More Bodhih Professional Playbooks
A practical guide for global professionals who already know English and want their emails answered, their voice heard in meetings and their ideas taken seriously by colleagues and clients in any country.
Speak Up, Write Right · Bodhih Professional Playbooks · 03 by Bodhih Training, trainers to 2,000+ companies since 2008.
Focus on clarity before grammar: put your main point first, use short sentences, choose phrases that travel across cultures, and practise speaking up early in meetings. Speak Up, Write Right by Bodhih Training gives you templates, a phrase bank and a 30-day plan with AI rehearsal prompts to build these habits.
You write carefully and politely, yet replies take days or never come. Often the request is hidden in the third paragraph, where a busy reader on a phone never reaches it.
You have a good point ready, but every time you take a breath, someone else starts talking. You leave meetings with ideas unsaid and a manager who wants to hear more from you.
Phrases that are normal where you work, like do the needful or kindly revert, puzzle colleagues abroad. And their phrases, like quite interesting, may mean something very different from what you hear.
When a client is angry or you need to say no to a senior leader, words that come easily at other times suddenly vanish. You agree to things you shouldn't, or say nothing at all.
Imagine next Monday's stand-up. Instead of waiting for a gap that never comes, you use a simple entry phrase, make your point in one clear sentence, and see your manager nod. It takes ten seconds, and it changes how the room sees you.
Picture your inbox on Wednesday. The follow-up you sent using the template in Chapter 3 has already been answered. The delay email you dreaded writing took four minutes, and your client thanked you for the early warning.
Now think about the client call you have been rehearsing with your AI coach. When the client pushes back, you notice how calm you feel as you acknowledge their concern, explain the trade-off and offer an alternative. You have said these words before, so they are there when you need them.
As you start using these scripts this week, you will find that confidence does not arrive first. It grows from the doing, one clear email and one spoken contribution at a time.
Every chapter starts with a real situation, gives you a method, and ends with something to do today.
Why fluent professionals still struggle at work, and how to use the book as a 30-day programme.
Bottom line up front, one idea per sentence and plain words, plus a four-question clarity check before you send anything important.
A respectful guide to regional phrases from South Asia, the Philippines, Africa and the Gulf that can confuse global readers, with alternatives that travel.
The five parts of an effective email, the politeness dial, and eight templates for follow-ups, delays, saying no, escalations, apologies and more.
Seven habits for clear, warm chat messages across time zones, including the greeting-plus-question rule.
The meeting ladder: phrases to enter, add, disagree politely, clarify and summarise, plus the early-word rule.
Decoding British understatement and American directness, saying no to clients, and running client calls well.
Safe topics, the answer-add-ask method, openers, polite exits and networking follow-ups.
The hook, point, proof, path structure, slides with sentence titles, signposting, and a calm method for questions.
A five-minute pre-talk routine, pace and pauses, word stress, and aiming for intelligibility rather than accent change.
The SBI model, calibrating directness across cultures, specific praise, and receiving feedback without defending.
How to prepare, open well, handle anger and raise concerns with senior people using listen, acknowledge, explore, agree.
Rules for using AI as a coach rather than a crutch, six practice prompts and a day-by-day 30-day plan.
How small daily habits add up to lasting confidence at work.
116 phrases sorted by situation, from requests and bad news to meetings, client calls and feedback.
Twelve more templates, including meeting recaps, extensions, handovers, payment reminders and scope pushback.
Word pairs spellcheck misses, word stress, sounds worth practising, and date and time formats that travel well.
Every outcome is practised in the book through worked examples and a short exercise.
Wanjiru joins the weekly regional call from Nairobi. There are eleven people on it, mostly in London and Johannesburg, and the conversation moves fast. Twice she has a point ready. Twice, as she takes a breath to speak, someone else starts talking. By the time a gap opens, the topic has changed. She leaves the call with her point unsaid and a familiar feeling: that people think she has nothing to contribute. Later, her manager mentions in a one-to-one that she'd "like to hear more from you in meetings". Wanjiru wants to say: I have plenty to say, I just can't find the door. This is one of the most common problems we see in our workshops, and it is almost never about English level. It's about turn-taking. In some cultures you wait for a clear pause or an invitation. In others, a small overlap is normal and shows engagement. When the two meet on a video call, the "wait for the gap" people lose out.
| Typical advice | This book | |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Grammar rules and vocabulary lists | Clarity, structure and confidence in real work situations |
| Regional English | Lists of Indian English mistakes | Respectful guidance on what travels well, for native and non-native speakers alike |
| Templates | A few generic email samples | 20 situation templates plus 116 phrases sorted by situation |
| Speaking | General tips to be confident | Exact entry, disagreement and clarification phrases, plus pace and stress techniques |
| Practice | Read and hope it sticks | A 30-day plan with AI role-play prompts and a reflection worksheet |
Bodhih Training has designed and delivered corporate programmes since 2008 for leadership teams, new managers, sales and service teams, and whole organisations. The Bodhih Professional Playbooks distil what works in those workshops into books you can use on a Tuesday morning, without a facilitator in the room.
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Read on your phone tonight, or on your commute tomorrow. Do the first "Do this today" exercise and notice the difference.
Pick one template, one meeting phrase and one AI prompt, and use them before Friday. Whether you read it tonight or on your commute tomorrow, Day 1 of your 30-day plan is only fifteen minutes away.
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Daily AI speaking practice, checkpoints and a certificate you can share.
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Certification pathways in Applied AI, Workplace English and management.
Measure your skills with AI-graded assessments and verified credentials.
Turn what you learn into an individual development plan that stays yours.
Book a vetted coach for career, leadership or communication. Pay per session.
Run this book as a workshop for your team, in person or live online.
Prepare one sentence on an agenda item, use a polite entry phrase such as Can I come in here?, and speak once in the first ten minutes. Chapter 5 gives you a five-step meeting ladder with phrases for entering, adding, disagreeing, clarifying and summarising.
Use a subject line that names the topic and action, put your request in the first sentence, keep context short, and end with who does what by when. Chapter 3 and Appendix B include 20 templates you can adapt.
Acknowledge the other person's view, give your own view with a reason, and offer a way forward. Avoid starting with I agree, but, which cancels the agreement. The book includes word-for-word scripts for meetings and client calls.
No. They are standard in Indian English and other varieties. They can confuse readers in other countries, though, so for clients and mixed audiences it helps to name the specific action and deadline instead. Chapter 2 covers this respectfully.
The book aims for clarity, not accent change. It focuses on the few features that most affect understanding, such as word stress, final consonants and pace, and explains how to practise them.
No, but it helps. The prompts work in ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Copilot or your company's approved assistant, and the book explains how to protect confidential information when you use them.
Yes. The Bodhih Workplace English pathway at bodhih.org/pathways/bodhih-workplace-english builds the same skills with structured lessons and AI speaking practice. The book works on its own or alongside it.
AssessAll offers English and communication assessments that can show your strengths and gaps before you start. Many readers find it useful to retest after the 30-day plan.
If you would like personal coaching, you can find a communication coach on Pewple and use this book as your shared toolkit.
Yes. The standard purchase is a personal licence. For team or company licences, email solutions@bodhih.com.
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Yes. Team and company licences, and workshops based on the book run by Bodhih Training, are available. Write to solutions@bodhih.com or call +91 99000 11601.
