Florida Tomorrow is a belief...
that the bottom line isn’t the only thing that counts.
The Business of Communication
In business, communication matters. So much so, in fact, that American corporations spend $3.1 billion each year helping employees become better writers and speakers. Business icon Lee Iacocca, former CEO of Chrysler Corp., considered good communication
skills an integral part of success.
“You can have brilliant ideas,” he said once, “but if you can’t get them across, your brains won’t get you anywhere.”
That simple truth is the heart of the mission at UF’s Warrington College of Business Administration’s Center for Management Communication. It’s the center’s job to make sure UF’s students have the writing and public speaking skills to thrive in the business world.
That’s important, says Fiona Barnes, the center’s director. She points out a U.S. Department of Education report that notes that college graduates with strong writing skills earn three times more, on average, than their peers.
The concept that communication and business go hand-in-hand is nothing new. Warrington College recognized that long ago. What makes that especially crucial now, however, is that more and more society is functioning in information-based economy, where the difference between reward and failure can be the direct result of effective communication — in memos, letters, e-mail, reports and presentations. The Center for Management Communication, Barnes says, can correct “the inadequate communication skills of otherwise well-prepared students.”
The center serves 250 students a semester. Barnes, though, anticipates that number will continue to grow. She believes the writing and public speaking courses offered through the center could someday become a core in the curriculum and a touchstone for a minor in business writing.
All indications are that the center is on that path. One of the courses offered through the center is called Writing in Business. In 2006-07, two students in that class entered the Association for Business Communication’s national writing competition. It was the first time anyone in the Center for Management Communication had bothered entering a contest of any kind. Nevertheless, UF’s students won first and third place.
While that sort of recognition is appreciated, it’s just a mere reflection of the center’s role in the business world of the 21st century, Barnes insists. Through rigorous training, tomorrow’s businessmen and businesswomen will have the written, oral and non-verbal communication skills to do well in the workplace. Those alumni and their companies, Barnes says, will be the real winners.
