I root out bullshit where you tell me to. So far you’ve seem to enjoy watching me do what I love doing. Based on the research in this blog, a book is forming in my brain. I’ve opened up threads of research on mission statements and the causes of bullshit. If you’ve got new ideas or…
When writing documents, posts, or emails, keep one thing in mind above all others. I call it the Iron Imperative of writing: Do not waste the reader’s time. To help you internalize this, remember the Golden Corollary: Treat the reader’s time as more valuable than your own. To act on this, you must internalize the…
My first public appearance since going independent. I’ll be talking about mission statements and customer experience along with an all-star lineup from HubSpot, BrightCove, and Akamai. Sign up here.
Writing as a Forbes contributor, Steve Denning makes a great point in his analysis of the failure of Google+, Google’s social network. “Google’s mission statement is clear and simple, but wrong,” he writes. Here’s that mission statement: Google’s mission is to organize the world‘s information and make it universally accessible and useful. As Denning puts it:…
All day long we read on our various screens. This has vastly increased the demand for content, which comes to us through many channels. But those who create it have forgotten what good writing is. Think back to the world of 1980. The average consumer or businessperson at that time had no email, and there was no Internet. What…
Content from an established media site is credible, right? Not when it’s contributed content. Media sites need content; people need to promote their ideas — the web makes it easy to connect them. The only thing lost is editorial judgment. Unlike the native advertising I discussed yesterday, contributed articles are unpaid, unlabelled self-promotion. The person placing the…
You just got an email. It might be from HR, or your boss, or the head of some other department. And you’re scratching your head and saying “Is this real? Does someone actually think this makes sense?” Don’t just cringe. Don’t just lean over and whine to the guy in the next cube. Don’t write…
If you like sausages, don’t ask how they’re made. But I’m happy to explain how waffles are made, including this piece about CIOs from the Wall Street Journal, titled “CIOs Redefining Role to Fuel Integration, Innovation.” VMware, the technology company, wants to impress CIOs. CIOs read articles in the Wall Street Journal‘s “CIO Journal” section. But…
Since there’s so little actual campaign news, we now get meta-analysis of trivia. Meta-trivia tastes flat, has zero calories and no nutrients, and leaves a sour aftertaste. Flavors of campaign news, non-news, and meta-news: Actual campaign news. Positions that might influence your vote. For example, Hillary Clinton’s position on the Iran negotiations. Extremely rare at…