Skip to Content
How to Lead, 5th Edition
book

How to Lead, 5th Edition

by Jo Owen
April 2018
Beginner
400 pages
5h 18m
English
Pearson Business
Content preview from How to Lead, 5th Edition

Chapter 33

Write effectively

Good business writing is one of those oxymorons that is up there with military intelligence, social services and head office help.1 It is definitely a case of ‘Do as I say, not do as I do.’ None of us is likely to write as well as our favourite novelist or screen writer. But at least we can save our colleagues from the kind of drivel that they impose on us from time to time.

For many years I was beaten up by an editor who kept on pulling my work apart. Eventually, I figured he caught me consistently on just five rules which I always broke, and still do too often:

  • Write for the reader.
  • Tell a story.
  • Keep it simple and short.
  • Make it positive in substance and in style.
  • Support assertions with facts.

This sounds ...

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.

Read now

Unlock full access

More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly

AirBnbBlueOriginElectronic ArtsHomeDepotNasdaqRakutenTata Consultancy Services

QuotationMarkO’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
Julian F.
Head of Cybersecurity
QuotationMarkI wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.
Addison B.
Field Engineer
QuotationMarkI’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.
Amir M.
Data Platform Tech Lead
QuotationMarkI'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
Mark W.
Embedded Software Engineer

You might also like

How to Lead, 6th Edition

How to Lead, 6th Edition

Jo Owen

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781292232591