Yesterday’s redux was about the importance of liberal arts in a tech-gone-crazy world.

New studies, with hard salary data, bear out this truth.

Yes, tech starting salaries are higher, but that difference goes away relatively quickly.

Not only that, but the tech skills needed today, especially the “hot” skills, didn’t exist 10 years ago, or even three to five years ago, so a tech career requires a willingness to constantly learn the newest whatever that comes along.

That translates to 40 years of racing to keep up with the newly minted competition.

Even staying current won’t assure a good career path, since if you want to go higher more soft skills, such as written and verbal communications, are required.

And in case you are part of my millennial and under audience, written skills don’t refer to proficient texting, while verbal skills mean competently carrying on face-to-face conversations.

Liberal arts can (should) open your mind to other experiences and viewpoints increasing your EQ and SQ, which is critical to getting ahead (and getting along).

There’s another reason liberal arts is even more important now and in the future — AI.

Techies are so enamored with the technology they haven’t given much thought to the fact that AI is best at repetitive functions — like coding.

AI apps like Bayou, DeepCoder, and Commit Assistant automate some tedious parts of coding. They can produce a few lines of code but they can’t yet write programs on their own, nor can they interpret business value and prioritize features.

The stuff AI can’t do isn’t found in a tech education, but liberal arts provides the foundation to do them.

Sometimes a cliché is useful. The bottom line is an education that combines tech skills for the short-term and liberal arts for both short and long-term is the real career winner.

(Note: Although the image above says liberal arts is for sales and marketing, it’s even more crucial for techies.)

Image credit: Abhijit Bhaduri

Considering the examples of bad writing in Monday’s and Tuesday’s posts it’s obvious that much of the problem comes down to a lack of clarity.

No surprise there, but other than confusing everyone, bad writing easily morphs into no writing, which can be a disastrous to product development, especially in tech.

As the image above shows, lack of writing skills impact every part of a sale, but lack of documentation is probably the worst.

Think about it. Things go wrong with equipment all the time and when it does you go to the manual to see how to fix it.

Software is even worse.

With minimal-to-no documentation, fixing bugs, iterating and keeping legacy software running is extremely difficult, especially if the primary developers leave the company.

No matter your education or experience, if you can write coherently you will have a serious edge over other candidates.

Image credit: Jhayne

Does writing matter? Do capitals matter? Does punctuation matter? Does reviewing what you wrote matter?

Yes. Yes. Yes. And yes.

We’re not talking about becoming the next Tom Clancy or winning a Webby.

This is about sounding professional and respecting your reader, whomever they may be.

There are a lot of things that go into good writing, but the most important thing is that it makes sense, not how many multi-syllabic words are used. Obviously, this Fortune 500 company manager didn’t believe that when he described his job.

“It is my job to ensure proper process deployment activities take place to support process institutionalization and sustainment. Business process management is the core deliverable of my role, which requires that I identify process competency gaps and fill those gaps.”

Additionally, it requires using the correct words, as I said in another post.

“Are most people loosing their minds, while I am losing mine?

Years ago KG sent me a memorable reminder of the importance of capitalization. I used it then and here it is again.

“Capitalization is the difference between helping your Uncle Jack off a horse and helping your uncle jack off a horse.”

A missing comma cost Oakhurst Dairy a lawsuit for overtime — they lost.

Finally, it takes very little time to review what you wrote; the best way is to read it out loud.

CB Insights shared a hilarious example from a resume they received.

P.S. We’ve been asking folks about their job interviewing and resume reading tips. Here’s a pointer for candidates: think carefully about your wording when submitting a CV. We received this earlier this week:

Enough said.

Image credits: thewritingreader and CB Insights

Poking through 11+ years of posts I find information that’s as useful now as when it was written.

Golden Oldies is a collection of the most relevant and timeless posts during that time.

Bad writing isn’t age related. Bad writing spans all ages and keeps getting worse. You deal with it daily in email, web content, hardcopy marketing material, resumes, and, the worst, information and instructions from the boss. Decoding bad writing is not only time-consuming, but can also be downright scary if a design change or product launch depends on it.

Read other Golden Oldies here.

Bosses, business coaches, academics, bloggers and many others bemoan the lack of communications skills in Gen Y, especially written communications, but they have plenty of company in preceding generations.

Not just bad writing, but opaque writing, the kind that leaves readers scratching their heads wondering what they are missing.

Of course, I shouldn’t complain, since one of my company’s most popular products is Clarity RE-writing, which involves using the fewest possible words to present even the most complex information in the most understandable way.

Who are the worst writers?

Granting that many of Gen Y don’t understand the difference between writing and texting, I find lousy writing much more offensive when it comes from those who (should) know better.

And while the more lofty their position the more offended I am, I save my greatest reaction for those old enough and senior enough to know better who work in the field—in other words, they are, or should be, professional communicators.

Charles H. Townsend, the chief executive of Condé Nast Publications, which includes Vogue, The New Yorker and Vanity Fair, is such a one. He recently sent a 500 word memo to his staff, here is a sample from it.

“…a consumer-centric business model, a holistic brand management approach and the establishment of a multi-platform, integrated sales and marketing organization.”… “To optimize brand revenue growth, we will shift responsibility for single-site, digital sales and marketing to the brand level. Publishers can now fully leverage their offerings across all platforms.”

Don’t feel badly if you aren’t sure what he is trying to say, his staff wasn’t sure, either.

If you want to write clearly here is some quick and basic guidance.

• • • Avoid jargon;
    • shun multi-syllabic words;
    • use short, simple sentences;
    • pass on large blocks of text, especially on the Net;
    • spell check everything; and, most importantly,
    • never forget that most people scan and don’t actually read.

Image credit: Karin Dalziel

As you’ve probably already guessed, Ryan is leaving Mapping Company Success.

His writing time was squeezed with his new job, but adding a new kid to the mix made its impossible.

I’m sorry to see Ryan go, I think he contributed a lot.

His take on culture has been interesting, since he is a leading edge Millennial, a former Marine and has six years of work experience under his belt.

But anytime something ends it opens opportunities for new things to start.

I’ve been talking to a pair of tail-end Millennials about becoming contributors and they’ve decided to do it. Yea!

I’ll be introducing them next week. I hope you’ll give them a warm welcome.

Image credit: Randstad Canada

Pretty much everyone I know responds to my emails (yes, emails) on their smartphone.

They respond to email because they know I don’t text.

As a result, I am inundated with emails that not only respond to the subject at hand, but provide me with constant comedic content.

They don’t need to try and be funny, because their phone’s autocorrect takes care of that.

And gives me the opportunity to make (as a Brit friend says) smartarse comments.

That said, I’m taking this opportunity to show I really do understand the difficulty they are facing.

It’s not their fault.

They are all much too busy to review their emails before hitting “send.”

Image credit: Language Log

Poking through 11+ years of posts I find information that’s as useful now as when it was written.

Golden Oldies is a collection of the most relevant and timeless posts during that time.

Last week I shared an article I wrote years ago for The Conference Board magazine. Due to a mix-up I didn’t get the actual magazine for several months, which provided me with an objectivity I wouldn’t have had otherwise.

Read other Golden Oldies here.

A few months ago I received an email from the editor of The Conference Board Review inviting me to submit an article for the next issue.

The Conference Board Review is the quarterly magazine of The Conference Board, the world’s preeminent business membership and research organization. Founded in 1976, TCB Review is a magazine of ideas and opinion that raises tough questions about leading-edge issues at the intersection of business and society.

And not just for the online version, but to appear in the actual magazine.

I read the TCB article online (no longer available) and that was cool, but the thrill of seeing something I wrote in a slick magazine like TCB Review really affected me.

I often go back and read stuff I wrote days, months, even years ago and it never ceases to surprise me.

When I reread it in the actual magazine I was blown away.

As are many of us when we revisit something we did a week or a month or longer in the past.

It happens because we see it from the outside—and we are blown away.

We look at it and marvel; the quality and execution impresses; the inherent value surprises; and we revel in the fact that it is our creation.

It doesn’t matter what it is, big or small; whether it was produced at work or elsewhere; it doesn’t even matter if anyone else will ever see it.

We look and we are amazed.

Now it’s your turn; review some of the things you’ve done in the past and I’ll bet several of them will blow you away, too.

Image credit: The Conference Board

Yesterday’s post about BS jargon seemed to be replayed in a pictorial of the atrocious, say-nothing advertising that graced the booths, many of which gave no hint as to the product.

Quartz reporter Mike Murphy summed it up nicely.

It’s like these companies spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to secure booths at CES, and then forgot to pay anyone to actually market whatever they were selling.

This is one of the most jargon laden.

You can check out the rest here.

Murphy was wrong on one point.

The companies probably spent as much, possibly more, on message creation.

And advertising companies don’t give refunds.

Image credit: Quartz

For better or worse I earn my living wordsmithing content, such as websites, blog posts, presentations, etc.

Today was definitely worse.

That’s because so many senior business people believe that stringing together trendy, multi-syllabic words spotlights their intelligence and impresses their target audience — whether investors, employees, or customers.

The presentation I’m working on is so loaded with jargon that I wonder if they didn’t use some equivalent of the The Corporate B.S. Generator I read about on CB Insights (the last item in the Blurb).

While I would never use a real excerpt, I used the BS Generator to create a bit of content similar to what they sent.

We at Opaque Inc. work hard to dramatically foster efficient technologies for our clients in an effort to globally customize specific integrated methodologies. Our goal is to overcome intervening challenges and quickly restore compelling value.

Are you impressed?

Do the ideas presented increase your confidence and enhance your desire to become a stakeholder?

Or are you more likely to walk away scratching your head and wondering what they actually do?

Image credit: Wikipedia

It’s amazing to me, but looking back over more than a decade of writing I find posts that still impress, with information that is as useful now as when it was written.

Golden Oldies are a collection of what I consider some of the best posts during that time.

Eight years ago I wrote for a blog network called b5media (the posts are archived here). Since then I’ve waited in vain for writing to improve, but guess what — it hasn’t. Even professional writing, Is pretty bad. I read Business Insider daily and the errors I see make me cringe; not subtle grammatical errors, but the obvious kind that tell you that the articles wasn’t even spell checked. In other words, just plain sloppy. I get asked all the time, does anyone care? The answer is a resounding yes. People “feel” when something’s off, whether they can explain it or not. Often, it’s not even conscious, just a subconscious itch they can’t track, but makes then squirm. We’ve all seen business casual dress carried too far; business writing shouldn’t be carried at all.

Read other Golden Oldies here.

Wally Bock left a comment today on a post at Leadership Turn. In part it said,

“When I was responsible for hiring management trainees years ago, I discovered that grades and degrees and schools didn’t tell me much. What I looked for where two things. Could a prospect write? If not, there was no need to go farther. The other thing I looked for was actual work experience.”

Wally would have trouble hiring anyone these days considering the atrocious stuff written by students and grads who are so busy texting that they can’t be bothered to learn to write readable, coherent, English.

It’s a good thing that writing isn’t most managers make-or-break or offers would be few and far between—and I don’t just mean new grads.

I don’t have a great desire to be forced to decipher hip-hop, Valley Girl, Ebonics, Spanglish, Country-Western, 18-wheeler or all lower case with no punctuation in order to communicate.

None of these may matter in private life, but they don’t contribute a whole lot in the context of what it takes to make it today.

Several years ago I wrote Good writing fast—an oxymoron and last year I asked, “Are most people loosing their minds while I am losing mine? during another minor rant.

I’m not a total dinosaur, if all that’s wrong in most communications is a misplaced semi-colon or an occasional preposition at the end of a sentence who cares?

People don’t realize that, consciously or not, they’re judged by what they write, just as they are by what they wear or drive or went to school—even people whose own writing is terrible will downgrade others for the same thing.

If you can’t write and want a future take classes; if you’re people can’t write send them for training.

And if you won’t/can’t do that, there is one simple thing you can do to improve your writing.

Read. Turn off the computer and the TV; take off your iPod and turn off your phone; pick up a well-written book and READ. It doesn’t matter if it’s great literature, a biography, mystery, or hilarious chic lit.

Read every chance you get and make more chances; pay attention and you’ll be amazed at how fast your writing improves.

Image credit: sxc.hu