Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: Executives, emerging leaders, managers, business owners, and any professional who aspires to one day lead a company or work in a management role.

Q: What is the book about?
A: In today’s turbulent economy, more managers and executives than ever need to become leaders of employees – and that requires they know how to motivate and inspire a workforce like the most forward-thinking CEO.

“Motivating like a CEO” means connecting people with purpose and passion toward a common goal. This book addresses the necessity for leaders to discover purpose; communicate it to employees in a clear and powerful way; connect them to it in a shared sense of purpose; and help them fulfill their own, individual purposes.

Motivate Like a CEO will show you how to:
• Inspire people to embrace and share your vision
• Speak with energy and confidence in tough situations
• Turn challenges into opportunities
• Get your team engaged, in the loop, and tracking real results
• Make time in your schedule for sharing your message of motivation throughout your company

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: As the founder and CEO of Bates Communications, Inc., I’ve worked with top leaders and CEOs of companies from the Fortune 500 to startups on improving their communication skills. My team helps these leaders and emerging leaders deliver powerful speeches, successful sales presentations, impactful media interviews, and develop strategic communications plans. Over the years, we’ve noticed one factor that makes successful companies stand out from the rest – their leaders’ ability to motivate and inspire employees, customers, and stakeholders in any situation.

My first book, the bestselling Speak Like a CEO (McGraw Hill 2005), addressed the qualities leaders need to speak with impact and command attention. What evolved from that book was the need to address the motivational aspect of leadership communications. The companies that are going to succeed through these turbulent times are the ones whose leaders tell a genuine story, get people connected with a purpose and a vision, and inspire employees to discover their own passion. These are the companies that will achieve their strategic goals. Now, more than ever, I think this is essential for getting our economy back on track and rejuvenating our workforce.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: There are many books out there on motivation, and quite a few more on how to speak effectively, but this book ties in the two. I also wrote the book with executives and a business audience in mind, and interviewed dozens of successful CEOs and leaders who have found the “secret” to engaging their employees to achieve strategic goals.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: For me, one of the most exciting aspects of writing the book was being able to tell these unique, wonderful stories of CEOs and leaders who really “get it” – it being how to motivate and inspire. Some of the stories featured are those of the CEOs of Raytheon, Dow Chemical, and The North Face. One of the stories featured is that of a former executive of United Health who used the power of motivation and communicating a vision to get the entire company on board and “jazzed” about changing a long-standing operating procedure.

Lastly, I’m proud to announce that the book has been endorsed by many leading business authors (Marshall Goldsmith, Charles H. Green, Ken Blanchard) and CEOs themselves. Their thoughts can be found here: http://www.bates-communications.com/motivate/endorsements.php

More about the book can be found on my website: www.bates-communications.com/motivate/ or just by checking it out on amazon.com.

Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: Its intended audience is employed individuals of every age and at every work level from entry level to CEO who want to learn my 50 tips on how to keep their own job secure even during tough times.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: ABC World News Tonight’s Charles Gibson calls me “America’s Workplace Guru,” but what makes me most qualified to give this advice is years as a headhunter then as a broadcast journalist writing and reporting on the workplace genre.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: I can’t find any other book even close to giving this advice and how to save (keep) your job. Not one.

It is easy to read. I tell you what to do. I don’t coach you through it. I boss you through it. Easy.

Here are some tips from the book:

1. Set a Goggle alert with your boss’s name so you know if he or she ever gets stopped for a DWI or is in the media for anything (do this on your personal e-mail account and always fact check anything you find on the internet!)

2. Set a Technorati alert for your company and stay in touch with the blog chatter about your company – is it for sale?

3. Always have a “Viagara handshake” to seal a deal, then finish the handshake with “the Clinton.” What’s that? Read this book to find out.

4. Company gossip is gold and can help you bulletproof your job. However, never be known as the company gossip – just let him think he’s your “BFF.”

5. Bosses are trained to say “office politics don’t exist in this organization.” Only dumb employees believe that.

6. Mentees-mentors and networking: Create a sleeper cell of friends in your company and industry who will emerge in a time of crisis.

7. Career coaches are for sissies. If you need a career coach, you don’t have a career!

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: My family and I have many friends who serve in the armed forces and they represent a rainbow of race, religion, and sexual orientation.

I dedicate this book to all the men and women who serve our country throughout the world. In particular, this book is for those who serve in Afghanistan and Iraq, many of whom are returning home with a job to bulletproof.

I ask that we all help find them jobs upon their safe return. And I pray for those who will not return because their first job – protecting our freedom – cost them their lives.
Stephen Viscusi

The book is available for pre-sale online right now; it will appear in bookstores on September 2nd.  For more information, visit:
www.bulletproofyourjob.com 
www.harpercollins.com
www.harpercollinsspeakersbureau.com