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Letitia Baldrige's New Complete Guide to Executive Manners
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Sales rank 52,762
Customers rating (based on 13 reviews)
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After sixteen printings in its first edition and two in this updated version, this bestseller remains America's most complete guide to the hidden asset that isn't taught in business schools -- the personal behavior that can make you or break you in today's competitive workplace. Letitia Baldrige takes the reader from the first interview and first day at work through all the complex knowledge we need to maneuver through the ranks and rise to the top. WHAT THIS BOOK REVEALS: * The ten major problems at work that never existed before, but which everyone from trainee to CEO must learn to handle today * The twenty-four hallmarks of those who "work smart" today * Which behaviors accepted a short time ago may spell disaster today * The new codes concerning dress...language...socializing with colleagues...behavior when traveling and at conferences or meetings * What degree of informality is acceptable today -- and with whom * What you must know about the new manners relating to diversity...plurality...family values...sexual freedom...and substance abuse problems...about hiring and firing...and much more * A total update on today's business entertaining, from lunch with a guest at your desk to planning parties for thousands * Running meetings, from interoffice to international * Corresponding in every form, from traditional to high-tech electronics...forms of address...Plus the hidden rituals of business life that a polished professional on the rise must learn to handle with poise and confidence As life at work becomes increasingly pressured, everyone needs to know more about improving interpersonal relations. You'll learn exactly what to do, what to say, and how best to present yourself, from this extraordinary guide. Plus -- it's good reading!
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| Publisher | Scribner | | Release date | 10/1993 | | Availability | | | Edition | Hardcover |
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 Excellent Reference Book For the Serious Professional
This Book covers a multitude of subjects that are not covered in other books. I'm glad I didn't waste my money on any other book...a must for the serious professional.
 if the last version was any indication.....
I will admit to not reading the updated version. However, in the last version it read, "a woman should not wear pants on the job...some men simply don't feel comfortable with a woman wearing pants; the woman may unconsciously be threatening to her male colleagues. To me, this is reason enough for female managers not to wear pants in the office."
Palleeeeeeze.
Excellent Book From The Basics to the Ultimate
This is one of the books I recommended to my MBA students. As others have noted it may go beyond the needs of 90% of the high achievers. However, her coverage of the basics is through and very readable.
Sadly we went through several generations where manners were seen as a sign of mindless conformance rather than the foundational courtsies and respect which make life more meaningful and rewarding.
Part of the problem is that most people do not know both the importance of good manners and the essentials. In a business world increasingly diverse it is even more important.
I have also recommended the book to undergraduate students leaving the more casual west for some of the more elite east coast schools. While on campus behavior will often follow the script of Animal House, a different set of expectations may hold if they visit their friend's families in the east.
Most MBA students leave school deeply in debt, there's no use digging a deeper hole due to a lack of knowledge.
 A good reference book on the subject
This book covers manners for many situations at the office, and much more. It could be useful to anyone who works in an office with other people.
It does not address certain topics such as internet messaging which is becoming more common in the office these days...but most of the general information presented can be applied to different situtations as the reader sees fit.
 Manners Need to Be Revived Today.
This book, written by an etiquette expert, not only covers the business world but gives advice to the ordinary citizen. She tells how to act and not act in foreign lands so as not to show rudeness toward the local customs. "As life at work becomes increasingly pressured, everyone needs to know more about improving interpersonal relations."
In Sunday's local paper, there was an article "Do clothes still make the man -- or woman?" in which a former chief deputy clerk in the District Court gives accounts of how the judges treated jury members and defendants who were not properly dressed according to his wishes. Ties were required as was dress wear instead of just being clean and properly groomed. He bases his account on the 'Andy Griffith show' which still plays on local television, and used Amy Vanderbilt's 1972 "Guide to Gracious Living" about how to greet people on the street. Well, he is an older man, granted, but he does not follow his own advice. I saw him coming out of the History Center on the main street of town, when he acknowledged he knew me, he turned and walked around the block so as not to have to converse with me. He critized the way people dress today in public and asks, "Whatever happened to class?" According to this volume, which is a bit outdated but not as much as the Vanderbilt guide he used, a woman should dress according to her profession.
"You should dress professional" if they want to receive the admiration of the public they are purportedly representing. A man should never wear frayed shirt collars and cuffs. Her advice: "Know who you are" and dress accordingly. In the Northeast, you must never wear white shoes and accessories after Labor Day, but that doesn't apply to the South. A good rule for both sexes is "Never dress in clothes that are too tight; they make a thin person look gaunt and a large person twice as heavy."
When traveling abroad, remember that "white is the symbol of mourning in the Far East" so don't wear white and, when facing the possibility of having to remove your shoes in certain places, be sure you have brought some socks. "Loud colors are too conspicuous" unless, of course, you are in Hawaii or some exotic travel destination where others favor the bright designs. "Leave your flashy, loud-colored clothing at home."
When at a foreign meeting, "never hold a negotiation or any kind of important business meeting ... without supplying a good interpreter" and using the expertise of such. The current U.S. president Bush needed one in China recently when he said several inappropriate things and acted silly when he should have been at least pretending to be civilized, as the spokesman for this country. His behavior was not acceptable for his position. In the November 'Esquire,' some phrases not to use in the U.K. derived from DIVIDED BY A COMMON LANGUAGE" A GUIDE TO BRITISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH: "tramp," "bummer," and "shagging flies." Once you return home to the States, forget you ever heard: "Keep your pecker up," "Give me a tickle," and "Knock me up," among other equally vulgar-sounding expressions.
Nicknames used in business, especially on the telephone, can destroy any semblance of dignity in that office. Your voice and the way you use it make a big difference. "In business, you want to sound authoritative, educated, in charge -- but also friendly and approachable. The balance is important." The voice answering the telephone and speaking for you "reflects your executive image." The choice of words can make or break a man. "A good vocabulary helps a person to make good conversation and to communicate well; it also affects the quality of the voice affirmatively." A person who used distinguished words properly sound distinguised and makes you want to listen." A good conversationalist is well-informed and an active reader of books, magazines, and newspapers; polite; interested in others; and enthusiastic and alive. Critical or snide references to people in the workplace should be discouraged at all costs. "Offensive language against a minority or an international is unacceptable; if you put somebody down because that person is different from you, it's unfair, you're wrong, you make an enemy, and you could get it right back in your face." Most of all, we need to remember to show respect for the other human being, no matter what his level of culture and intelligence.
Letitia Baldrige has had a sparling career in diplomatic service. As the 'chief of staff' for Jacqueline Kennedy, she made headlines with her book, OF DIAMONDS AND DIPLOMATS, which I encouraged the Magazine Club to furnish for the local library as a memorial gift in 1968. Other books she has written besides her guides on etiquette and manners (a set of behavior rules vs. "how one values another's self-steem"), she has written IN THE KENNEDY STYLE: MAGICAL EVENINGS AT THE WHITE HOUSE, A LADY FIRST: MY LIFE IN THE KENNEDY WHITE HOUSE AND EMBASSIES IN PARIS AND ROME (2002), and her latest, NEW MANNERS FOR NEW TIMES (2003). This book is good advice to everybody, even if you are not a manager or executive of some company.
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