Good writing is one of the most underestimated aspects of professional success. That’s why TheHeadHunter says that you can leverage that Liberal Arts degree into a great job: most people are horrible communicators, especially in writing. I see it every day in e-mails that I get, both personally and professionally. To help solve the problem, Penelope Trunk offers some great tips for professional writing. My favorite is #2:

2. Think on your own time.
Most of us think while we write. But people don’t want to read your thinking process; they want to see the final result. Find your main point in each paragraph and delete everything else. If someone is dying to know your logic, they’ll ask.

I remember reading an e-mail a few weeks ago from a C-level executive that sounded like he sat down at a computer and typed every thought that popped into his head. It was scattered, loopy, and disorganized. Not only did it make it difficult to follow, but it made his ideas seem less credible, no matter how persuasive he tried to be in the e-mail.

Because of that, I have to take issue with her title for number 4:

4. Write like you talk.
Each of us has the gift of rhythm when it comes to sentences, which includes a natural economy of language. But you must practice writing in order to transfer your verbal gifts to the page. Start by avoiding words you never say. For example, you would never say “in conclusion” when you are speaking to someone so don’t use it when you write.

Writing and speaking are different forms of communication, and some people aren’t great talkers in the first place. The key idea here isn’t making colloquial writing, it’s the “economy of language” - keeping things succinct and fluid.

She also advises to keep paragraphs short, maybe 4-5 lines, which I think is great advice for speaking as well. I coach people on what I call the “Three Sentence Rule.” Any time you’re speaking, make sure you solicit some sort of feedback from the audience, whether it’s laughter, nods, suggestions, or input, before continuing on. Preferably, you should let them talk for a bit at that point. People have short attention spans for things that aren’t about themselves, so keeping them focused beyond sentence three is tough, no matter how engaging you are. The three-sentence break gives them an opportunity to recenter the conversation around themselves.

Categories: Careers, Managing