juegos Greetings. If, like me, you’re on the north side of, let’s say, 40 or 45, you recall the days when one-on-one business communication was something you did largely with a telephone or a fax or a conversation — planned or spontaneous — in a meeting room or hallway saunter or casual visit to someone else’s office or cubicle. The same thing went for dealings with partners or suppliers or vendors or those high-stakes letters to and discussions with customers, potential and existing.

But now email has changed the world of business communication drastically and I’m not so sure we’ve adapted wisely to this marvelous tool. In fact, I think many of us, including the relative youngsters who have grown up with email, are taking such greedy advantage of the speed and convenience of email that they look like idiots.

trabajo Sound a bit harsh? Not to me, not when I get electronic business writing from “writers” who don’t bother to capitalize, check spelling, edit themselves for internal contradictions, and think through the points to make and then lay them out via the handy devices of paragraphs or bullets — in other words the basic rules of the common language that that blue-haired English teacher worked so hard to help us understand, and that we somehow lost as we stuffed ourselves with specialized knowledge on our separate career paths, up to and including lawyers and PhDs.

The shame of it is that email offers so much in the way of clarity. Just think what it means when your boss or a customer asks for something electronically. You have the opportunity to actually think about a response and then word it carefully, instead of blurting out something in an unanticipated phone conversation that you may come to regret, forcing you to call back and repair the damage, real or imagined.

trabajar Meanwhile, you look indecisive, while email, which rarely demands a truly immediate response, lets you be analytical, creative, insightful, even humorous. It also allows you to organize your thoughts in draft form, outline them roughly in logical sequence, and then set the whole thing aside for a fresh look a few minutes, a few hours, even a day or so later. Eventually, if what you write is so cogent and concise that it makes your original correspondent’s job easier, you’ve established yourself as a professional and responsive communicator.

Remember: E-mail, saturated though it may be with highly expendable spam and lightweight personal messages, will be saved or printed out and retained when it gets someone’s attention. In other words, your writing, good or bad, can leave a permanent impression of you.

Paying your dues…A clash of generational values

It should therefore come as no surprise that our younger cohorts have a completely different take on the idea of career. They have grown up in a post 9/11 world where altruistic causes are of great interest to them. In addition, they have been afforded the highest level of educational opportunity than any preceding generation from parents who have communicated loud and clear that the world is their oyster. They have not known a world without cell phones or computers. We think that this generation’s social skills have been compromised by the amount of time they spend on Facebook, text messaging, etc. Yet, they feel more “connected”. Who is right? The internet and social media have given them exposure to a powerful form of self-expression. As a result, they are savvier and deeply interested in their environment. Many are seeking fulfilling employment with an organization that demonstrates a commitment to making a meaningful difference at a global level. A job for life is more like a life sentence for the “Ys” who cannot imagine being with one employer forever. For this new generation, a job is a stepping stone to the next opportunity. When their parents or managers talk to them about climbing the corporate ladder to achieve professional success, they are speaking a foreign language. Gen Ys are thinking “aren’t you the same people who told me I could be and do anything I wanted?”

Having covered the Pentagon for Business Week magazine, my expectations were low when it comes to military writing skills — jargony, acronym-clogged, even pompous-sounding language. I was in for a pleasant surprise. To be sure, the SEALs were a bit wordy, but they quickly grasped the key to any workplace writing: Get to the point. Tell me what you want. Persuade me to adopt a new policy or spend money, analyze a complex situation, or explain a new development. Then tell me why I should be interested, what’s in it for me. From there, you support that idea with details.

What’s more, respect me, and all readers, by being concise. Quoting the English poet Robert Southey: “If you be pungent, be brief; for it is with words as with sunbeams — the more they are condensed the deeper they burn.” That’s quite a leap from modern-day elite warriors to a Romantic Age poet, isn’t it? Still, it’s all about deploying the language we share to achieve effective communication, using words wisely and economically and with conviction.

I heard something else from the SEALs that makes me think all is not lost when it comes to military writing today. Their superiors have introduced them to a writing organization concept called “bottom line up front.” Makes sense, doesn’t it? Get to the point. Unfortunately, that leaves us with the acronym BLUF. I wonder if the powers-that-be would like to rephrase that You can be published without charge. You can to republish this article in your website or blog. Please provide links Active.