Let’s talk about trademarks in writing, genericide, and and why this video about Velcro exists: When a company’s product and marketing take off, it dominates its category. As a natural result, its name becomes synonymous with the category — a process called genericide. When the public can’t tell the difference, the trademark becomes generic, and…
As an author, I get called on to do speeches from time to time. My Writing Without Bullshit speech is now connecting pretty well, based on how audiences are reacting to it. The reason is that, like my writing, it’s tight: every slide has a purpose, and most of those purposes have a payload. It…
Somebody like Gary Vaynerchuk succeeds. They look back. They tell you how they did it and how you should do the same. This corrupt reasoning pervades all motivational writing, and nobody even notices. Starting now, I will. The energetic and provocative Gary Vaynerchuk wrote a Medium piece in June called “The Day I Decided to…
Martin Merzer spent over 40 years reporting from places like Jerusalem, Iraq, and Afghanistan — and hurricanes in Miami. As I read the note he shared with reporters preparing to report on hurricanes, I was struck by how relevant it is for anyone writing in a crisis — and these days, it seems we’re always…
I’ve been collaborating with some very smart people lately — helping them write long pieces that explain the power of their ideas. Many of them are not great writers, which is why they have asked for my help. The best part about collaboration is the exhilaration of learning new ideas, contributing to them, building evidence…
One of my simplest and most powerful tips is to use “I,” “we,” and “you” in your business writing. Now researchers at the A. B. Freeman school of Business at Tulane have proven my point. As described in the Wall Street Journal, Zhenhua Chen and Serena Loftus of Tulane conducted pairs of simulated earnings calls. One…
Despite what you hear on cable news and see on your Facebook feed, shouting is not a reasonable substitute for logic. Once we forget how to think and communicate clearly, everything else is lost. Time to bone up on your rhetorical hygiene. Let’s start with what I’ll call “The Golden Rule of Rhetoric”: Don’t use…
It’s easy to forget that businesses are made of people. When you write a case study for a business book, blog post, or article, readers need to see those people as human. Here’s how to do that quickly without getting in the way of the story you’re telling. People in business prose need to be…
Today’s question is about the pursuit of perfection — not only how to do it, but when it makes sense. Dear Dr. Wobs: On perfection: how close to 100% error-free can an editor aspire to? What tools can help a mere mortal get a little closer? Martha Pings Perfection is a dangerous goal Dear Martha:…