Courtland Bovee:
Almonds not his thing

Growing up the way he did gave him a business sense. Bovee's textbooks include Business Communication Today, which went into its fourth edition in 1996, and Excellence in Business Communication, both used by more than 200,000 students each edition. In addition, with John Thill as co-author, Bovee wrote Business Today, Marketing, Management and Advertising Excellence. In all, six books carry Bovee's name on the cover.

After surveying business communication instructors on what they felt current books were lacking, Bovee and Thill saw a clear need for a new book. They ventured into the real world, interviewing scores of business people at companies large and small. The result: Business Communication Today was published in 1985, complete with chapter-opening profiles about real people at real companies. Those vignettes, some say, made Business Communication Today the leader in its field.

"John and I decided to create a book that was truly unique -- a text that takes students into real organizations and introduces them to people who have to communicate effectively in their jobs every day," Bovee said. The two authors included everything the market survey demanded: real-world examples, checklists, documents for students to analyze, and special feature boxes. Business Communication Today, used by more than 1 million students, is the most successful text ever published in the field.

A few things that have made the text stand out include the use of fully formatted sample solutions in the instructor's manual to every letter and memo-writing case in the book. It also emphasizes intercultural communication, ethics and the use of technology. "We focus on cultural diversity and its impact on communication in the workplace today," Bovee said in an interview. "We discuss the importance of ethics in this era of wavering ethical behavior, and we explain the ways technological tools can help people produce effective business messages." Bovee is also co-author of Business Today, Marketing, Management, and Advertising Excellence.

Reducing speaker anxiety is one thing that makes Bovee's latest textbook, Excellence in Public Speaking, stand out. Anxiety, Bovee says, is suprisingly not addressed in other texts to the degree it should be. "I saw room for an innovative book using the same approach as the business texts," Bovee said, "including maintaining a highly practical approach to the subject matter, cultural issues and the impact of technology, especially the Internet."

Bovee is himself a leading speaker. As one of the nation's leading advocates and trainers of clear and effective business writing, he is a highly regarded communications consultant, conducting dozens of training seminars for the U.S. Navy in San Diego. "The military uses a lot of jargon, causing communication problems with civilians and contractors," Bovee said. "I teach them to write in a clear, effective way to people outside of the military."

Bovee also serves on the editorial advisory board of Letter Perfect, a newsletter dedicated to the improvement of corporate communications. Many employees companies hire may not have had formal courses in business communication, Bovee said. "The Number One in-house training courses are in business communication," he said. "That's why a lot of students keep my business writing text. It's a very practical book to refer to once on the job."

Bovee is also into business in other ways. He has ownership in San Diego loan and publishing businesses and takes an active role in both. He is also a member of the Association for Business Communication, American Marketing Association, American Management Association, American Academy of Advertising and TAA.

He graduated with business degrees from Shasta College in 1965, the University of North Dakota in 1967 and the University of Tennessee in 1968. He has spent his entire teaching career at Grossmont College in San Diego, where he now holds the C. Allan Paul Distinguished Chair. "I love San Diego," he said. "I can't think of another place I'd rather be. Because Grossmont College only has 16,000 students, which is small for California, Bovee said, "it gives me the opportunity to give students individual help."

His co-author, John Thill, had been a student in one of Bovee's advertising classes in 1976. Bovee said Thill so impressed him with his writing and organizational skills that eight years later he asked him to join him in authoring Business Communication Today. The two have collaborated on projects ever since.

Unlike some other writing teams, Thill said, he and Bovee have never had an argument over a project. "We complement each other," Thill said. "We each have strengths and weaknesses that bring something to the project." As an instructor, Bovee receives very high ratings, Thill said. "He uses humor to make the material interesting," Thill said. "Many students still keep in contact with him years later."

— reported by Kim Pawlak, 1997