Use plain English if you want to stay out of court. Writing in clear plain English can save companies time and money by avoiding unnecessary legal costs. A new booklet has been launched by the Plain English Awards in Dublin to show how costly unclear communication can be. The booklet – ‘Plain English and the law: the legal consequences of clear and unclear communication’ – is a joint initiative by … Read More →
If you want to persuade the decision-makers, you need to be able to structure your argument clearly and succinctly. Read More →
Celebrating diversity is an essential part of American Thanksgiving Read More →
When was the last time you did a thorough inventory of your business risks? Did it include a communications audit? Yes, you read that correctly. Do you know how effectively your employees, from the top down, write and present information? It is worth finding out because bad writing could be eating into your company’s profits and irritating your customers. A recent Harvard Business Review poll found that 81 per cent … Read More →
Have you ever found yourself looking blankly at the computer screen, wondering how to begin an email? Yes, we have too because we know just how important that first impression can be. How you begin an email can make or break the relationship with your reader. You don’t want to put them off by being over-formal, but you don’t want to be over-friendly either. If you don’t know the person … Read More →
Winston Churchill can help your business to boost its profits. Yes, you read that right. The former UK prime minister Winston Churchill certainly made his mark during his lifetime and his advice to the British war cabinet in 1940 is still relevant today. He advised government employees to weed out jargon from their reports and to write clear, crisp sentences – guiding principles that have been proven to get your message … Read More →
Have you been caught up in the buzz about social selling yet? It’s the hot new process that’s tipped to turn sales people into sales stars – and drive big profits for companies. Read More →
Let’s think outside the box for a moment and ask a rather obvious question – what has the box got to do with thinking? What does the expression – one of the most-hated phrases on a Forbes list of jargon – really mean anyway? If it means to be innovative or creative, why don’t we just say that instead? Better still, what’s wrong with plain ole reliable ‘think’? We’re not … Read More →
Do the sounds you hear change the way you think? Tony Schwartz believed they did. “I have no interest in sound effects,” advertising man and media theorist Schwartz once wrote. “I am solely interested in the effect of sound on people.” Schwartz worked on what’s thought to be the most effective political advertisement of all time, the ‘Daisy’ ad, which helped Lyndon B Johnson win the US presidency by a … Read More →
Walking is good for your physical and mental health – but could it also make you more creative at work and boost your brand? Frédéric Gros thinks so. In his new book A Philosophy of Walking, he emphasises the importance of walking to everyone from Nietschze and Rimbaud to Kant and Rousseau. But you don’t have to be an intellectual to benefit. Walking, says Gros, is not a sport, but … Read More →
