Although people like to look at business as unemotional, you can’t get away from the fact that you have to have personal relationships with people. I’m not talking buddy-buddy, but without empathy and rapport, you won’t get very far.

An important part of a relationship is communication. You can’t not communicate. For instance, information – and the way you deliver it – will be very different for a client, your bank manager, or your staff – especially if you are looking for them to be engaged.

But some people within organisations don’t see this, which is a real pain if that person is at the top of the tree. As an outsider, there is nothing worse than seeing a company try and ‘sell’ themselves in a disengaging way. It makes sense to them so sod it if the other person is too stupid to get it.

Or, as in this example, a boss not empathising with the people that help make him money.

I saw (on TV) Warren Buffet talk to Columbia University students earlier this year and his one bit of advice post-MBA was to learn how to communicate. He himself attended a Dale Carnegie course when he was younger that he cites as being one of the best things he did.

I read Dale Carnegie’s How To Win Friends And Influence People a while ago and it still stands the test of time. And, one thing it has in common when it comes to communications is the same message the thousands of similar books will all suggest – ask questions and listen to the answers.