There are several answers to this question. Some are blindingly obvious, and some less so. But since it would be wrong to make assumptions about people’s knowledge, I’m going to throw them all together in a list, and hope I neither patronise nor baffle anyone.

We’ve all heard umpteen times that communication – external or internal – is the lifeblood of any business. Yada yada. But if that’s really true, how come so many people in business, from top to bottom, are so bad at written communication?

In 15 years as a corporate writer and editor, I’ve met countless execs who are very impressive face to face; they get their message across with finesse. Yet ask them to put their ideas on paper, or on the web, and it’s a different story – even for those with a background in marcomms.

Maybe it’s because, since leaving school, no-one has ever given them any pointers. Besides, what we learned to do at school, as we inched painstakingly towards an essay word count or tried to show examiners how terribly clever we were, is just plain counterproductive in the … Read More »