After graduating from Sawyer Business School, Beverly Flaxington (BSBA '83, MBA '84) applied her knowledge and experience to author three business-inspired books, including two best-sellers, and her newest publication, Make Your SHIFT: The Five Most Powerful Moves You Can Make to Get Where YOU Want to Go.

“When I was a student, we had a number of classes on "real-world" business management courses,” Flaxington said. “I learned first-hand how important it was to tie theory to what was really going on with a business, and its people. In addition, I thrived in my English classes and learned that I really enjoyed writing.”

Make Your SHIFT is the subsequent novel to Flaxington’s previous book called, Make the SHIFT: The Proven 5-Step Plan to Success for Corporate Teams. Both books discuss strategies and techniques for achieving goals in the business setting and encourage readers to move past their own nature, the aspect that holds goal setters back the most.

This newest publication is structured into two basic parts. The first part describes details of Flaxington’s trademarked five-step process, SHIFT, and how it can be put into action. The second part discusses a relaxed approach to making change, including necessary methods, tools, and tips to make transitions more productive.

Her first book, Understanding Other People: The Five Secrets to Human Behavior, has been translated into several different languages, and Flaxington travels the world to speak about its contents.

She was recently interviewed on JAM’N 94.5FM, where she discussed her secrets to human behavior and how to prevent bullying. “I wrote the book because of the need that I saw out there to teach people how to deal with what we call ‘difficult people,’” Flaxington told radio host Gwen Blackburn. In the book, she emphasizes the importance of trying to understand other people’s differences rather than rejecting them.

Flaxington said her time at Sawyer Business School really helped inspire her to coach change in a business setting.

“The school gave me a well-rounded approach, but it was so steeped in what really works on the day-to-day, that it has stuck with me to find ways to convey information that really helps and brings about change,” she said.

In addition to her writing, Flaxington is also a current lecturer in the Sawyer Business School. Offering advice to current business students, she said, “Focus on relationships. Learn about yourself and about others. Learn how to listen, how to connect, how to frame your comments in terms of what matters to others. No matter how smart you are, or how good your product or service is, the ‘people element’ is critically important.”

Whether it’s authoring her books or back in Suffolk classrooms, Flaxington is always taking her own advice and staying productive, as she is currently working on her next publication. “I am working on a book right now that is a compilation of my blog postings,” she said. “The next one will be based upon my trademarked selling method, the Five Secrets to Successful Selling. I love to share workable and useful ideas!”