Disclaimer: This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and readability. Filler words were removed, sentence structure was improved, and the conversation was formatted for easier reading while preserving the original meaning and tone.
Henry Harrison:
Today, I want to welcome to the show—Entrepreneurs, Business, and Finance—the fantastic, dynamic Dianna Booher. Welcome, Dianna.
Dianna Booher:
Henry, it’s good to be with you.
Henry Harrison:
We became friends because Dianna is a legend around here—books, speaking, coaching. I joined the National Speakers Association, and she helped me with some of my material. I haven’t done much speaking lately, but that’s how we got to know each other.
I searched “Dianna Booher books,” and you just keep scrolling. It’s phenomenal. You’ve written 50 books and sold over 4 million copies. For business publishing, that’s incredible.
Is there anyone else writing 50 books?
Dianna Booher:
Probably novelists. I’m not sure about business books or how-to books, but novelists—Danielle Steel and others—have written a lot.
Henry Harrison:
For a business author, it’s extraordinary. Your publishers include Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, McGraw Hill, and HarperCollins.
You’ve consulted for Fortune 500 companies. They still call you. What have you been able to do that so many people want your help with?
Dianna Booher:
Book writing and book publishing were my entry into entrepreneurship. I didn’t start out thinking I’d build a business around it.
When my first business book came out, I was on an ABC lead-in to the news—about a three-minute segment. The results were immediate. People started calling constantly.
Even before the book was released, I was calling clients and saying, “I’m the author of a forthcoming book. Can I come talk to you about helping your people communicate better?” People like meeting authors.
That publicity opened doors with Fortune 500 companies. I couldn’t be a football player or movie star, so I had to figure out what would give me an entry point.
Henry Harrison:
You didn’t just consult solo—you built a training business with employees and a broader operation.
Dianna Booher:
Yes. At one point I had 14 employees. That’s not huge compared to big corporations, but it’s significant for a consulting company outside the major firms.
Every time I wrote a book, I turned it into a course and trained others to deliver it. Sometimes Fortune 500 clients would say, “We have trainers. We just need your content.” So I licensed the material.
But I never intended to build a business. I didn’t want to manage people. I wanted a solo entrepreneur lifestyle. Even when I had others delivering programs, I tried to keep my own role structured that way.
Henry Harrison:
And you sold that business.
Dianna Booher:
I sold the training company in 2017. I still do some keynotes, but I try not to travel because I don’t enjoy airplanes.
Clients still call me—executives who’ve been at IBM or Lockheed or Raytheon for years and decide they want to expand their influence by writing a book. Sometimes they want help with a title. Other times they want support through the whole process—writing, marketing, launching.
That became a secondary venture after 2017.
Henry Harrison:
Your latest book is Faster, Fewer, Better Emails. One example of how you identify a topic and build a full book around it.
Dianna Booher:
I stumbled into the whole concept of writing how-to and business books through a conversation years ago.
I was having lunch with a vice president at a major oil company. He asked what I was doing. I said I’d finished my master’s degree and a novel, and I was thinking about writing more.
He said, “Can you teach engineers to write? None of us can write.” He mentioned they paid someone a lot of money to come in and teach report writing. He brought back her book—it was self-published.
I thought, if I write a book, I want a major publisher. But the bigger realization was: there’s a real need. Lawyers, engineers, analysts—people doing complex work who need to communicate clearly.
That’s how I got started.
Then IBM saw me on that ABC segment and called. They said, “We need help with writing, but also presentation skills.” I told them I didn’t know much about presentation skills—so I said I’d research it, write a book, and build a course.
Then I realized writing and presenting connect to customer service too. At first I resisted that idea, but the core issue was the same: people not communicating effectively. That became another book, another course.
My topics came from what clients told me they needed.
Henry Harrison:
You focused on building a product you could sell forever. Communication became the core.
Dianna Booher:
Yes. That first business book was about writing, and it got attention partly because it was written in an unusual format—like actual reports someone might create.
It was concise—just over 100 pages. It took me four days to write. I asked friends for good and bad samples, removed identifying details, and used those samples in the book.
I’ve always looked at it this way: writing a book is private and solo, but once you launch it and invest the time, you want to resell it and resell it.
Companies licensed the content. I had software companies and major brands buy packages around it. I had multiple publications running spreads about different companies licensing it—all in one month.
I spent four days creating that first core material, and I’ve resold it for decades in different forms.
There are licensing agents who want to develop products from your knowledge. Once you start thinking, “How do I get a better return on the time I spent creating this?” writing a book can be one of the most effective ways.
Henry Harrison:
You’ve always seemed to enjoy your work. My dad used to say, enjoy your work because you’ll spend so much of your life doing it.
Dianna Booher:
That’s true. And the way I got started came from finding something I liked to do.
My husband was struggling with severe depression at the time. I had two toddlers, and I knew I had to make a living.
I went to our business pastor at church and asked, “How am I going to do this?” He asked, “What do you like to do?” I hadn’t thought about it that way.
I said, “I used to like writing English compositions in school, but how do you make a living doing that?” He said, “I didn’t ask how you’d make a living. I asked what you like to do. Figure out what you like, then you’ll find a way to make a living at it.”
I went to the library—this was before online research—and checked out about 30 books from the 800 section. I taught myself the process.
That mindset—start with what you like, then build a way to earn from it—changed everything.
Henry Harrison:
When you were a kid, would you have ever imagined you’d become an author or entrepreneur?
Dianna Booher:
No. I didn’t know any authors.
My early idea of being a writer was: put a card table in the bedroom, put the typewriter on it, write a book, send it off, and wait for the movie version. That’s how little I understood the process.
I started by writing a novel. When the Houston Chronicle did a large feature on my work, I had 32 calls to my answering service from people asking for help.
That’s how the company developed. I realized I could turn it into a course. But I never planned that.
My parents weren’t in business. My dad was a farmer. I didn’t have a business model in front of me. It grew around me doing what I loved and figuring it out as I went.
And I had mentors who helped because I didn’t know anything about running a business, hiring, or managing finances.
Henry Harrison:
What are your plans now?
Dianna Booher:
I plan to keep coaching. People call for editing. I love that work.
It’s a lifestyle business now—one I can manage around family. Technology helps. If there’s an emergency, my phone is my office. I can still talk to clients and make it work.
That’s why I love the entrepreneurial lifestyle. You control your time, your goals, your success, and your direction.
Henry Harrison:
Tell us a little about your email book. I just talked with someone who reorganized his email because it was piling up and causing stress.
Dianna Booher:
That book focuses on email behavior and decision-making, not basic etiquette.
People often treat email as something to “get through,” and they respond too quickly. Sometimes a colleague asks for input and the response becomes a knee-jerk reply. If they paused, they would make a better decision and give a better answer.
I also cover productivity problems: copying too many people, keeping email open all day, getting distracted by notifications—like Pavlov’s dog. Those habits break focus.
I also wrote a book on executive presence that still sells extremely well—Creating Personal Presence: Look, Talk, Think, and Act Like a Leader.
In that book, I put intangible leadership signals into four categories. You can’t teach integrity. But you can teach people how to present themselves, communicate clearly, and interact with influence.
Those skills matter for entrepreneurs, executives, and anyone facing customers.
Henry Harrison:
When we worked together, we focused on clarifying a message through writing. I practice that now. If I can’t write it down clearly, I don’t fully know what I’m trying to do.
Dianna Booher:
I’m glad you mentioned that. A quote of mine gets used frequently: “If you can’t write your message in a sentence, you can’t say it in an hour.”
When I coach people writing a book, their idea is often still fuzzy. They have several directions they could take. If they can’t express it in one sentence, it’s not ready.
It’s usually not a writing problem. It’s a thinking problem.
Henry Harrison:
What would you wrap up with?
Dianna Booher:
We all face challenges—health issues, business setbacks, family needs. But there’s always a way to learn. There’s so much information available now.
And hire the best people you can. I didn’t start out wanting to manage. I had to learn how to hire, and I made mistakes.
Mentors were invaluable, especially when I didn’t have those skills.
Henry Harrison:
That’s a great wrap. Thank you, Dianna. You’ve been an inspiration to me and to many people.
Dianna Booher:
Thank you. It’s great to be with you.
Henry Harrison:
Thank you.
