A version of this article was originally published by ColoradoBiz here.*** Invitations vs. Explanations People quickly tire of having things explained to them. Effective marketing is about starting conversations. Whatever industry you’re in, your marketing copy (the words you use…
This article originally appeared in the ColoradoBiz online edition here. Not long ago, I listened to a special feature about Ella Fitzgerald on KUVO (the wonderful Denver-based 24/7 jazz station). I was struck by one particular insight into her musical style:…
Think of the last time you were going about your business and someone came along with advice about a problem you hadn’t even been thinking about. And then he was grandiose enough to tell you the solution. How did that go over? Then, think of the last…
People tend to underestimate one another’s bullshit detectors and overestimate their own. Some of the best evidence of this is how frequently we resort to the following phrases. Don’t use them unless you want to trigger people. 1. “No offense, but …”…
The Economist warned last January that “In the future, ‘fake news’ put together with the aid of artificial intelligence will be so realistic that even the best-resourced and most professional news organization will be hard pressed to tell the difference…
Updated: Jul 6 The ability to write well is scandalously undervalued. Both the benefits of quality writing and the economic costs of poor writing are underestimated by organizations of all sizes. Although I've written about this before, I thought using…
The drawn-out email. The flowery, keyword-dense blog intro with no substance. The rambling, 550-page novel that lacks continuity. The podcast with 20 minutes of information crammed into 45 minutes. The 120-slide business pitch. These things suck. I'll soon revisit this…
Updated: Apr 27 He’s the worst roommate you ever had. He leaves dishes in the sink and never vacuums. He has to be asked five times to square up on his share of each month’s utility bill. He spills bong…
With writing, as with so many other disciplines, it's easy to spot others' mistakes but hard to recognize our own. Nobody realizes when he or she is coming across as an amateur, but there are introspective tools you can use…
If you're running a purpose-driven company, your success will largely be determined by the quality of the stories you tell. Update, 13 July 2020: One moving story can have a greater impact on people's perceptions than reams of data and…
