Read your writing out loud to yourself, carefully observing the punctuation. You won't become Hemingway, but you will find the most obvious flaws in your writing.
Paul Tudor Jones to Staff: Learn to Write or I'll Rip Up Your Memo
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Re: Paul Tudor Jones to Staff: Learn to Write or I'll Rip Up Your Memo
#22I cannot endorse this idea enough. Paul Tudor (I don't know why anybody calls him Mr Jones. Anybody who has ever dealt with his firm calls him Paul Tudor) knows what everybody else in finance knows: you're dealing with people who have money, and when you have money, there are many, many, people trying to solicit your interest. This is not about the blog writing style, your deep intellect, your pitch. It's about "I ge…
> My successful strategy was to sit back, really think about what was the essence of my piece, summarize that in a single line, and put that into the subject. Any chance you remember exemplar subject lines? This technique also applies to blog post titles which eventually appear in micro-blog tweets, HN story headlines, and presentation titles.
Impossible task because the subject in my domain (finance) changes so soften. Is it New Gingrich shutting down the government today? Is it Bank of America losing its shirt in Detroit? Or is it Greece failing to pay its debt? Or is is it Glencore overleveraged on commodities? Maybe it's China devaluing!
The only common denominator, in my experience, is not to try your best to be the first. The first is usually a computer, and that trend is only growing.
What you want to do, and this is a time honored principle, is to really think about what you want to say, before you say it, and make sure you know the unique aspects of what you're saying. Paul Tudor, like most AAA people, is hammered every second with the main-line thinking. His attention is only piqued with things that are oblique to the mainstream view. (notice that I use the word "oblique", not necessarily "orthogonal", because there are many unsubtle people who take the idea too far ie: "I want attention so will go wild with my thinking". You must never underestimate the extent to which high end people have seen it all before and have defences against charlatans). Your best bet is to be really honest with yourself, about what you're saying that's different but not crazy, make sure you can back up your claims, at least intellectually (the market often does not have time for proof), and make that the key point of your piece, upfront in the subject line/headline.
Then, be prepared to defend your standpoint, with credible arguments. No sloppiness allowed. Your 10 seconds turned into 5 minutes! Don't screw them up by not knowing your facts.
Re: Paul Tudor Jones to Staff: Learn to Write or I'll Rip Up Your Memo
#23Are there good classes one can take online which teach someone how to get through writing anxiety? Or how to write despite the fact that you cannot really ever know how your audience will interpret what you are saying?
Re: Paul Tudor Jones to Staff: Learn to Write or I'll Rip Up Your Memo
#24Wow all the comments here seem negative. The guy is just saying that people should be clearer with their writing and getting to the point right away to avoid confusion. If they're writing about a topic that's more complex, sure, the writing will need to be more complex. But there's nothing wrong with communicating simply if the subject allows it.
In my experience, the higher you go in an org, the more terse and direct the written communications is. At the IC & supervisor levels, folks tend to write books in email, often because they feel obligated to provide a complete justification for their decisions (or ideas). As you go up the decision-making ladder, the need to explain oneself shrinks (at least, this is the perception. Strong leaders will do it regardless.)
The other issue is that for folks low on the food chain, they often don't feel comfortable requesting face-to-face meetings with execs, and "manage up" by providing absolutely as much detail as possible to their direct management in hopes he/she will do it on their behalf. Again, an organizational deficiency, but a common one, and one that's easy to understand.
Concision & clarity of communication are critical tools in any employee's toolbox. As an aside, this is one reason it's pretty easy to find articles and blog posts endorsing the success many liberal arts majors have in the tech world.
Re: Paul Tudor Jones to Staff: Learn to Write or I'll Rip Up Your Memo
#25Wow all the comments here seem negative. The guy is just saying that people should be clearer with their writing and getting to the point right away to avoid confusion. If they're writing about a topic that's more complex, sure, the writing will need to be more complex. But there's nothing wrong with communicating simply if the subject allows it.
This concept is will known in the military as BLUF - bottom line up front. Not an abstract or introduction, putting the key recommendation or outcome at the beginning. It falls in and out of fashion but as with newspapers it helps you work out what you want to read further.
Known on the internet as TL;DR
Re: Paul Tudor Jones to Staff: Learn to Write or I'll Rip Up Your Memo
#26For the startup world: Approximately 80% of the pitches I get are between garbled and incoherent. Even higher in the unsolicited ones. Consider that your recipient is reading on a small screen and utilize pyramid structure. And don't bury the lede. Many pitches ask for money without saying anything at all about what they are about.
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Re: Paul Tudor Jones to Staff: Learn to Write or I'll Rip Up Your Memo
#27Read your writing out loud to yourself, carefully observing the punctuation. You won't become Hemingway, but you will find the most obvious flaws in your writing.
+1 to this --- and I should add, it needs to be actually out loud. No, reading it in your head doesn't work.
If you have an office rubber duck, reading your report to the duck is a really good way to get feedback.
Re: Paul Tudor Jones to Staff: Learn to Write or I'll Rip Up Your Memo
#28For the startup world: Approximately 80% of the pitches I get are between garbled and incoherent. Even higher in the unsolicited ones. Consider that your recipient is reading on a small screen and utilize pyramid structure. And don't bury the lede. Many pitches ask for money without saying anything at all about what they are about.
Would you recommend something like "How to pitch a VC" by Dave McClure. Or something else?
I feel like there's no magic in a pitch. That you just have to tell the VC what problem you're solving. And just expect your VC to get it. Maybe the same pitch can have 2 totally different reactions in different people, because one of them have felt that pain or is identified with it.
Bottom line, my take is: make it simple, be clear and open. There's no need to "sell" or "charm" with it.
Re: Paul Tudor Jones to Staff: Learn to Write or I'll Rip Up Your Memo
#29anyone have any advice for online courses that deal with this? find myself struggling with it as well..
Re: Paul Tudor Jones to Staff: Learn to Write or I'll Rip Up Your Memo
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
This concept is will known in the military as BLUF - bottom line up front. Not an abstract or introduction, putting the key recommendation or outcome at the beginning. It falls in and out of fashion but as with newspapers it helps you work out what you want to read further.
Known on the internet as TL;DR
TL;DR doesn't always appear at the beginning which is what cmdkeen was talking about.