Joanna Young asks, What does powerful writing mean to you? Turns out to be a rather challenging question. I tried to define powerful writing as “memorably evocative.” Writing that sticks in my head and evokes an emotion or an impulse or an attitude has power. But when I think of examples, I don’t see […]

Robert Hruzek has another group project going — this time on the topic, What I Learned from the Law. Well, a few years back I had the unpleasant experience of testifying in open court for a day and a half. We were plaintiffs in a contract dispute and I was a key witness. Here’s […]

A Rant about Rants
Inspired by Kenneth Davis, who chose The Cluetrain Manifesto as his favorite business book in my group project, I finally got around to reading the book that’s been on everybody’s lips since before it was published.
Cluetrain is full of fantastic insights about why we need more conversation in business. If you can […]

Traditional media took a big hit last week with the announcement that Time Warner’s magnificent technology magazine, “Business 2.0″, will be shut down after its October issue.
It’s a real pity, because “Business 2.0″ featured superb writing, analysis, and trend spotting. Today I’m a little less broken up about it, because here’s what I found in […]

Writing a letter of apology is one of the toughest assignments in business correspondence, maybe the toughest.
Since every situation is different, generalizing is difficult. But here are some points worth keeping in mind.
1. Lead with an apology. It puts the reader at ease, letting him or her know up front that the letter […]