Hbr guide to better business writing pdf

HBR Guide to

Better Business

Writing

2

3

Harvard Business Review Guides

Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, from the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.

4

The titles include: HBR Guide to Better Business Writing HBR Guide to Finance Basics for Managers HBR Guide to Getting the Mentoring You Need HBR Guide to Getting the Right Job HBR Guide to Getting the Right Work Done HBR Guide to Giving Effective Feedback HBR Guide to Making Every Meeting Matter HBR Guide to Managing Stress HBR Guide to Managing Up and Across HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations HBR Guide to Project Management

5

http://hbr.org/product/hbr-guide-to-better-business-writing/an/10946-PBK-ENG?Ntt=10946
http://hbr.org/product/hbr-guide-to-finance-basics-for-managers/an/11185E-KND-ENG?Ntt=11185
http://hbr.org/product/guide-to-getting-the-mentoring-you-need/an/11169-PDF-ENG?Ntt=11169
http://hbr.org/product/hbr-guide-to-getting-the-right-job/an/11737-SBC-ENG?Ntt=11737
http://hbr.org/product/hbr-guide-to-getting-the-right-work-done/an/11153E-KND-ENG?Ntt=11153
http://hbr.org/product/guide-to-giving-effective-feedback/an/10667-PDF-ENG?Ntt=10667
http://hbr.org/product/guide-to-making-every-meeting-matter/an/10755-PDF-ENG?Ntt=10755
http://hbr.org/product/guide-to-managing-stress/an/10804-PDF-ENG?Ntt=10804
http://hbr.org/product/hbr-guide-to-managing-up-and-across/an/11218-PBK-ENG?Ntt=11218
http://hbr.org/product/hbr-guide-to-persuasive-presentations/an/11150-PBK-ENG?Ntt=11150
http://hbr.org/product/hbr-guide-to-project-management/an/11184-PBK-ENG?Ntt=11184
6

Other Books Written or Edited by Bryan A. Garner

Garner’s Modern American Usage Garner’s Dictionary of Legal Usage Black’s Law Dictionary (all editions since 1996) Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts, with Justice Antonin Scalia Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges, with Justice Antonin Scalia Garner on Language and Writing The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style The Elements of Legal Style The Chicago Manual of Style, Ch. 5, “Grammar and Usage” (15th & 16th eds.) The Winning Brief Legal Writing in Plain English Ethical Communications for Lawyers Securities Disclosure in Plain English Guidelines for Drafting and Editing Court Rules The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style A Handbook of Basic Legal Terms A Handbook of Business Law Terms A Handbook of Criminal Law Terms A Handbook of Family Law Terms

7

http://books.google.com/books?id=Sd3byNeBdR4C
http://books.google.com/books?id=YwLiALrHLCEC
http://books.google.com/books?id=P0UJAAAACAAJ
http://books.google.com/books?id=B26UtgAACAAJ
http://books.google.com/books?id=FJRbNQAACAAJ
http://books.google.com/books?id=9_PdSrVNTUUC
http://books.google.com/books?id=vl3SAAAACAAJ
http://books.google.com/books?id=7ui-QgAACAAJ
http://books.google.com/books?id=4xJIAQAAIAAJ
http://books.google.com/books?id=fPAvsKPsmEAC
http://books.google.com/books?id=coeEh7fOfb0C
http://www.amazon.com/Ethical-Communications-Upholding-Professional-Responsibility/dp/0979606020
http://books.google.com/books?id=hDxAAQAAIAAJ
http://books.google.com/books?id=-HyRAAAAMAAJ
http://books.google.com/books?id=z_VmtjAU01YC
http://books.google.com/books?id=glUFS3yDVxQC
http://books.google.com/books?id=1Tg7AQAAIAAJ
http://books.google.com/books?id=p4ZHAQAAIAAJ
http://books.google.com/books?id=OowCAAAACAAJ
8

HBR Guide to

Better

Business

Writing

Bryan A. Garner

HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW PRESS Boston, Massachusetts

9

Copy right 2012 Bry an A. Garner

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval sy stem or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopy ing, recording, or otherwise), without the prior permission of the publisher. Requests for permission should be directed to permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu or mailed to Permissions, Harvard Business School Publishing, 60 Harvard Way, Boston, Massachusetts 02163.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Garner, Bryan A.

HBR guide to better business writing / Bry an A. Garner. p. cm. — (Harvard business review guides) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4221-8403-5 (alk. paper) 1. Commercial correspondence. 2. Business writing. I. Harvard business review. II. Title. III. Title: Guide to better business writing. HF5718.3.G37 2013 808.06'665—dc23

2012032809

eBook development by eBook Architects

10

mailto:permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu
To J.P. Allen, my lifelong friend

11

12

What You’ll Learn

Do you freeze up when writing memos to senior executives? Do your reports meander and raise more questions than they answer for key stakeholders? Do your e-mails to colleagues disappear into a void, never to be answered or acted on? Do your proposals fail to win clients?

You’ll lose a lot of time, money, and influence if you struggle with business writing. And it’s a common problem. Many of us fumble for the right words and tone in our documents, even if we’re articulate when we speak. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Writing clearly and persuasively requires neither magic nor luck. It’s a skill— and this guide will give you the confidence and the tools you need to cultivate it.

You’ll get better at:

Pushing past writer’s block. Motivating readers to act. Organizing your ideas. Expressing your main points clearly. Cutting to the chase. Holding readers’ attention. Writing concise, useful summaries. Trimming the fat from your documents. Striking the right tone. Avoiding grammar gaffes.

13

14

Contents

Introduction: Why you need to write well

Section 1: Delivering the Goods Quickly and Clearly 1. Know why you’re writing

2. Understand your readers

3. Divide the writing process into four separate tasks

4. Before writing in earnest, jot down your three main points—in complete sentences

5. Write in full—rapidly

6. Improve what you’ve written

7. Use graphics to illustrate and clarify

Section 2: Developing Your Skills 8. Be relentlessly clear

9. Learn to summarize—accurately

10. Waste no words

11. Be plain-spoken: Avoid bizspeak

12. Use chronology when giving a factual account

13. Be a stickler for continuity

14. Learn the basics of correct grammar

15. Get feedback on your drafts from colleagues

Section 3: Avoiding the Quirks That Turn Readers Off 16. Don’t anesthetize your readers

17. Watch your tone

Section 4: Common Forms of Business Writing 18. E-mails

19. Business Letters

20. Memos and Reports

21. Performance Appraisals

Appendixes A. A Checklist for the Four Stages of Writing

B. A Dozen Grammatical Rules You Absolutely Need to Know

C. A Dozen Punctuation Rules You Absolutely Need to Know

15

D. Common Usage Gaffes

E. Some Dos and Don’ts of Business-Writing Etiquette

F. A Primer of Good Usage

Desk References Index Acknowledgments About the Author More Books from Harvard Business Review

16

17

Introduction: Why you need to write well

You may think you shouldn’t fuss about your writing— that good enough is good enough. But that mind-set is costly. Supervisors, colleagues, employees, clients, partners, and anyone else you communicate with will form an opinion of you from your writing. If it’s artless and sloppy, they may assume your thinking is the same. And if you fail to convince them that they should care about your message, they won’t care. They may even decide you’re not worth doing business with. The stakes are that high.

Some people say it’s not a big deal. They may feel complacent. Or they may think it’s ideas that matter— not writing. But good writing gets ideas noticed. It gets them realized. So don’t be misled: Writing well is a big deal.

Those who write poorly create barriers between themselves and their readers; those who write well connect with readers, open their minds, and achieve goals.

All it takes is a few words to make a strong impression, good or bad. Let’s look at four brief passages— two effective and two not. See whether you can tell which ones are which:

1. In the business climate as it exists at this point in time, one might be justified in having the expectation that the recruitment and retention of new employees would be facilitated by the economic woes of the current job market. However, a number of entrepreneurial business people have discovered that it is no small accomplishment to add to their staff people who will contribute to their bottom line in a positive, beneficial way. 2. In this job market, you might think that hiring productive new employees would be easy. But many entrepreneurs still struggle to find good people. 3. The idea of compensating a celebrity who routinely uses social media to the tune of thousands of dollars to promote one’s company by tweeting about it may strike one as unorthodox, to say the least. But the number of businesses appropriating and expending funds for such activities year on year as a means of promotion is very much on the rise. 4. Paying a celebrity thousands of dollars to promote your company in 140-character tweets may seem crazy. But more and more businesses are doing just that.

Can you tell the difference? Of course you can. The first and third examples are verbose and redundant. The syntax is convoluted and occasionally derails. The second and fourth examples are easy to understand, economical, and straightforward. They don’t waste the reader’s time.

You already recognize business writing that gets the job done—and trust me, you can learn to produce it. Maybe you think writing is a bother. Many people do. But there are time-tested methods for reducing the worry and labor. That’s what you’ll find in this book, along with lots of “before” and “after” examples that show these methods in action. (They’re adapted from real documents, but disguised.)

Good writing isn’t an inborn gift. It’s a skill you cultivate, like so many others. Anyone of normal athletic ability can learn to shoot a basketball or hit a golf ball reasonably well. Anyone of normal intelligence and coordination can learn to play a musical instrument competently. And if you’ve read this far, you can learn to write well—probably very well—with the help of a few guiding principles.

18

Think of yourself as a professional writer If you’re in business, and you’re writing anything to get results—e-mails, proposals, reports, you name it—then you’re a professional writer. Broadly speaking, you belong to the same club as journalists, ad agencies, and book authors: Your success may well depend on the writing you produce and its effect on readers. That’s why what you produce should be as polished as you can make it.

Here’s an example you may be familiar with. Various versions of this story exist—it’s sometimes placed in different cities and told with different twists:

A blind man sits in a park with a scrawled sign hanging from his neck saying, “I AM BLIND” and a tin cup in front of him. A passing ad writer pauses, seeing only three quarters in the cup. He asks, “Sir, may I change your sign?” “But this is my sign. My sister wrote it just as I said.” “I understand. But I think I can help. Let me write on the back, and you can try it out.” The blind man hesitantly agrees. Within two hours the cup is full of coins and bills. As another passerby donates, the blind man says: “Stop for a moment, please. What does my sign say?” “Just seven words,” says the newest contributor: “It is spring, and I am blind.”

It matters how you say something.

19

Read carefully to pick up good style To express yourself clearly and persuasively, you’ll need to develop several qualities:

An intense focus on your reason for writing—and on your readers’ needs. A decided preference for the simplest words possible to express an idea accurately. A feel for natural idioms. An aversion to jargon and business-speak. An appreciation for the right words in the right places. An ear for tone.

How can you acquire these traits? Start by noticing their presence or absence in everything you read. Slow down just a little to study the work of pros. This shouldn’t be a chore, and it shouldn’t be squeezed in at the end of a long day. Grab a few spare minutes, over your morning coffee or between tasks, and read closely. Find good material that you enjoy. It could be the Economist or the Wall Street Journal, or even Sports Illustrated, which contains tremendous writing.

If you can, read at least one piece aloud each day as if you were a news announcer. (Yes, literally aloud.) Read with feeling. Heed the punctuation, the phrasing, the pacing of ideas, and the paragraphing. This habit will help cultivate an appreciation of the skills you’re trying to acquire. And once you’ve honed your awareness, all you need is practice.

20

Recognize the payoff An ambiguous letter or e-mail message will require a “corrective communication” to clear up a misunder- standing—which saps resources and goodwill. A poorly phrased and poorly reasoned memo may lead to bad decision-making. An ill-organized report can obscure important information and cause readers to overlook vital facts. A heavy, uninviting proposal will get put aside and forgotten. A badly drafted pitch to a key client will only consume the time of higher-ups who must rewrite it at the eleventh hour to make it passable—lowering its chances of success because of the hectic circumstances surrounding its preparation.

That’s a lot of wasted time—and a drag on profits. But you can prevent these problems with clear, concise writing. It’s not some mysterious art, secret and remote. It’s an indispensable business tool. Learn how to use it, and achieve the results you’re after. One prefatory note: Asterisks are used in the text throughout this book to mark examples of incorrect English grammar, spelling, or usage.

21

22

Section 1

Delivering the Goods Quickly and Clearly

23

24

Chapter 1

Know why you’re writing

Many people begin writing before they know what they’re trying to accomplish. As a result, their readers don’t know where to focus their attention or what they’re supposed to do with the message. So much depends on your purpose in writing that you must fix it firmly in your mind. What do you want the outcome to be? Do you want to persuade someone to sign a franchise contract, for instance? Or to stop using your trademark without permission? Or to come to a company reception?

Say clearly and convincingly what the issue is and what you want to accomplish. With every sentence, ask yourself whether you’re advancing the cause. That will help you find the best words to get your message across.

25

Form follows function Say your firm rents space in an office building that has thoroughly renovated the entrance and the entire first floor. Your general counsel has alerted you that the landlord has violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). For example, there are no wheelchair-access ramps or automatic doors. You’ve decided to write to the landlord. But why are you writing? The answer to that question determines much of what you’ll say and all of the tone that you’ll use. Consider three versions of the letter you might write:

Version #1

You’re good friends with the landlord, but you think that the law should be followed for the good of your employees and your customers. Purpose: to gather more information. Tone: friendly.

Dear Ann:

The new foyer looks fantastic. What a great way for us and others in the building to greet customers and other visitors. Thank you for undertaking the renovations.

Could it be that the work isn’t finished? No accommodations have yet been made for wheelchair accessibility—as required by law. Perhaps I’m jumping the gun, and that part of the work just hasn’t begun? Please let me know.

Let’s get together for lunch soon.

All the best,

Version #2

You’re on good terms with the landlord, but on principle, you don’t like being in a building that isn’t ADA-compliant. You have a disabled employee on staff, and you want the situation righted. Purpose: to correct the oversight. Tone: more urgent.

Dear Ann:

Here at Bergson Company, we were delighted when you renovated the first floor and made it so much more inviting to both tenants and visitors. We are troubled, however, by the lack of wheelchair-access ramps and automatic doors for handicapped employees and customers, both of which are required by state and federal law. Perhaps you’re still planning that part of the renovations. If so, please advise.

If this was a mere oversight, can you assure us that construction on ramps and automatic doors will begin within 60 days? Otherwise, as we understand it, we may be obliged to report the violation to the Vermont Buildings Commission. Without the fixes, you may be subject to some hefty fines— but we feel certain that you have every intention of complying with the law.

Sincerely,

Version #3

26

You’ve had repeated problems with the landlord, and you have found a better rental property elsewhere for your company. Purpose: to terminate your lease. Tone: firm, but without burning bridges.

Dear Ms. Reynolds:

Four weeks ago you finished renovating the first floor of our building. Did you not seek legal counsel? You have violated the Americans with Disabilities Act—as well as state law—by failing to provide a wheelchair-access ramp and automatic doors for handicapped visitors and employees. Because four weeks have elapsed since you completed the work, we are entitled under state law to terminate our lease. This letter will serve as our 30 days’ notice.

Although we have no doubt that your oversight was a good-faith error, we hope that you understand why we can’t stay in the building and have made plans to go elsewhere.

We hope to remain on friendly terms during and after the move.

Sincerely,

These three letters are quite different because you are writing them to accomplish different things. Focus on the reaction you’re trying to elicit from the reader. You want results. Yet notice how even the sternest letter — Version 3—maintains a civil tone to foster goodwill. No hostility is necessary.

27

Recap Consider your purpose and your audience before you begin writing, and let these guide both what you say and how you say it. Plainly state the issue you’re addressing and what you hope to achieve. Keep your goal in mind: Don’t undermine your efforts with a hostile or inappropriate tone.

28

29

Chapter 2

Understand your readers

Communication is a two-way exercise. Without knowing something about your readers—and about psychology in general, for that matter—you’ll rarely get your ideas across. What are their goals and priorities? What pressures do they face? What motivates them?

30

Respect readers’ time constraints The most important things to realize about all business audiences are these:

Your readers are busy—very busy. They have little if any sense of duty to read what you put before them. If you don’t get to your point pretty quickly, they’ll ignore you—just as you tend to ignore long, rambling messages when you receive them. At the slightest need to struggle to understand you, they’ll stop trying—and think less of you. If they don’t buy your message, you may as well have stayed in bed that day.

Each of these universal tendencies becomes magnified as you ascend the ranks of an organization. Your job as a writer, then, is to:

Prove quickly that you have something valuable to say—valuable to your readers, not just to you. Waste no time in saying it. Write with such clarity and efficiency that reading your material is easy—even enjoyable. Use a tone that makes you likable, so that your readers will want to spend time with you and your message.

Do these things and you’ll develop a larger reservoir of goodwill. You’ll not only have a genuinely competitive edge, but you’ll also save time and money.

31

Tailor your message If you’re writing a memo to colleagues, for example, consider where they sit in the organization and what they’re expected to contribute to its success. Or if you’re responding to a client’s request for proposal, address every need outlined in the RFP—but also think about the client’s industry, company size, and culture. Your tone will change depending on your recipients, and so will your content. You’ll highlight the things they care about most—the ever-important “what’s in it for them.”

32

Connect with particular readers to connect with large audiences It’s challenging to write for a large, diverse group of readers, especially if you don’t know them. But you can make it easier by focusing on some specific person you know. In his preface to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Plain English Handbook, Warren Buffett suggests grounding your prose by having a particular reader in mind:

When writing Berkshire Hathaway’s annual report, I pretend that I’m talking to my sisters. I have no trouble picturing them: Though highly intelligent, they are not experts in accounting or finance. They will understand plain English, but jargon may puzzle them. My goal is simply to give them the information I would wish them to supply me if our positions were reversed. To succeed, I don’t need to be Shakespeare; I must, though, have a sincere desire to inform.

If you focus on a smart nonspecialist who’s actually in your audience—or, like Buffett, imagine that you’re writing for a relative or a friend—you’ll strike a balance between sophistication and accessibility. Your writing will be more appealing and more persuasive.

Your readers may have little or no prior knowledge about the facts or analysis you’re disclosing. But assume that they’re intelligent people. They’ll be able to follow you if you give them the information they need, and they won’t be bamboozled by empty, airy talk.

NO T THIS: BUT THIS:

We aspire to be a partner primarily concerned with providing our clients the maximal acquisition of future profits and assets and focus mainly on clients with complex and multi- product needs, large and midsized corporate entities, individual or multiple entrepreneurial agents, and profit-maximizing institutional clients. By listening attentively to their needs and offering them paramount solutions, we empower those who wish to gain access to our services with the optimal set of decisions in their possible action portfolio given the economic climate at the time of the advice as well as the fiscal constraints that you are subject to. Against the backdrop of significant changes within our industry, we strive to ensure that we consistently help our clients realize their goals and thrive, and we continue to strengthen the coverage of our key clients by process-dedicated teams of senior executives who can deliver and utilize our integrated business model. On the back of a strong capital position and high levels of client satisfaction and brand recognition, we have achieved significant gains in market share. We hope that you have a favorable impression of our company’s quantitative and qualitative attributes and will be inclined to utilize our services as you embark on your financial endeavors.

We’re a client-focused firm dedicated to making sure you get the most out of our services. Our client base includes individual entrepreneurs, midsized companies, and large corporations. If you decide to do business with us, we’ll give you financial advice that is in tune with the current economy and with what you can afford to invest. For years, we’ve consistently received the highest possible industry ratings, and we have won the coveted Claiborne Award for exceptional client satisfaction 17 of our 37 years in business. We hope to have the opportunity to work with you in your financial endeavors.

33

Recap Understand that your readers have no time to waste: Get to the point quickly and clearly to ensure that your message gets read. Use a tone appropriate for your audience. Emphasize the items most important to your readers. If they can easily see how your message is relevant to them, they will be more likely to read it and respond. Choose an intelligent, nonspecialist member of your audience to write for—or invent one—and focus on writing for that person. Your message will be more accessible and persuasive to all your readers as a result.

34

35

Chapter 3

Divide the writing process into four separate tasks

Do you feel anxious every time you sit down to write? Your main difficulty is probably figuring out how to begin. Don’t try to picture the completed piece before you’ve gathered and organized your material. It’s much too soon to think about the final, polished product—and you will just make the challenge ahead of you seem overwhelming. The worry can take more out of you than the actual writing.

Instead, break up your work. Think of writing not as one huge task but as a series of smaller tasks. The poet, writer, and teacher Betty Sue Flowers has envisioned them as belonging to different characters in your brain: MACJ.1 That stands for Madman-Architect-Carpenter-Judge, representing the phases that a writer must go through:

The Madman gathers material and generates ideas. The Architect organizes information by drawing up an outline, however simple. The Carpenter puts your thoughts into words, laying out sentences and paragraphs by following the Architect’s plan. The Judge is your quality-control character, polishing the expression throughout—everything from tightening language to correcting grammar and punctuation.

You’ll be most efficient if you carry out these tasks pretty much in this order. Sure, you’ll do some looping back. For example, you may need to draft more material after you’ve identified holes to fill. But do your best to compartmentalize the discrete tasks and address them in order.

36

Get the Madman started Accept your good ideas gratefully whenever they come. But if you’re methodical about brainstorming at the beginning of the process, you’ll find that more and more of your good ideas will come to you early—and you’ll largely prevent the problem of finally thinking of your best point after you’ve finished and distributed your document.

Get your material from memory, from research, from observation, from conversations with colleagues and others, and from reasoning, speculation, and imagination. The problem you’re trying to solve may seem intractable, and you may struggle to find a good approach. (How on earth will you persuade the folks in finance to approve your budget request when they’re turning down requests left and right? How will you get the executive board to adopt a new mind-set about a proposed merger?) Don’t get hung up on the size of the challenge. Gathering ideas and facts up front will help you push through and defuse anxiety about the writing.

How do you keep track of all this preliminary material? In the old days, people used index cards. (I wrote my first several books that way.) But today the easiest way is to create a rough spreadsheet that contains the following:

Labels indicating the points you’re trying to support. The data, facts, and opinions you’re recording under each point—taking care to put direct quotes within quotation marks. Your sources. Include the title and page number if citing a book or an article, the URL if citing an online source. (When writing a formal document, such as a report, see The Chicago Manual of Style for information on proper sourcing.)

As you’re taking notes, distinguish facts from opinions. Be sure to give credit where it’s due. You’ll run aground if you claim others’ assertions as your own, because you’ll probably be unable to back them up convincingly. Worse, you’ll be guilty of plagiarism.

This groundwork will save you loads of time when you’re drafting and will help you create a well- supported, persuasive document.

37

Let the Architect take the lead You may feel frustrated at first as you’re groping for a way to organize your document. If a sensible approach doesn’t come to mind after you’ve done your research and scouted for ideas, you may need to do more hunting and gathering. You want to arrive at the point of writing down three sentences—complete propositions—that convey your ideas. Then arrange them in the most logical order from the reader’s point of view (see chapter 4). That’s your bare-bones outline, which is all you typically need before you start drafting.

38

Give the Carpenter a tight schedule The key to writing a sound first draft is to write as swiftly as you can (you’ll read more about this in chapter 5). Later, you’ll make corrections. But for now, don’t slow yourself down to perfect your wording. If you do, you’ll invite writer’s block. Lock the Judge away at this stage, and try to write in a headlong rush.

39

Call in the Judge Once you’ve got it all down, it’s time for deliberation— weighing your words, filling in gaps, amplifying here and curtailing there. Make several sweeps, checking for one thing at a time: the accuracy of your citations, the tone, the quality of your transitions, and so on. (For an editorial checklist, see chapter 6.) If you try to do many things at once, you won’t be doing any of them superbly. So leave plenty of time for multiple rounds of editing—at least as much time as you spent researching and writing. You’ll ferret out more problems, and you’ll find better fixes for them.

40

Recap Approach a writing project as a series of manageable tasks using the MACJ method. Use the Madman to gather research and other material for the project, diligently keeping track of quotations and sources. And allow more of your best ideas to come early by methodically brainstorming at the beginning of the process. As the Architect, organize the Madman’s raw material into a sensible outline. Distill your ideas into three main propositions. In the Carpenter phase, write as quickly as possible—without worrying about perfecting your prose. Finally, assume the role of the Judge to edit, polish, and improve the piece. Do this in several distinct passes, each time focusing on only one element of your writing.

1. Betty S. Flowers, “Madman, Architect, Carpenter, Judge: Roles and the Writing Process,” Proceedings of the Conference of College Teachers of English 44 (1979): 7–10.

41

42

Chapter 4

Before writing in earnest, jot down your three main points— in complete sentences

A mathematician once told me that there are really only four numbers in the world: one, two, three, and many. There’s something to that: Four items just seem to be one too many for most people to hold in their memory. But a proposal, a report, or any other piece of business writing feels underdeveloped when it’s supported by only one or two points.

So write down your three main points as full sentences, and spell out your logic as clearly as you can. That way, you’ll force yourself to think through your reasons for recommending a vendor, for example, or pitching an offer to a client—and you’ll make a stronger case.

If you try to simply think things out as you write, you’ll run into trouble because you won’t really know yet what you’re hoping your reader will think or do. You’ll flail about, gradually clarifying your point as you make several runs at it. In the end, after multiple attempts, you may finally figure out what you have to say, but you probably won’t say it in a way that your reader can follow.

43

An example of finding your focus Let’s say your name is Carol Sommers, and you work at a small management-consulting firm. Your boss, Steve, owns the business and is considering acquiring a 17,000-square-foot building as his new office. Because you’re the office manager, Steve has asked you to think through the logistics and to write up your recommendations before the company makes an offer to purchase the building. At first, you’re at a loss—there are so many issues to sort through. But you’ve got to start somewhere.

So before you write your memo, you put on your Madman hat and brainstorm a list of considerations:

Ownership Maintenance Buildout Security Offices vs. cubicles Real-estate values—comparables? The move—bids on movers? Timing Tax consequences Employee and visitor parking Environmental inspection and related issues Smooth transitioning: phone and Internet service, mail forwarding, new stationery, updating business contacts, subscriptions, etc. Insurance Leaving current landlord on good terms Taking signage to new location?

These are just topics, not fully formed thoughts. But now that you have a rough list, you can start the Architect phase of writing and categorize in threes.

Steve’s responsibilities (before acquisition):

Consider an environmental inspection to make sure that the building has no hidden issues. Our commercial realtor can help. Check with our accountant to find out what tax consequences we might have depending on how we time the closing. Ask the accountant and perhaps a tax lawyer whether Steve should own the property personally, whether

44

the company should own it, or whether a newly formed entity (an LLC, for example) should own it. There may be liability issues.

My responsibilities (before acquisition):

Cost out insurance coverage. Interview contractors for building out the space to our satisfaction. (Note to self: Confirm that we can roll the buildout into the mortgage.) Cost out the annual bill for providing the kind of security we currently have.

My responsibilities (postacquisition):

Contract for maintenance (cleaning and trash services, lawn and parking-lot care). Plan the move, with a smooth transition in operations (the physical move, mail forwarding, phone and Internet, new stationery, address updates, announcement to customers, moving signage, etc.). Help Steve plan the architectural buildout to foster collaboration and use space efficiently.

To come up with all this, put yourself in Steve’s place, imagining what you’d want your office manager to think of to help you do your job better. But it also takes a little legwork—for example, talking to people at firms that have recently changed locations or acquired buildings. Can’t find anyone like that through your network? Ask the commercial realtor to put you in touch with one or two of its clients.

For each stage, we’ve listed the three big issues—at least what we think they are. Look how easy it is now to begin your Carpenter work (writing a useful memo to Steve):

Memo

To: Steve Haskell

From: Carol Sommers

Re: The Prospective Purchase of 1242 Maple Avenue Date: April 12, 2012

As you requested, I’ve thought through the logistics of purchasing and moving into the Maple Avenue property. Here are my suggestions for each stage of the process.

Now

I’d like your approval to tackle the following tasks immediately because they’ll give us a more complete picture of how expensive the acquisition and move would be:

Cost out insurance coverage. Interview contractors for building out the space to our satisfaction. (I’ve checked with the bank to see if we can roll the buildout into the mortgage, and we can.)

45

Cost out the annual bill for providing the kind of security we currently have.

Preclosing

If you decide to go forward with the purchase and your offer is accepted, I’ll take care of these items before we close on the loan:

Arrange for at least one thorough inspection of the building. Work with our accountant, to the extent you’d like, to get papers in order for obtaining the bank financing you mentioned. Ensure that all due-diligence deadlines are met.