In 1959 I was the most important sophomore in my high school. I ran the soda fountain at the local Howard Johnson’s. Every weekend almost every kid in my school dropped in for an ice cream soda or a sundae. They had to see the man. I was the man.
As my college commencement slowly faded to the last speech, my Uncle Jonas walked up and asked me what career I had chosen. I hadn’t chosen one. I immediately went back to work in the Howard Johnson’s.
Eventually I became a Vice President. I went on to build the Motel 6 Corp. as a regional Vice President, but missing direct customer contact, I decided to open my own restaurant in Santa Barbara, California. I loved that restaurant so much I opened six restaurants that I took public in 1985.
That’s when my writing career began. I wanted to share my experience building large organizations that work well together. I was invited to conduct seminars in communication for executives from the Fortune 500 and continued to write and speak about effective communication for the next 15 years.
The principles I followed and taught throughout my business and writing career are still the same and they still work. Let me put them to work for you in all your communication forms, whether written or spoken, whether in person or on the web.
Frank Bennett was a featured presenter at the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) in Los Angeles in 2004. Here is what they said about his work:
““No matter what type of organization you are in, you decide for yourself how you approach others and what kind of leadership style you project. If you want first-hand experience of a new way of leading that is founded on trust and honest communication, then this pre-conference program may be the most important step you take.””