Thank Goodness It's Monday #371

CHECK YOUR ATTITUDE THEN

STRIVE TO EXPRESS, NOT IMPRESS 

Why do so many executives, lawyers, scientists, and engineers sound like executives, lawyers, scientists, and engineers when they write? 

As a mentor of mine – John L. Beckley -- a prominent executive noted for his clear writing would routinely point out --

 

“Because they wouldn’t want people to think of them in any other way.”

 

His analysis continued: “They’re more concerned about the personal impression they make than about the message they deliver.”

Attitude check. 

 

The biggest stumbling block to clear communicating – especially via the written word – isn’t a matter of technique or even writing ability. 

It’s a matter of mental attitude. Mr. B (and yes, he was known and addressed as  Mr. B or, sometimes, JB) maintained, the reason most people don’t write better is –

Because they are too self-centered.

Self-centeredness is the curse of good writing.

In all good writing, one person – and one person alone – is important:

THE READER

Yet what happens when the average exec or business person sits down to write a memo or report or bit of ad copy or blog post or online bio or social media commentary or …or …?

Somewhere inside his or her conscious or unconscious mind an insidious thought raises its head:

What will the reader think of ME?

The more that thought interferes with concentrating on the reader -- answering the readers ever present question “What does this mean to me?” -- the poorer the writing will be.

TGIM ACTION IDEA: In writing of any kind, the important thing is to plant an idea in the reader’s mind or to stimulate feelings or emotions.

·         Perhaps you work for the largest, most powerful organization in your industry.

·         Perhaps your entrepreneurial business is uniquely linked to traits or skills that are uniquely yours.

Either way, or at any place in between, when you start to write – 

FORGET IT! Remember, your audience, your corporation or market, consists of people.

You are writing to people.

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: Write to express, not impress. Write in the same language you would use if you were to carry on a conversation across a pleasant restaurant table during an enjoyable meal. As much as possible given the subject matter, keep the tone pleasant and friendly. Get politely to the point, wrap it up, and wish your “correspondent” well.

And what happens when an executive or entrepreneur comes along who isn’t trying to impress anybody; who’s just trying to get his or her ideas across in the simplest, clearest fashion for the reader?

Impressive payoff: More often than not, this person impresses far more than those who are striving to be impressive.

Thanks for everything JB. I hope I’ve done right (and write) by my old mentor and there was something worthwhile in this TGIM for you. 

Geoff Steck   
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com

P. S. “And how is clarity to be achieved? Mainly by taking trouble and by writing to serve people rather than to impress them.” F.L. Lucas (1894-1967), a quite impressive English classical scholar, literary critic, poet, novelist, playwright, political polemicist, and Fellow of King's College, Cambridge said that.