I haven’t always been a professional writer and public speaker. Far from it. In fact, I started this business as a young mom with two small kids and a husband struggling with severe depression. Although I was substitute teaching a few days a month, I feared that my husband wasn’t going to be able to hold his job much longer and that I was about to become the sole support for our family.
“So what do you like to do?” a friend asked me, as we began brainstorming full-time job possibilities.
“I liked to write English compositions back in school. But how do I make a living doing that?”
“I suggest you find out,” my friend responded.
So I did. I drove to the library and checked out every book I could find on writing—from writing mysteries and romance novels, to writing inspirational articles and press releases, and even creating greeting card verses! Reading almost around the clock for about 3 weeks, I taught myself the principles of good writing—all the things that I failed to pick up in high school and college English classes—along with the process of writing and publishing a book.
Then over lunch with an engineer friend at Exxon, I told him my plan to write a business book on communication. “Do you think there’s a need?”
He burst out laughing. “Engineers can’t write! Do you have any idea how much time and money we waste rewriting reports?” He spent the next two hours over lunch on war stories.
So I put together a book proposal from what I’d learned in my reading. And voila! I got an agent and sold the book to Facts on File (hardcover) and Random House (paperback). Once the book was scheduled for release, I developed a training course around the book’s contents.
When the publisher sent me on an author tour, my phone began to ring. People called, asking if I could come speak to their organizations on the book’s topic.
To date, I’ve repeated that process 48 times—and built a team behind me to present the programs so that I could devote even more of my time to writing—both fiction and nonfiction. That’s my calling—my passion and the purpose God put me on earth to accomplish. To create life-changing communication that connects with people is my signature work.
Dianna Booher is the author of 48 books (available in 61 foreign-language editions, with nearly 4 million copies sold). She is pleased to be published by some of the top publishing houses in the world: Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster/Pocket Books, HarperCollins, Thomas Nelson, McGraw-Hill, and Berrett-Koehler.
PBS, Encyclopedia Britannica, SkillSoft, Nightingale-Conant, America Media, ModelOffice, InterCom, Made for Success, and Audible have also produced her work in many other formats for today’s audiences: audio, video, DVD, and online training programs.
Communication flaps and mishaps regularly make the news. That’s when the media solicit Dianna for opinions on critical workplace and family communication issues.
She has been interviewed by Good Morning America, USA Today, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, FOX, CNN, CNN International, CNBC, NPR, Dr. Laura Radio Show, The New York Times, The New York Post, Washington Post, Newsday, Bloomberg, Boardroom Reports, Investor’s Business Daily, Industry Week, Success, Entrepreneur, Glamour, Real Simple, Working Woman, among other national radio, TV, and newspapers.
Founder of Booher Consultants, a communication training firm, and then more recently founder of Booher Research Institute, Dianna has worked with more than a third of the Fortune 500 organizations and more than a dozen federal agencies to improve the way they communicate.
Clients have included IBM, ExxonMobil, BP, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, PepsiCo, Raytheon, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, American Airlines, Texas Instruments, NASA, the U.S. Navy, and the U.S. Army.
Dianna Booher has been delighted to speak at venues all around the world, including numerous international conferences in the United States, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Consequently, she has received the highest awards in the professional speaking industry.
Anyone today can publish a book. In this session, Dianna will show attendees how to SELL their book to a major publisher so that it gets wide distribution, receives the attention it deserves, and earns the author credibility and career advancement.
The work you put into preparing your presentation was reflected in thesynergy of your message with the day’s purpose, Frito-Lay Technology’s philosophy, and the other speakers. The feedback we received to date has been extremely positive.
Dianna Booher has changed the way corporate America communicates.
Absolutely a wonderful two days….Many participants commented on how practical your insights were and how they walked away with ways to apply what you taught. I enjoyed our time together and appreciated your energy and effort to meet our needs. I am looking forward to other chances to work with you in the future!
Your presentation itself was very dynamic and energetic — I especially like your use of humor to illustrate some very important communication concepts. I suppose there is a degree of pressure for a speaker who isknown as a ‘communication expert.’ But you certainly demonstratethat expertise and walk the talk!
The event succeeded our (high) expectations. Yesterday Scott spent considerable time relating our experience to the CEO of the company we are working closely with; I expect you will be hearing fromhim….There is a good possibility we will engage you for another event.
….your message on how to improve the quality of our business andpersonal communications was right on target. Thanks again for your perfectly focused messages.
Everyone is still talking about the Leadership Conference and the first thing they are mentioning still yet is how much they loved your content and style (engaging, dynamic, etc.). I hope this is the beginning of us staying connected and your firm making a new on-going client relationship.
