Of the many skills attributed to successful entrepreneurs, effective writing inevitably fails to make the list, says Dave Girouard, founder and chief executive officer of the online lending platform Upstart.
“Words matter. At a minimum, they shape the impression you make on others – often the first impression. Poor writing can harm you in so many ways: Logic is hidden, points are lost, news is buried, intent is misread, feelings are hurt,and credibility suffers. And that assumes anybody actually reads what you wrote,” he argues in an article for First Round Review.
Those shortfalls apply, of course, in all jobs where communication plays a role. He stresses not all writing requires exquisite care. Texting and direct messages have their own functional style. “Even good ol' fashion e-mails aren’t always worth the time to reach for your editor’s monocle,” he notes.
But at times, you must excel. If that’s scary – a deficiency you fear grappling with – here are some rules he offers:
- Use short, simple words: Fancy words do not make for better writing, particularly in business communications.
- Let your verbs do the work: We assume the power of writing comes from adjectives and adverbs. Instead, it comes from verbs. “Yet most of us opt for the first verb that pops into our head, before larding up our sentences with junk filler until we’re satisfied the point has been made,” he notes.
- Eliminate all unnecessary words: Your reader’s attention is scarce, so take out what isn’t absolutely necessary – actually, whatever isn’t necessary (since the word absolutely wasn’t needed in this sentence). Other excess words to watch: Very, indeed, somewhat, and “I think.” Ideas can also clutter, so get rid of extraneous ones.
- Use simple verb tenses: He says there are actually 12 verb tenses in the English language, but unless you are an expert, stick with the simple ones.
- Avoid the passive tense: Without verbs, he says, our language loses much of its pizazz. But it’s also possible to lose that pizazz while using verbs weakly, in the passive form. For those unfamiliar with the distinction, he explains: “The active tense implies that the noun at the beginning of your sentence is doing the doing. In the passive tense, the noun doesn’t do a thing – in fact, the deed is done TO it.” The SchoolRun.com gives this example of an active and passive approach: “The cat chased the mouse; the mouse was chased by the cat.”
- Get to the point: Don’t shy away from immediately and directly addressing the main point, even if it’s a contentious one. Your reader can handle it better than you fear and will appreciate your directness. “Journalists call it burying the lede,” he says of failing to get to the key point. “I call it wasting the reader’s time.”
In a podcast trying to help people who feel they are terrible writers, consultant Joe McCormack says the key to effective writing is clear thinking. If you’re not clear about what you’re thinking, it’s hard express it. To help, he recommends asking the questions the audience has. Don’t worry about the order; that will come when you develop an outline. Just get all the questions down first. “All good writing answers questions,” he says.
In that vein, he adds in another podcast, he biggest mistake we make in writing has nothing to do with grammar, verbs or style. It’s that we don’t prepare in advance; we open the computer or e-mail reply and start writing without doing the necessary thinking. Writing takes intention. Even a minute’s preparation helps.
So don’t discount the importance of writing. Improve this important but little-discussed skill.
Quick hits
- “Don’t write to sound smart. Write to be useful,” says blogger James Clear. “If you’re useful over a long time period, you will end up looking smart anyway.”
- One of the ways the Stripe payments platform boosted writing skills in a staff of techies was to avoid presentation slides and opt for narrative memos to pitch ideas.
- Serial entrepreneur Michael Simmons studied successful people such as Albert Einstein and Warren Buffet and found they shared these six habits: They keep a journal, take a nap each day, go for a walk or do other exercise each day, read books and articles, share their ideas with others in conversation and experiment with various methods.
- Entrepreneur Seth Godin argues these seemingly contradictory impulses tend to be true simultaneously: We are running out of time; we have too much time on our hands. That’s how you can be on deadline and bored at the same time.
- Remember there is a social aspect to work. Executive recruiter Gerald Walsh notes that if you’re working from home and the last thing you want to do on a Friday afternoon is take part in a beer-by-Zoom or some similar activity, go against those impulses and make sure you attend (especially if the boss will be present).
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