Collins Business Secrets

The secrets that experts and top professionals use to stay at the top of their game. Get results fast with this quick, easy guide to the fundamentals of Mind Power. Includes how to: • Produce creative and innovative ideas. • Remember names, numbers and concepts. • Sharpen your mental reflexes, whatever your age. • Ask the right questions and understand other points of view. • Make good decisions and stick to them.

The management secrets that experts and top professionals use. Get results fast with this quick, easy guide to the fundamentals of Management. Includes how to: • Build a goal-oriented team. • Successfully manage individuals, teams and projects. • Set clear goals and give quality feedback. • Get things done on time and on budget. • Deal with difficult situations.

First ever critical study of Tolkien’s little-known essay, which reveals how language invention shaped the creation of Middle-earth and beyond, to George R R Martin’s Game of Thrones. J.R.R. Tolkien’s linguistic invention was a fundamental part of his artistic output, to the extent that later on in life he attributed the existence of his mythology to the desire to give his languages a home and peoples to speak them. As Tolkien puts it in ‘A Secret Vice’, ‘the making of language and mythology are related functions’’. In the 1930s, Tolkien composed and delivered two lectures, in which he explored these two key elements of his sub-creative methodology. The second of these, the seminal Andrew Lang Lecture for 1938–9, ‘On Fairy-Stories’, which he delivered at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, is well known. But many years before, in 1931, Tolkien gave a talk to a literary society entitled ‘A Hobby for the Home’, where he unveiled for the first time to a listening public the art that he had both himself encountered and been involved with since his earliest childhood: ‘the construction of imaginary languages in full or outline for amusement’. This talk would be edited by Christopher Tolkien for inclusion as ‘A Secret Vice’ in The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays and serves as the principal exposition of Tolkien’s art of inventing languages. This new critical edition, which includes previously unpublished notes and drafts by Tolkien connected with the essay, including his ‘Essay on Phonetic Symbolism’, goes some way towards re-opening the debate on the importance of linguistic invention in Tolkien’s mythology and the role of imaginary languages in fantasy literature.

The people management secrets that experts and top professionals use. Get results fast with this quick, easy guide to the fundamentals of People Management Includes how to: • Build a business-like relationships with your direct reports • Set clear targets and monitor them • Understand different personality types and how to manage them • Deliver criticism and compliments in the right way • Mentor your employees to produce fantastic results.

The career management secrets that experts and top professionals use. Get results fast with this quick, easy guide to the fundamentals of Career Management. Includes how to: • Assess your career goals • Create and follow an exciting career plan • Make yourself visible for your ideal job • Deliver the perfect interview • Get yourself noticed and promoted, or go it alone.

The project management secrets that experts and top professionals use. Get results fast with this quick, easy guide to the fundamentals of Project Management. Includes how to: • Deliver a successful project from start to finish • Communicate effectively with people at all levels • Manage changes and control scope creep • Identify and deal with risks • Work with common project management methodologies • Part of a brand-new and exciting series which will generate huge buzz and attract a loyal readership • Stunning covers and internals, with content separated into easily digestible bitesize chunks • Expert author with experience as both a practitioner and a trainer • Includes free access to online quizzes and diagnostics

The communicating secrets that experts and top professionals use. Get results fast with this quick, easy guide to the fundamentals of communication for international business. Includes how to: • Listen and look. • Say and speak. • Use technology and media. • Take the environment into account. • Use Netiquette. • Negotiate intercontinental differences. • Communicate with a remote team.

The leadership secrets that experts and top professionals use. Get results fast with this quick, easy guide to the fundamentals of Leadership. Includes how to: • Understand and develop your leadership style. • Identify strategic goals for your department. • Motivate and manage teams of all sizes. • Build a culture of results and responsibility. • Lead the way out of a crisis.

The finance basics that experts and top professionals understand. Get results fast with this quick, easy guide to the fundamentals of Finance. Includes how to: • Analyze a business from its financial reports • Understand a Profit and Loss account • Make sense of accounting jargon • Build a financially sound business plan • Deal with revenue, profit and cash flow • Part of a brand-new and exciting series which will generate huge buzz and attract a loyal readership • Stunning covers and internals, with content separated into easily digestible bite size chunks • Expert author with experience as both a practitioner and a trainer • Includes free access to online quizzes and diagnostics.

The marketing secrets that experts and top professionals use. Get results fast with this quick, easy guide to the fundamentals of Marketing. Includes how to: • Position your product for a target market. • Build a brilliant marketing plan. • Create stunning branded marketing materials. • Use memorable publicity to build market interest. • Take advantage of new technology.

The communication secrets that experts and top professionals use. Get results fast with this quick, easy guide to the fundamentals of Communication. Includes how to: • Use body language to build rapport with anyone • Deal with clients and colleagues at all levels • Get what you want in sales or negotiation • Excel in meetings and presentations • Master email and written communication.

The secrets that experts and top professionals use to get things done. Get results fast with this quick, easy guide to the fundamentals of Getting Things Done. Includes how to:• Get more done in less time• Manage upwards, downwards and sideways• Under-promise and over-deliver• Overcome difficult people and issues• Deliver projects on time and on budget

The interview secrets that experts and top professionals use. Get results fast with this quick, easy guide to the fundamentals of Interviews. Includes how to: • Research the needs of the employer • Focus the interview on your strengths • Use body language to impress • Deal with difficult questions • Negotiate the perfect package.

The meetings' secrets that experts and top professionals use. Get results fast with this quick, easy guide to the fundamentals of business meetings. Includes: • Why have meetings? • Prepare well for meetings • Chairing a meeting • Taking minutes • Giving a presentation • Taking part in a meeting • After the meeting

The selling secrets that experts and top professionals use. Get results fast with this quick, easy guide to the fundamentals of Selling. Includes how to: • Pitch your product to meet the needs of your customer. • Use body language to build rapport. • Negotiate and close the deal. • Make your customers keep coming back for more. • Develop new business relationships.

The presenting secrets that experts and top professionals use. Get results fast with this quick, easy guide to the fundamentals of Presenting.