HOW TO SAY IT: BUSINESS WRITING THAT WORKS
By Adina Rishe Gewirtz
Prentice Hall, 259 pages, $20
Many business people freeze when they have to write - be it an important e-mail, or a complicated report. Even those who don't panic can still struggle (and be sadly ineffective) when moving out of their everyday oral, bullet-point existence to a more formal business writing task.
The recipients of the information are no longer in front of you, asking questions and giving feedback. You have to figure out what they need to know, frame it in a comprehensible fashion, and find the right words and rhythm to make a successful argument.
Adina Rishe Gewirtz has worked with business people to improve their business writing with a system she based on her mentor, Jon Franklin. A long-time journalist, Mr. Franklin went back to study the literary giants to understand how he could apply their concepts to factual writing, improving his work to the point he won two Pulitzer Prizes.
He unearthed what he calls story grammar, the pattern by which our brain is accustomed to taking in information through stories; Ms. Gewirtz adapts that technique to business writing. It starts with a problem and a resolution.
Every piece of business writing begins with a problem - a statement that crystallizes the reader's needs. "It either reminds him of a need he knows he's got, or causes him to recognize a need he didn't know he had. Either way, it immediately forces him to ask a question, and that question - since it jumped naturally to his mind - will push him to read further, looking for the right answer," she writes in Business Writing That Works, which is part of the Prentice Hall How To Say It series.
That problem can be stated in the subject line of an e-mail. It can be presented in a simple statement. Or it can be embellished with an opening hook, of the type journalists favour.
But it's only half of what you must address at the outset. Before you set pen to paper (or fingers to the keyboard), you need to know how it will end: The resolution, which answers the question raised for the reader. "A good problem statement only works if you've got an equally strong - and matching - resolution. You've raised a question; you've got to answer it," she says.
Problem and resolution are the basic building blocks for business writing. You need to figure out the straight line from the problem to the bulls-eye you are aiming at, the resolution. "Writing never starts with words. Fine phrases come at the end of the writing process. It starts with ideas," she says.
After forming those ideas by thinking of what your audience wants to hear and figuring out the problem-resolution, look through your notes and put each point into a category. The titles for those categories don't matter - it's just a way to stitch common items together. Those notes will form the basis for the report.
Ms. Gewirtz wants you to divide the material you present between the problem and resolution into three parts since readers are used to information presented in a beginning, middle, and end. The first step in that process, counter-intuitively, is to figure out the end, the part that builds up to the resolution. This is the point of insight, the place where you present your most compelling proof, example, information, or idea, so that you turn on a light bulb in the reader's head. "Reading that final, crucial idea, proof, or finding, the reader realizes that the only possible resolution is the one you are about to present."
After selecting which elements of your notes best form that point of insight, you pick out the parts that provide background to form the opening section, and then the rest falls into the second, or bridge section, taking readers from background to point of insight and your resolution. From there, you'll find it almost written; you just need to get it down on paper and polish, putting in appropriate transitions and flourishes.
This may seem confused - since her process jumps back and forth between beginning and end - and I am condensing. But she presents it in a logical manner, with a 10-step process that eases you through the system. And she hammers it home with seven chapters of examples, each targeting a common writing challenge, from basic reports to requests for proposals.
She holds the reader's attention with some creative examples, such as: the letter Thomas Edison's principal might have written warning the youngster would fail if he didn't start paying attention; the performance evaluation Attila The Hun's supervisor might have, with some trepidation, offered; and the proposal Mercenary Security, a fictional firm, might have developed to gain the contract to guard Julius Caesar on the Ides of March.
It adds up to an inspired, comprehensive package that can help you improve your business writing, based on the logic that drives great writing.
In addition: James Kilts had a no-nonsense reputation as chief executive officer of Gillette Co., Nabisco Inc. and Kraft Foods Inc. In Doing What Matters (Crown Business, 318 pages, $35.00), written with long-time associates John Manfredi and Robert Lorber, he lays out how he developed the tight focus in previously unwieldy organizations that led to success. He shares some of his systems, such as rating all employees on a 1-100 marking scale, as at school, or aiming for zero overhead cost growth so you can siphon money to more important opportunities. But as important as his techniques is his focused approach on what really matters. The book starts terribly - the first chapter is a jumble - and tends to drag near the end, as he loses focus. But the main chunk is absorbing, as he shows how he led turnarounds and shares his laser-sharp CEO's perspective on running organizations.
Just In: Leadership Solutions (Jossey-Bass, 275 pages, $41.99), by Canadian-based consultants David Weiss, Vince Molinaro, and Liane Davey, shows how to build leadership capacity and overcome the gap in organizations between the available leadership and what is needed.
In Spiral Up (Amacom, 254 pages, $26.95), consultant Jane Linder reveals the management secrets behind wildly successful initiatives that people have championed in organizations, such as Nortel Networks Corp., Safeway Inc. and the winery Jacob's Creek.
Managing IT for Your Small Business (Teach Yourself, 210 pages, $15.95), by consultant Michael Pagan, has a cover photo of a man banging his head against a wall; it aims to help you avoid that situation.
Harvey Schachter