Intel just announced a “restructuring.” The email to employees from CEO Brian Krzanich is very clear, but something’s missing: humanity and responsibility. Here’s the email with the weaselly parts highlighted (and yes, there are fewer of them than in many emails of this type). E-mail to Employees by Intel CEO Brian Krzanich Subject: Today’s Announcement Date: April 19, 2016…
What’s wrong with your writing? If you think it’s too long, you’re probably right. While you may not realize you have organization and clarity problems, your readers do. Early this year, I surveyed 547 business writers (details below*). This is my first post about the data from that survey. One question I asked was this: In…
What do you do when you have too much talent for your job? If you’re overqualified, you can pretend to be stupider than you are. Or you can apply your talents to whatever you’re doing, and find out you’re not overqualified after all. I always had certain talents. (Let’s be frank: false modesty is not…
I hate bad prose. (Maybe you’ve noticed.) This affects the way I edit: with inspiration, with passion, instinctively, and relentlessly. All prose has flaws — I find them and critique them mercilessly. I can’t help it. And weirdly, people seem to like it. When a writer sends me something inadequate, I tear it apart. I delete…
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos just released a very clear shareholder letter. He’s very clear and direct about Amazon’s successful products. But when it comes to culture, he’s opaque and oblique. That speaks volumes. I’m a fan of shareholder letters (like Warren Buffet’s) where the CEO lays out what happening in clear simple language. Bezos’ 9-page letter lives…
Bullshit gathers where lawyers and human resource people meet. But as Henry Ward, CEO of startup eShares, shows with the company’s offer letters, it doesn’t have to. Using the power of clarity, simplicity, and graphics — eShares is welcoming new hires — and it’s probably getting a lot more of them to say “Yes.” Ward published a sample…
Donald Trump rates high in polls on “tells it like it is.” And yet he seems to just make stuff up on the fly. How is this possible? Based on my extensive study of bullshit, I think I’ve got a handle on why: he’s a type of bullshitter we haven’t seen much of in America….
When you plan, do you imagine things will change, or stay pretty much the same? Both are biases; both are right; both are wrong. Technology analysts won’t ever come out and say it, but they have an inherent bias. They always see change coming over the horizon. Your business is shifting to the cloud. Television…
If you think too much jargon is creeping into your writing, try reading it aloud. If it sounds anything like this, you may have a problem.