On the Art of Writing for Business

Excellence in business writing is sometimes pursued, often neglected, and seldom achieved. 

Improving the quality of our technical and business writing is a career-long pursuit.  However, our pursuit is not a solitary one.  We can learn from our predecessors.

Philip Stanhope, Lord Chesterfield, was arguably the greatest writer in the English language.  His reputation was not garnered from writing poetry or plays, but from letter writing.  His letters of business are still lauded and printed today.  In 1751, he provided the following advice:

The first thing necessary in writing letters of business, is extreme clearness and perspicuity; every paragraph should be so clear, and unambiguous, that the dullest fellow in the world may not be able to mistake it, nor obliged to read it twice in order to understand it.  This necessary clearness implies a correctness, without excluding an elegancy of style.

Allowing for the evolution of language between eighteenth and twenty-first century, this guidance is remarkably modern.  Chesterfield goes on to provide more specific advice:

Let your first attention be to clearness, and read every paragraph after you have written it, in the critical view of discovering whether it is possible that any one man can mistake the true sense of it; and correct it accordingly.

The truth is that we can identify most errors in our writing without the help of others.  If you have the opportunity, let your writing rest awhile, evaluate it with a fresh eye, and then self-correct your work.

When it comes to editing, modern business writers have an advantage over their eighteenth-century peers.  Cutting and pasting no longer require a scissors and glue, and revisions no longer demand a fresh piece of paper and a sharpened quill.  Comparatively speaking, professional writing requires little effort today.

Our pronouns and relatives often create obscurity or ambiguity; be therefore exceedingly attentive to them and take care to make out with precision their particular relations…it is better to repeat a name, though unnecessarily, ten times, than to have the person mistaken once.

Due to unclear language, I waste an estimated ten to twenty percent of the time I spend reading for work.  A significant proportion of that time is expended in disentangling abused pronouns. 

As a consultant, my time is someone else’s money. So, this is an important point to address.  Over the years, I’ve burned through a lot of money trying to determine which it, he, or they is being referred to in an email, letter, or specification. 

When writing for business, please do not hesitate to repeat the noun!  I know that your English teacher told you not to use the same word again and again in your assignments.  However, in business and technical writing, repetition is often the ideal approach.

Also, ensure each pronoun applies to the last noun used in text. If you think the meaning of a sloppily applied pronoun is obvious to others, I assure you, it is not.

Business does not exclude (as you might possibly wish it did) the usual terms of politeness and good breeding; but on the contrary, strictly requires them.

It seems we must be polite in our business communications!

Thankfully, we no longer need to know the correct form of address for the various gradations of nobility.  However, we do need to navigate the more common honorifics.

As someone who has received many letters directed to my male alter ego – Mr. Norris – I can confirm that incorrect titles sour business relationships. If you make an error in this regard, apologize promptly, and do not repeat the mistake.  I have had to humble myself in this fashion once or twice over the years.

In the US, it is perfectly acceptable to address a new contact by first name.  This is particularly useful in a culture that habitually gives traditionally male names to females and uses family names as first names.

However, if you are in a nation where a more formal approach is appropriate, make some effort to discover the person’s gender and/or title.  LinkedIn can be useful in this regard.  If a woman’s preference is unclear, please use Ms as her title.  Because I have never changed my name, I still receive letters addressed to Miss Norris.  Because I am married, I receive letters addressed to Mrs Norris.  Both are incorrect and, worse, the cultural assumptions behind these choices make me cringe.  Ms may not be the optimum form of address, but it is generally an inoffensive default.

Furthermore, if your title is important to you, include it in your communications so that your correspondents are aware of it.

Let your periods be harmonious, without seeming to be laboured: and let them not be too long, for that always occasions a degree of obscurity.

This is advice applies to sentence length (periods).  When writing for fun, I love to compose long convoluted sentences, a habit that sometimes bleeds into my work-related writing, making my meaning difficult to follow and, thereby, running the risk of confusing the dullest of fellows, and utterly defeating the purpose of my efforts.  When that happens, I pick up a figurative axe. I chop my sentences up. I check those pesky pronouns.  I proof-read.  I correct my errors. This results in more sentences and fewer words.  However, I communicate better.  My ideas are clearer.  Work is easier.

Although much of Lord Chesterfield’s advice is timeless, some is dated.  For example, his advice on the quality of orthography and on ‘neatness in folding up, sealing, and directing your packets’ has little validity today.  However, the underlying concept behind this outmoded advice is sound.  Presentation is important, and modern writers have the tools to impress.  Bullet points, italics, indentation, and font can all be used to improve the clarity of communication.

Lord Chesterfield’s advice was specifically formulated for his son, a young man he was grooming for a life in diplomacy and politics.  To the father’s chagrin, the younger Stanhope was not as talented as his parent in either field.  However, the elder Stanhope had some advice on that topic too:

Business requires no conjuration of parts nor supernatural talents, as people unacquainted with it are apt to think.  Method, diligence, and discretion, will carry a man of good common sense, much higher than the finest parts (abilities), without them, can do.