Kim Fabian, Are You Making the “Write” Impact? In a recent survey on my web site TellUrBoss.com, I asked people to weigh in on the most annoying workplace catch phrases and jargon. The findings provided a great list of “don’t’s” for corporate leaders (read the results here). Examples of the entries included: “synergy,” “for the good of the company,” “think outside the box,” and “operational excellence.” Often in their quest to sound official and important, managers and executives use these types of words and phrases that, in the end, only alienate or even irritate their readers. To foster greater respect and transparency, leaders should take a more approachable tone in their writing, especially when delivering bad news. People can see through the smokescreen of fancy words and initiatives. From what I’m hearing and observing, a straight-talking, back-to-basics approach yields the best results. Cheers to clarity, 
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September 2009 In Business Writing, Less is More Australian teacher and children’s writer Gerard Bauer said, “The voice is a second face.” It’s a quote that I use in my writing seminars to illustrate that the words we write create a powerful impression of who we are. Yet few people in the business world seem to care about the impression they’re conveying through their e-mails, PowerPoint presentations, memos and other written materials. Granted, most are not professional writers. Maybe they took the requisite grammar and writing classes in high school and college, but after years outside the classroom simply forgot (or never learned) the ways to have a more positive impact through the written word. The majority of everyday business writing I see is overly detailed, filled with jargon, sometimes pompous and often grammatically incorrect. But if I could make only one suggestion for improvement, I would tell business professionals to make their writing more concise. In one of the examples I use in my writing seminar, I take an actual memo written by the president of a major company and edit it to a third of its original size. What the memo lost in words, it gained in clarity and impact. In writing, less is more, especially in the midst of our time-crunched days. Take a look at your next communication before you send it and see if you can get the point across more effectively with less, rather than more. You may surprise yourself—and delight your readers! Put It into Practice: One of the easiest and quickest ways to tighten up your writing is to reduce redundancies and replace longer phrases with a single word. For example . . .
By reviewing your writing and asking yourself, “Can I say the same thing with fewer words,” you’ll take the first step to greater clarity and impact. Perform at Your Peak: Help the members of your staff write like pros by signing on for our signature seminar, The Write Impact. Participants will learn how to avoid common grammatical errors, reduce the use of jargon, create compelling content and much more.
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