If you’ve had any experience sharing research findings with people outside the academy, then you know that knowledge mobilization is never about merely conveying knowledge. Nor is it about ensuring knowledge gets understood. Fundamentally, it’s about building relationships.

Often, however, we get so involved in the process of producing easy-to-digest content that we overlook the relationships that need cultivating.

Take the simple example of writing a news release for your organization’s websit…

The transition from academic writing to business writing can feel a bit like leaving the highway to go off-roading.

In the academy, the communication path is paved with clear expectations. The goal is usually to inform, explain, or teach. That means, the focus is on the subject matter, and the approach is to explore the subject systematically and thoroughly.

In the business world, however, the road to successfully communicating your ideas tends to be rockier. When you're writing for an industr…

As fascinating as I find the scholarship on persuasion and consumer behavior, I’ve learned far more about psychology from novelists than from social scientists.

The great American writer Henry James stands out among these timeless mentors, and a quote from him sums up much of my personal theory of communication:

“Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind.”

In this statement, the simplicity of the language speaks vo…