quiz that you can take."

Take Dr. Elaine Aron's self-test, Are You Highly Sensitive, to see if you're thin- or thick-skinned, and learn about the three common misconceptions about people who are highly sensitive.

"Robin Dreeke is head of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program.

In his book, It’s Not All About “Me”: The Top Ten Techniques for Building Quick Rapport with Anyone, he simply and clearly spells out methods for connecting with people.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the methods. . ."

It is never easy finding yourself in a situation where you need to interrupt the conversation. Sometimes, your friends are talking among themselves and there is something you can't wait to tell them. Sometimes, others are dominating the conversation and you can't get a word in.

Whatever it is, sometimes you just have to. It may seem a little unusual, but the fact is there's such a thing as interrupting a conversation politely. . .