Any author will tell you: the money’s in the speeches. A slightly successful author gets occasional gigs and small fees. A moderately successful author gets regular bookings and decent fees. A monster bestselling author is getting rich off royalties — which is very rare — but she’s also getting paid an awful lot to speak….
In December of 1994, economist Hal Varian, who is currently Google’s chief economist, wrote a paper called “How to Build an Economic Model in Your Spare Time.” Ignore the subject matter. It should have been called “How to think clearly.” His advice hasn’t lost relevance in the 21-plus years since he wrote it. (Thanks to Cory Doctorow at…
I’m all for satire, especially on social media. But when traditional media get involved, they must set some boundaries. That’s what didn’t happen when Esquire published an article by a Jeff Jarvis impersonator. First, here are the facts about what happened. Jeff Jarvis is a media critic, author, blogger, and professor at the CUNY Graduate School…
I take a lot of shit for telling people to avoid passive voice. But here’s the thing: passive voice hides things. It creates a distance between the writer and the reader. I actually considered writing a whole book on it called “Passive Evil.” You think that’s too strong? Well, I’ve just reviewed all my posts on passive voice and…
Does clear writing make you vulnerable, or boost your career? According the business writers I asked, it’s more likely to help than hurt you. And the older you get, the bolder you get. When I surveyed 547 business writers early this year, I asked whether they agreed with the following two statements: I make a strong,…
You should read Disrupted, by Dan Lyons. And you should take notes, because this is not just a story about startups, culture clash, and the technology industry. It’s full of lessons for every worker and every business. My post is biased, because I know nearly everybody involved here (for full disclosure*, see the end of the post). At first…
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…