Frankly, good writing is rare
All of us have suffered through obtuse, boring business brochure-ware. Lots of jargon that means nothing.
Read and write a lot
It helps to read a lot. Helps you to pattern-recognize good writing. In particular, the Economist is excellence. Make an effort to be clear in your emails, speech, and client interactions. Play a game and try to use the fewest words.
Ask others to proof your work
All of writing styles vary, so be get diverse feedback. If a half dozen people are editing / correcting your composition, grammar, word choice, or document structure . .pay attention, change it, and say thank you.
Expect edits
However annoying it can be to have a partner or client who is a nit-pick about words and phrases, they are making you better. As it says in the bible, “iron sharpens iron.”
Tip #1: Explain things simply
This is the most common question / advice I give to junior consultants: “How would you explain this to your cousin?” If you can get the main points across in 90 seconds to someone who is not well-versed in this topic, you are in good shape. This implies that you have a tops-down, holistic understanding of the topic (MECE), and a point of view on what’s most important (think: pyramid principle)
Tip #2: Structure the document, email, conversation logically
Always remember that the document is there to help you. No matter how smart your words are, it’s useless if you have to struggle with a verbose, disorganized, or messy document. Words = clear. Document = clear.
- Document should be appropriate to the audience, venue, level of audience understanding, and call-to-action
- Use smart titles, headers, and other ways to organize the document
- Persuade; don’t just clobber them with facts, trivia, and data. Have a point of view.
Too often, consultants can verbally explain it to you clearly in 90 seconds, but oddly, none of those wonderfully clear, basic words are on the page. As a result, I tell them to blow up the PowerPoint slide, and re-do it with the words they just told me verbally.
Tip #3: Don’t ramble
Be succinct. It conveys a command of the content, respect for the audience’s time, and gravitas. All good stuff.
I’m sorry I wrote you such a long letter; I didn’t have time to write a short one. – Blaise Pascal
Thanks for the tips. I wonder if there is a general feeling that writing is somehow going out of style and won’t be needed as much in the future.
Good writing will always be valuable. So much information is in sound bites now a days that it is, admittedly, hard to slow down and slow-read.
A website I discovered recently which is about reading. Real reading and discovery. http://www.brainpickings.org/
Great advice. Many people end up spewing everything they know without giving thought to the audience and how it will be perceived. Poor subject lines and too much unnecessary detail hurt the communication process.
One of the most powerful writing lessons I ever learned was an exercise where to write 100 single syllable words (roughly a paragraph) about something important to us. The next day, we read them out loud and they were so powerful that people got teary-eyed listening to other people. Wow!
Try it!
BTW, single syllable word almost automatically bring down your grade level.
Completely awesome. Will do.
Reblogged this on researchesofjoannemariesworld and commented:
Re read what you wrote, edit, next day, read it again before pressing send
Great advice.
Clear communications is in desperate short supply. Internet = unlimited words with no transaction cost = lots of ill-organized, advertising-heavy, untargeted, verbose stuff.