In this first episode, the three hosts discuss how language matters in business and show how communication, far from just passing on information, is used for many different functions in organisations. Their guest is Michael Handford,who has taught communication skills to and developed training materials for professionals in a variety of industries. They talk about communication textbooks and the need for large collections of real texts to improve them. The episode also features a short analysis of a text in which a management company seeks residents to comply with safety regulations.