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Tips on How To Improve Your Writing
THE WORD ON WORDS
Our all-time favorite: It is what it is. Oh my, how
can you argue with that?
We propose we quarantine anyone who speaks
Corporatese, releasing him when he vows:
» I will no longer drill down, circle back, reach out,
lawyer up or impact the boom line.
» I will never mention a hard stop, deep dive, game
plan, food chain or rodeo.
» I will not drink the Kool-Aid, move the needle, press
the flesh, peel the onion or shoot the puppy.
» I will do nothing from the get go or going forward.
» I will not pursue low-hanging fruit or cut bait or
mention tiger teams unless referring to cartoons
busting out of gas tanks and cereal boxes.
» I will not have a dog in the fight or skin in the game.
Aer he has vowed never again to say or write
this mush, tell him that in place of all those stale
expressions to use real words. No slang. No jargon.
Instead of impactful use "effective," because people
then concentrate on the meaning of the sentence, not
the jarring of the jargon.
Even beer advice: Let him ramble in
Corporatese. You will get the promotion, and he'll still
be officing next to where your office used to be. P2P
GARY KINDER
Gary Kinder is a lawyer and
New York Times best-selling
author. He has taught over
1,000 writing programs for the
American Bar Association and
for law firms and corporate
law departments around the
country. He is also the creator
of WordRake, the clear and
concise editing software, which
Harvard Law School recently
recognized as "Disruptive
Innovation." Contact Gary at
garyk@wordrake.com.
RANDI MAYES
Randi Mayes is the Executive
Director of ILTA where she
is responsible for oversight
of all operations and serves
as editor-in-chief of the
association's numerous
publications. A member
of the American Society of
Association Executives and the
Texas Society of Association
Executives, she has spoken and
written on topics related to
leadership development and
association management. She's
more than a little nuts about
good writing. Contact Randi at
randi@iltanet.org.
THERE'S MORE ONLINE!
You'll enjoy Gary's humor and expertise on a regular
basis by subscribing to his Weekly Writing Tips at
www.wordrake.com/writing-tips.
Enjoy Gary's
humor and
expertise on a
regular basis by
by subscribing
to his Weekly
Writing Tips at
www.wordrake.
com/writing-tips.
Find exercises
and other
writing tips on
Randi's blog at
connect.iltanet.
org/blogs/randi-
mayes.
