Bombs went off in New York and New Jersey. This has become an occasion for our leaders and candidates to say what they are going to do to keep us safe. The thing is, there is no way for them to keep us safe. That’s scary as hell, but it’s incontrovertibly true. Here’s what kept…
UPS has the information about customers, locations, and shipments to be an amazing leader in customer experience (CX). It has the people, devices, and bar codes to turn the Internet of Things — of packages — into an artificially intelligent engine for customer delight. But based on my experience, UPS is the slave, not the master,…
Collaboration — especially with those who are not professional writers — creates challenges for clear communication. Today we explain how to collaborate with overenthusiastic engineers. This question reflects a common challenge for product descriptions and engineers: Dear Dr. Wobs: How can I write good product datasheets? Technical people write datasheets as a very long list of features with…
Ineffective email wastes more time than anything else we read — or write. And it’s an easy problem to solve. Effective emails have a purposeful structure, just like any other document. Here’s an infographic with ten tips for emails that get things done, based on Chapter 21 of my book Writing Without Bullshit. Choose a subject line…
The US Census Bureau released figures yesterday showing that, in 2015, the median annual household income in America increased by 5.2% over a year earlier. That’s an increase of $2,798, to $56,516 per year. Why talk about the “median” and how is that different from an average? I’ll explain. Put simply, when you’re talking about income, the…
Eighteen months ago, I started working on a book about writing. Today you can buy it, in bookstores or online. Please consider getting a copy, or if you already have one, reviewing it on Amazon or elsewhere. I designed “Writing Without Bullshit” so you can get a lot out of it. Whether you write emails,…
My book publishes tomorrow. This is the first book I’ve written without coauthors and a company behind me. How did I get here? Why a book on this topic? I received 10,000 press releases in my 20 years at Forrester. I estimate that 2% of those had any relevance at all. In the ones that…
Wells Fargo employees opened 2 million fake bank and credit card accounts to pad their paychecks with bonuses, according to regulators. The bank will pay a $185 million settlement and has fired 5,300 people. “When we make mistakes, we are open about it,” the CEO said. Are they? Actually, it’s the opposite. By any measure, this is…
Did you ever read a passage and then feel woozy afterwards? The problem is toxic prose. Three common writing problems, taken together, make it hard to figure out what people are trying to say. Passive voice. When you can’t tell who’s responsible for the actions in a sentence, it confuses you. Jargon. When a passage…