![]() But once you learn those things, it’s actually easier to write that way. It’s work to learn to give up bad habits like meandering sentences in favor of bullet points and subheads. ![]() Take a close look at that argument, because it really says “Let’s put the onus on the reader to figure things out, rather than doing our job as writers and helping readers get meaning.” So don’t tell me I’ve taken the joy out of it.) It’s too much work to write the way you say. ![]() ![]() (See, I just used “rhapsodic” in a business communication. Just don’t wax rhapsodic, you’ll lose your audience. You can still tell a story with facts and bullet points. My stylistic recommendations - to write brief, front-loaded text and avoid jargon, passive voice and weasel words, for example - leave plenty of room for art. They want to make decisions you need to help them. People don’t have time for entertainment. The purpose of business writing is to make a change in the reader. That’s why newspapers write “stories.” And that’s fine, if you’re writing for media. The purpose of media is to entertain and retain your attention. You’re taking all the joy and poetry out of writing. Whether it’s an email, a text message, or a report, you need to write well to succeed. No, businesspeople still need to communicate by writing. We’re all going to communicate by sending videos to each other all day. Unless you’re still using typewriters and carbon paper, of course. “We do it this way because we’ve always done it this way,” is a dumb argument. ![]() That makes it hard to concentrate, and demands a more brief, pointed writing style. As William Zinsser wrote in 1976, “We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills, and meaningless jargon.” What’s changed is that we read everything on a screen now. Why change?Īctually, business writing has been failing and driving people crazy for many decades. Business writing has worked fine for many decades. Here’s a set of objections and counterarguments for when people tell you you’re doing it wrong. A lot of people think my writing advice is wrong. When you apply the principles in my book at work, you’re going to encounter resistance, because the way I teach writing is not conventional. ![]()
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