Writing is writing. The kinds of skills you need to master writing in journalism, fiction, or academia are the same skills you need in business.
Except . . .
Business professionals face unique challenges as writers. They usually write to produce results, not just to inform audiences or express ideas. They often use specialized language, with technical meaning, but must also connect with general audiences. Finally, professionals also operate in a pressurized environment where the priority is to produce on other, non-writing tasks.
Therefore, any good program for business writing must do two things: (1) Master the core skills and techniques of writing, which apply in all fields. (2) Adapt those skills to the unique context of professional life.
That is exactly what this seminar does. With clear, step by step guides and examples relevant to your everyday life, we explore the dimensions of writing in business, government, and nonprofit organizations.
We pay special attention to the specific kinds of documents you need to produce. Before meeting, we get an inventory of the major documents in your organization and identify its special form and style. We also provide specific techniques to apply what we learn to your work—right away, as soon as you return to your desk.
The result is a program that will improve your efficiency and creativity not just as a writer, but in all you do.
This seminar will:
- Show you the core skills of great writing in all fields—and adapt those skills toi your challenges as a professional.
- Use your actual documents—in draft or final form—to show how to use the elements of writing for all challenges.
- Provide a checklist of all t=of the considerations for all professional writing challenges.
- Offer a strategy to deploy your new skills and understanding … as soon as you return to your desk.
Course Overview
- The T Bar—Why Writing Power is Business Power
Most companies—especially in technical, specialized fields or with large corporate structures—focus on their “verticals.” But whatever your mastery of the verticals, you also need to connect across the silos. McKinsey Consulting uses the T-shaped organizational structure to describe how. The horizontal bar of the T represents the connections between the divisions. When a business can provide the depth of expertise of the I’s—and then connect those I’ s with good, smart communication—the company has a chance to do extraordinary things.
- One Simple Technique to Transform Your Writing—Right Now
The Golden Rule of Writing provides a simple and intuitive hack for all levels of writing: the sentence, paragraph, section, and whole piece. Using the Golden Rule—with the help of the Landscape View—provides a process for you to gain control of your writing and to “burn” good writing habits into your brain.
- ‘One True Sentence’—How to Get it Right, Line by Line
The sentence is the single most important unit of writing. If we can write great sentences, every time, we have a chance to write great paragraphs and whole pieces. The sentence begins with a simple core. But to gain real power, you need to master the “hinge sentence.” Also: In professional settings, writers need to be on the lookout for wordiness and jargon.
- Writing Stellar Paragraphs with Buckets and Tabloid Headlines
The paragraph is the most neglected element of writing—and it shows. Too many paragraphs ramble without purpose or focus. In this unit, we will use the concept of the “idea bucket” to stay focused. Using the Tabloid Headline and Landscape View, we’ll gain mastery of the second most important unit of writing.
- Finding the Right Shape: Blueprints for All Pieces
Writing a great piece requires finding the right shape. The eternal structure of all communications is the story. But how does that work? And what are the variations on this theme? What are the different “shapes” of pieces? How can we adapt this core structure to different kinds of writing? Can we use simple blueprints to structure our work?
- Editing With Focus, from Big to Small
“Write with your heart,” Hemingway once said, “but edit with your head.” Most writers struggle with editing because they try to do too much at the same time. In this unit, we explore how to break editing into stages to focus on one challenge at a time. With techniques like the Landscape View, Tabloid Headlines, and Clutter Cutter, we can create the focus we need to do it well.
- Getting the Right Style—What You Have in Common With George Clooney, the Williams Sisters, and Stephen Curry?
Style is the unique expression of an idea, often with surprising and delightful flourishes. But in all fields—art, music, architecture, and even science and business—style requires mastery of the basics. Using a process we call “stacking” —and building on the skills from our unit on sentences—we will explore how to transform the simplest elements of writing into your own distinctive style or brand.
Following Up
Learning is never enough. What really matters is how you apply what you learn. This seminar is designed to give you a clear plan of attack—whatever you want to do as an organization or department.
