I made a pretty decent living as a writer this year, and I’m grateful — not many writers can say that. I thought it might help other writers and whatever friends and fans I have out there to peek into how I did it, so here’s a retrospective of a writer’s life in 2017. I…
Randi Zuckerberg says she was harassed by another passenger on Alaska Airlines, and the flight crew enabled him. She tweeted about it to get the airline’s attention. Is it fair to use your social media following to get satisfaction from a company behaving poorly? Was Randi Zuckerberg’s letter fair? Randi Zuckerberg is an author, Facebook’s…
As I look back on a long and fairly successful career, it’s become clear to me that the disasters, screwups, flops, and efforts that fell decisively short of the goal are the ones that I learned the most from. I started smart, but the flops were where I learned what mattered. On Thanksgiving, I’d like…
Kathy Klotz-Guest and I will be sharing a Facebook Live video session today at 2PM Pacific, 5PM Eastern. You can sign up for it here. What will happen? Here’s what we know so far . . . Kathy is not only a marketing expert, but a professional improv performer. That is her in the picture….
Thank you. All I ever wanted to do was write. You have rewarded me by reading, responding, challenging me, and in a few cases, hiring me. As my blog hits 2 million views today, I’d like to reflect on what’s happened so far and what’s in the future. A few key milestones I launched this…
The PRSA 2017 International Conference is in Boston this year, starting this weekend. My talk on Monday at 5pm is called “How to Think Like an Analyst (or Influence One).” It’s in the Suffolk room at the Marriott Copley Place. I’ll be covering topics including: What is a thought leader? How are thought leaders different…
Just because you’re talented doesn’t mean you need to be arrogant. That’s what I learned from my remodeling contractor, and it’s my philosophy, too. I recently launched a significant remodeling job on my 100-year-old house: rip and replace everything in our two main bathrooms; replace a rotting front portico; and update a laundry room with…
If your high school or college students are about to go back to school, put a copy of “Writing Without Bullshit” in their schoolbags. (Assuming, of course, that your school isn’t offended by a little plain language.) It’s the perfect antidote to the outdated and ossified methods so many writing teachers use. Start them off…
Not any time soon. Computers are getting much better at identifying writing problems — passive voice, excessive adverbs, misspelled words, the wrong form of “its.” They’re not so good at suggesting answers. And they’re a long way from understanding conceptual and structural issues. From Jacob Brogan’s piece in Slate, “Microsoft’s Grammar and Style Rules Will…