The Power Business Writing Guide

Curiosity Chronicle - A podcast by Sahil Bloom

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Welcome to the 749 new members of the curiosity tribe who have joined us since Friday. Join the 54,500 others who are receiving high-signal, curiosity-inducing content every single week. Also be sure to follow and subscribe to my new podcast—Where It Happens—on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube!Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Lemon.io!Lemon.io fixes the developer headache—it makes hiring remote developer talent as easy as ordering a meal on DoorDash. Tell them about your project and they match you with an affordable, vetted developer in Eastern Europe within 48 hours. Guaranteed. I’ve used it for several quick projects and have loved the experience.SPECIAL OFFER: 15% discount for the first 4 weeks of work for all Curiosity Chronicle subscribers. Take advantage by using the link below!Today at a Glance:Study the lives and practices of today’s most successful entrepreneurs, financiers, and builders and you’ll find one common trait: a deep, visceral understanding of the importance of powerful, efficient, high-leverage writing.Why? These leaders know that powerful writing isn't an accident—clear writing is clear thinking.The four key principles of powerful business writing: (1) Draft Fast, Edit Slow, (2) KISS, (3) Clear Target Reaction, and (4) Storytelling.The Power Business Writing GuideWant to accelerate your career? Write better. Period.Study the lives and practices of today’s most successful entrepreneurs, financiers, and builders and you’ll find one common trait: a deep, visceral understanding of the importance of powerful, efficient, high-leverage writing.Jeff Bezos famously installed memo writing as a mainstay of Amazon’s business culture. Prior to kicking off a meeting, attendees would be asked to read and digest several pages of written memos from the meeting leads. Why? Bezos deeply believed in the value of these memos, not only for the uninformed participants, but also for the meeting leads to clarify their thinking through the writing process.Warren Buffett famously writes an annual shareholder letter, distilling insights on billions of dollars in investments into a single memo.The list of writing advocates goes on and on…Why? These leaders know that powerful writing isn't an accident—clear writing is clear thinking.In this piece, I will attempt to deconstruct the four key principles of powerful business writing…They are as follows:Draft Fast, Edit SlowKISSClear Target ReactionStorytellingI’ll cover each principle and provide some additional learning resources:Principle 1: Draft Fast, Edit SlowThere's nothing more daunting than a blank page.We have all experienced it at one time or another—sitting at our desk, staring into the abyss of a blank Word document or notebook page, with no idea where to start. The perfect line is illusive, and everyone knows you need a perfect first line…The solution?Play a trick on yourself. Start writing, fast. Get a draft down—and don’t worry at all about the quality (seriously, it’s ok if it sucks).My friend Julian Shapiro said it best: “Making something bad then iterating until it’s good is faster than making something good upfront.”Here's a framework that works for me: Write-Rest-Review.Write-Rest-ReviewGet the first draft down as quickly as possible.Walk away for 5 minutes—go for a walk, grab a coffee, listen to some music, whatever. Come back and review the draft with the benefit of that refresh.Ask a bunch of questions:What's missing?Where are the logical flaws?Where are the cracks?Where is the writing loose or flimsy?When you review with "new" eyes, good things tend to happen.Try out Write-Rest-Review and let me know how it works for you!Principle 2: Keep It Simple, StupidMost people assume that longer, more complex writing will impress and inspire.Sorry, it doesn't.Great business writing is simple and direct. There's no fluff or handwaving—it's tactical.A few actionable tips to tighten and simplify:Cut the FluffIn school, we were taught to heap descriptors into our writing. We were told it made it more vibrant. It also helped fill out the word or page count we were forced to hit…In the real world, those fluff words are the silent killers of powerful business writing.Review your draft with an eye towards removing any unnecessary words & sentences.Some common fluff:"I think X""Very" (or similar adverbs)AcronymsJargon$10 words (i.e. fancy, big, long words)Be ruthless in identifying and eliminating the fluff words & sentences from your writing.Shorten EverythingPowerful business writing is very similar to powerful Twitter writing: short, punchy writing is better.Use short sentence structures.Space sentences or paragraphs out to make the writing more optically pleasing. Great business writing should be engaging to the eye.I have found writing more on Twitter to be a force amplifier for my business writing—it’s a forced brevity training ground. Use it to your advantage as you work at your craft.Add DataThis is a classic principle instilled by Jeff Bezos in Amazo...

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