Published on September 15, 2025

ProComm Senior Life Member Dr. Daniel L. Plung has a new book on the shelves: The Art of Professional Communication: Strategies that Advance Careers (Routledge, published Oct 2024). The work covers many topics near and dear to the everyday work of ProComm members. A summary and more information is below.

Cover art for book by Daniel Plung, The ARt of Professional Communication

From General Motors’ “catastrophic breakdown in communications” that cost the company billions of dollars to Florence Nightingale’s innovative visualizations of information, The Art of Professional Communication: Strategies that Advance Careers employs vignettes and anecdotes to introduce major lessons learned over the course of a 40+ year career teaching and practicing professional communication.

Focusing on communication strategies and skills “characteristic of a promotable executive” and drawing broadly on his personal experience, Dr. Plung provides unique perspectives on negotiating the complex communication challenges encountered in business and industry. Chapters range from identifying and prioritizing the implicit constraints and expectations of communication assignments to knowing when “enough is enough”—self monitoring to ensure you’re staying on point in reports, presentations, meetings, and (even) in informal business conversations.

Interestingly, the concept for this book (his 7th) grew out of a 1991 IPCC conference. In that conference, chaired by Dr. Plung, he introduced the “Last Lecture Series.” The program invited senior scholars in the field of professional communication to present what they would consider a “final” lecture—lectures representing the compilation and summation of critical lessons they thought of most value to pass along to the community of professional communicators.
In addition to providing examples, graphics, and templates allowing themes and techniques to be readily translated into instruction in college classrooms or company training centers, Dr. Plung’s “lectures” not only validate the complexity and breadth of professional communication but also offer insights and perspectives that can prove valuable to professional communicators at all stages of their careers.

The Art of Professional Communication: Strategies that Advance Careers
Dr. Daniel L. Plung
Routledge Press, copyright 2025
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1032596503
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1032596501