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Written Communications That Inform and Influence (Results-Driven Manager, The)

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The fact that I blog, review, and otherwise spend a great deal of time writing should point to the value I place on written communication. Harvard Business School Press has a concise book titled Written Communications That Inform and Influence that does a very nice job in honing in on typical trouble areas when it comes to business communication. It's definitely well worth the minimal time investment you'd need to go through it.

Contents:
Writing Persuasive Proposals: First, Don't Write an Outline; Making Your Proposal Come Out on Top; Building a Bridge over the River Boredom; When to Ignore Your Readers
Spotlight On Structure: A Winning Proposition; Writing Well When Time Is Tight; The Best Memo You'll Ever Write
Striking the Right Tone and Style: Find the Right Tone for Your Business Writing; Communication as a Change Tool; Rhyme and Reason - What Poetry Has to Say to Business Writers; Ayn Rand on Writing; When One Style Does Not Fit All
Surmounting Special Writing Challenges: Don't Push That Send Button!; How to Engineer Compelling Prose - Teaching a Techie to Write; Writing an Executive Summary That Means Business; Five Quick Ways to Trim Your Writing
Avoiding Grammatical Goofs and Gaffes: Misused Words and Other Writing Gaffes - A Manager's Primer; How to Write Correctly Without Knowing the Rules; Is Following the Rules Tripping Up Your Message?
About the Contributors

Many people in the business world don't like to "officially" write stuff as they aren't necessarily very good at it. Granted, not everyone will be Hemingway with an office memo, but with a little knowledge and practice it's not that hard to be effective. While this book is targeted for business writing situations, the ideas and concepts cross over into all types of writing. For instance, How to Write Correctly Without Knowing the Rules offers up a time-honored (at least by me!) technique for those sentences that don't quite sound right... just rewrite the sentence! If you're not sure if "compliment" is the right word, just use "praise" instead. Why fret over those small things? The chapter on Trim Your Writing is also quite valuable. I've been trying to do a better job at that lately, and the ideas offered in the chapter really do help in allowing your ideas to avoid drowning in a sea of words.

Effective writing skills can be a significant way to set yourself apart at work. If you've never taken the time to try to improve that aspect of your personal portfolio, starting here would be a good way to begin.