Sometimes, when I boil down a piece of writing, I find nuggets of truth embedded within a matrix of jargon and bullshit. But sometimes, I just find nothing but platitudes, emptiness, and evidence of incompetence. That’s the apparent communications strategy of Revolt PR. Here’s what the press release says: Revolt PR believes it can help…
It’s been a hell of a year for dead artists, democracy, truth, and corporate stupidity. When I started 2016 I had a plan. I would complete the manuscript for Writing Without Bullshit, HarperBusiness would publish it, and I’d use the bullshit in the election season to promote it. I had no idea that this crazy election would…
Bullshit in your company is no accident. You can work on fixing it. Or you can just get people thinking by asking a few questions. When you have to collaborate on bullshit documents, your soul is in peril. If bullshit pervades your company and your managers don’t care — and assuming yoiu can’t switch jobs — you’ll need…
Must you delete the word “that” when it connects two clauses in a sentence? Nope. Today, in response to a reader’s question, I restore your faith in “that” and show why you shouldn’t treat it as toxic. Dear Dr. Wobs: Why did you use the word “that” in Writing Without Bullshit where it didn’t seem necessary? For example…
If you are spending time with family over the holidays, as I am, here’s an idea for something fun to do together (that won’t generate political arguments). It’s a game that requires nothing more than a dictionary, some slips of paper, and a desire to play with words, meanings, and people’s minds and prejudices. We…
Creativity has no boundaries — and the raw material can come from anywhere. Consider this my gift to you along with best wishes for a wonderful holiday and an improved new year.
Want to write better? Change a writing habit. Here are ten ways to be a better writer: pick one, then stick with it. (Tell me which one you picked in the comments.) 1. Stop sending first-draft emails. Most of what you write is email. While it creates the biggest impression in aggregate, you’re not spending…
At 140 characters, tweets lack context. Without context, there is no truth. So tweets are lies. Donald Trump’s tweets are lies, and so are mine. But they reveal a lot about what’s going on in our respective heads. What do I mean when I say that the truth demands context? Let’s start with one of my…
I was a science fiction fan growing up in the 60s and 70s. I was a technology analyst, predicting the future, in the 90s and 00s. Here’s what science fiction and strategic analysis have in common — and what they don’t. How science fiction challenges the mind (and “sci-fi” doesn’t) Science fiction is not the same…