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…
Should business writers write like journalists? Some journalist habits — like never burying the lede — make perfect sense. But if you imagine you’re Woodward and Bernstein, you’re deluded. Learn which journalistic conventions will make your writing better, and which will ruin it. Journalist habits that business writers should adopt Journalists and business writers share…
Today I release “The State of Business Writing, 2016,” my first research report about the challenges of writing at work, based on a survey of 547 business writers. This is the first public release of the whole set of research. Biggest takeaways: 81% of people who write for work agree with the statement “Poorly written material wastes my…
Samsung’s new flagship phone, the Galaxy Note7, has a problem. Some of them are exploding. Samsung’s recall statement is very clear, except that something’s missing. Here’s the full statement about this unprecedented recall: [Statement] Samsung Will Replace Current Note7 with New One on September 02, 2016 Samsung is committed to producing the highest quality products and…
Dropbox got hacked a while back. So the company emailed affected users — and hid the news. Burying the lede* is counterproductive; it just makes people work harder to find out the truth. Good writers get to the bad news quickly and frankly, then move on. Here’s what happened: In 2012, somebody stole 68 million Dropbox usernames and…