From Writing
Verbs are the engine of strong writing
Someone much smarter than me once said: “Verbs are the engine of strong writing.” Truer words have never been spoken. Or should I say uttered. Or screamed or shouted or declared? But in the corporate writing world, we don’t USE good verbs. We use verbs like “Implement” and “Leverage” and “Optimize” and “Impact.” It doesn’t …
Is it time to publish baby announcements in employee publications again?
When I wandered into the weird, wonderful world of employee communications, back in 1994, I learned at the feet of the great Larry Ragan. Larry was, along with Roger D’Aprix and a few others, one of the founders of what we consider “employee communications” today. Just a brilliant man. And a wonderful mentor. Larry was …
Avoid passive voice with this proven technique
Just one word to describe this tip: genius. Go on … give it a shot. You know you want to. Thanks to Rebecca Johnson, a professor of culture and ethics at USMC for this proven writing technique: Just in case you have doubts: The HR initiative was launched on Monday (by zombies — passive voice) …
Where do bad words come from?
People say “world class” when they haven’t the energy or the courage to find and use a word that actually means something There are a lot of bad words out there. And most of them can be found inside companies, where good people use bad words for the wrong reasons. You hear words and sentences in …
Great Writing is built on specificity
Great writing is built on specificity By Steve Crescenzo Organizational leaders love to talk about “the big picture.” They love to talk about “the view from 30,000 feet.” Why? Because that’s where they live. They sit up there on the corporate version of Mount Olympus, and hurl communication thunderbolts down upon the masses in the …
Which Facebook posts annoy you the most?
Mine is the “Schoolyard Bully Post” There are all kinds of annoying Facebook posts. And I’m sure everyone has their favorite least favorite ones. Maybe you hate the “Random Song Lyric” post. Or maybe the “Passive Aggressive Plea for Pity” posts do it for you (you know, the ones that just say something like, “Sigh.”) …
Writing across all media
Imagine for a second that you’re a communicator at a large organization. It’s Tuesday morning, and you’re busy sketching out your plans for the next Town Hall meeting, when the phone rings. It’s the VP of Communications and she has an assignment for you: “We’re giving out this year’s Chairman’s Award,” she says. “Get …
Leaping the biggest hurdle to creative communication
This article was my last column in IABC’s Communication World. I’ve retired that column, to focus on Low Hanging Fruit. The obstacles to being creative inside an organization are many, varied, and tough to overcome . . . but it all starts with taming the approval process Writing for organizations is hard. Being creative inside organizations …