BPEP · FOUNDATION · preview material

Business Protocol & Executive Presence

An applied study of protocol in commercial life: authority and accountability, introduction and precedence, meetings, the written register of business, hosting and being hosted, gifts and integrity boundaries, negotiation and disagreement, and presence under pressure.

Learning outcomes

Module 1 — Attribute decision rights and accountability correctly in a commercial room and act on that reading.
Module 2 — Execute introductions, forms of address and order of presentation across corporate, professional and official registers.
Module 3 — Convene, chair and contribute to meetings in person, virtual and hybrid so that dissent is recorded and attendance is proportionate.
Module 4 — Write in a register matched to seniority and audience, and judge correctly what a document commits the organisation to.
Module 5 — Plan and conduct commercial hospitality — meals, invitations, payment and site visits — so that the occasion serves the transaction and signals status and obligation correctly.
Module 6 — Apply a defensible framework to hospitality and gift decisions, correctly separating convention from obligation and identifying where jurisdiction- or employer-specific thresholds must be verified rather than assumed.
Module 7 — Negotiate and conduct difficult commercial conversations with courtesy that concedes no substance, holding position under pressure while preserving the relationship needed to close and to work together afterwards.
Module 8 — Sustain composure and credibility under adversarial questioning, execute a proportionate professional apology, and govern conduct outside the meeting so that it does not expose the organisation to reputational risk.

Syllabus

Module 1 — Module 1 — Authority, accountability and the commercial room

Attribute decision rights and accountability correctly in a commercial room and act on that reading.

1.1 Lesson 1.1 — What business protocol is for: attributing decision rights
1.2 Lesson 1.2 — Reading seniority when titles mislead
1.3 Lesson 1.3 — Standing, seating and spatial signals in commercial settings

Module 2 — Module 2 — Introduction, address and precedence in commercial life

Execute introductions, forms of address and order of presentation across corporate, professional and official registers.

2.1 Lesson 2.1 — The commercial introduction: naming the role, not only the person
2.2 Lesson 2.2 — Forms of address across corporate, professional and official registers
2.3 Lesson 2.3 — Delegations, hosts and order of presentation

Module 3 — Module 3 — Meetings: convening, chairing and contributing

Convene, chair and contribute to meetings in person, virtual and hybrid so that dissent is recorded and attendance is proportionate.

3.1 Lesson 3.1 — Convening: agenda, papers and the true cost of attendance
3.2 Lesson 3.2 — Chairing, turn-taking and dissent on the record
3.3 Lesson 3.3 — Virtual, hybrid and multinational sittings

Module 4 — Module 4 — The written register of business

Write in a register matched to seniority and audience, and judge correctly what a document commits the organisation to.

4.1 Lesson 4.1 — Register, seniority and the anatomy of a business email
4.2 Lesson 4.2 — Formal correspondence and documents of record
4.3 Lesson 4.3 — Minutes, escalation and the durability of writing

Module 5 — Module 5 — Hosting and being hosted commercially

Plan and conduct commercial hospitality — meals, invitations, payment and site visits — so that the occasion serves the transaction and signals status and obligation correctly.

5.1 Lesson 5.1 — The business meal: purpose, sequencing and when business begins
5.2 Lesson 5.2 — Venue, invitation and the mechanics of paying
5.3 Lesson 5.3 — Site visits and receiving a delegation

Module 6 — Module 6 — Hospitality, gifts and integrity boundaries

Apply a defensible framework to hospitality and gift decisions, correctly separating convention from obligation and identifying where jurisdiction- or employer-specific thresholds must be verified rather than assumed.

6.1 Lesson 6.1 — Why a gift is a governance question rather than a courtesy question
6.2 Lesson 6.2 — Declining, disclosing and recording
6.3 Lesson 6.3 — Cross-border gift expectation without stereotype

Module 7 — Module 7 — Negotiation, disagreement and difficult conversations

Negotiate and conduct difficult commercial conversations with courtesy that concedes no substance, holding position under pressure while preserving the relationship needed to close and to work together afterwards.

7.1 Lesson 7.1 — Courtesy that concedes no substance
7.2 Lesson 7.2 — Disagreement, escalation and mid-deal repair
7.3 Lesson 7.3 — Cross-border negotiating conduct

Module 8 — Module 8 — Executive presence, pressure and repair

Sustain composure and credibility under adversarial questioning, execute a proportionate professional apology, and govern conduct outside the meeting so that it does not expose the organisation to reputational risk.

8.1 Lesson 8.1 — Presence as reliability under observation
8.2 Lesson 8.2 — Error, apology and proportionate professional repair
8.3 Lesson 8.3 — Discretion, reputation and conduct outside the meeting