The Business of Writing - Lundquist College of Business - University ...

“PART OF THE DEFINITION
OF A LEADER IS YOU
HAVE FOLLOWERS. AND
YOU’ LL LOSE YOUR
FOLLOWERS IF YOUR
COMMUNICATION IS
INEFFECTIVE. THIS IS ONE
OF THE KEY WEAPONS
IN OUR ARSENAL AS
BUSINESS LEADERS.
W RITTEN COMMUNICATION
IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS
VERBAL COMMUNICATION.
T HE FOLLOWER WHO SEES
A LEADER WITH SLOPPY
SPEECH HABITS OR
SLOPPY WRITING HABITS
WILL SOMEHOW BE
LESS DEVOTED.”
—Kim Caldwell,
Retired Senior Executive,
Avery Dennison Corp.
“There are only two reasons that somebody might not pass the interview,” said Tyler
Welt, a finance manager at Intel Capital. “Those two are technical finance skills and
communication skills.”
In the past, Intel has asked job candidates to write an e-mail response to a hypothetical
business problem.
“The top candidates were able to clearly articulate what they saw as the problem
statement, what their role was, and what their recommendation was,” Welt said.
Welt’s advice on writing: Keep it brief. If an e-mail is too long to be read in the preview
pane, try a phone call instead.
And don’t write important messages on a BlackBerry. It’s too easy to make punctuation
and grammatical mistakes on such a small keypad.
Jones understands the value of strong writing skills, especially at a business like Nike.
E-mail is the sneaker giant’s preferred method of communication.
“With the onslaught of communications people encounter today, my ability to quickly
and concisely communicate information in writing has positively impacted people’s
perception of me and my department,” he said.
Jones recommends that business writers come up with a “roadmap” or outline before
putting fingers on the keyboard. And keep the language simple. Save the Latin words
for the SAT.
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