Writing is a superpower

Putting your thoughts on paper in an organized way pays massive dividends. If executives can learn quickly from the work you’ve done and make smart decisions, then you are winning. If it’s a pleasure to read and reflect on, even better.

In my mind, developing a comfort and fluency for business writing will help you generate an incremental $1M over the course of your career. Your ability to make the complex simple, put things into buckets, create a logical flow between ideas, and convince with data is powerful. It also helps that the majority of people are bad at it.

As my writer brother-in-law often says, “writing is thinking on paper.”

Executives are busy and impatient

Everyone is over-subscribed and frantic. Business executives have a high opportunity cost of time. “Do I have time for this?” is a refrain that is kicking around their mind. Your boss doesn’t have time for a book report or mediocre analyses. Likewise, your customers don’t want to suffer more brochure-ware platitudes.

Less jargon. Don’t be a consulting mailman. Have some guts and have a point of view.

Good business writing saves time

Clearly worded emails and memos are a blessing because they cut through unnecessary complexity. The reader feels refreshed because the author (you) have done the thinking for them. You’ve done the research, you’ve explored the edges of the problem.  You’ve evaluated a range of options and provided recommendation(s) with confidence.

As consultants, how can we help the reader make a decision?

Persuade

Some may disagree, but good writing has a point of view. No one is paying you to summarize Wikipedia. They can do that themselves. Sometimes, I tell my business school students, that your writing should “lead the witness” to the conclusion. Help the client cut through the morass of data and confusion. Lead.

1. Story 

If you only had 60 seconds, what would you say? What is this about? Why does it matter? What do you recommend? Do you believe in what you are saying? What are next steps?

2. Demonstrate competence

Know what you are talking about. Do the work, do the research. Read 2-3 industry analyst reports:

• What do Goldman Sachs, Deloitte, and Jones Day say about the issue?
• Who are the industry groups (site: org) and what are their arguments for/against this case?
• What are the economic drivers pushing supply/demand? 
• What does the value chain look like (suppliers, buyers, complements, rivals)?
• Do you know this stuff as well as your client / boss / customer?  If not, you are faking it.

3. Be structured  

This is a fancy GMAT way to say that the writing should be easy to follow. Use the executive summary to outline what you are going to say.  Break the problem into buckets. Explain the buckets. Put the buckets in a logical order. If it’s a PowerPoint, write great titles. Make sure the reader does not get lost.

4. Drive to insights

Take the data and apply the excel alchemy to turn it into actionable insights. Data by itself is largely useless. Expect that the customer or our boss will ask the question, “So, what?” after each of your arguments. They are not being grumpy, they just want you to finish your thought. Spell out the implications.

What will the customer get?  What’s In It For Me? (WIIFM)

5. Have a point of view

It’s more than summarizing data. What do you think? Is the recommendation worth the risk? Is more information necessary or is this level of confidence sufficient? Have you worried about the problem more than the reader?  Do you have strong opinions, loosely held.

6. Make it easy to say “yes”

It takes more than just intellect to move the ball. It requires the head, heart, and hand. Did you motivate the reader to take some action? Did you outline the next steps?  Did you provide answers to their likely top 10 questions?

Do not mislead

Sadly, it’s easy to persuade others if you have no morals. Just leave out half of the details. Appeal to your audience’s fears, prejudices, and weakness. Frankly, let’s agree, people are easily misled. Dude, just turn on the news, radio, or internet. Can you think any well-known people who mislead others (uh, yeah).

a. Be accountable

If you are a craftsman, take pride in your work – not just the analysis and the prettiness of the deliverable, but in the client results. If your client is making questionable decisions because of your analysis, or methods – you are partially to blame.  Doctors abide by the Hippocratic oath to do no harm. Investment professionals have a fiduciary responsibility to their clients. Will you put your signature on it like a CFO who signs financials post-Sarbanes Oxley?  What are your standards?

b. Quantify the benefits, costs

As consultants like to say, “What is the size of the prize?” What are the potential EBITDA benefits? One-time or on-going? How realistic are the numbers? Vet some of your thinking with experts, and nemawashi with the client. Get their inputs and fingerprints on the document.

c. Outline the assumptions, risks

Ask any investment banker and they will tell you that valuation models depend entirely on the assumptions. The numbers you put into those drivers completely swing the attractiveness of the deal. So, it’s CRAY important that you outline the assumptions clearly for the client. Your recommendations do not apply in perpetuity (no way).

Too often this is a “throw-in” at the end of a paper, presentation or case competition presentation. Trust me – you are doing the right thing for the client, and also yourself by thinking about this. What does implementation look like? Are you willing to put your consulting fees at risk? Remember, clients are risk-averse. A private equity partner once said, “we gain more credibility with our clients when we tell them not to do a deal.”

Remember, people hire people

When I first started consulting, this felt strange. Aren’t they hiring the firm? Short answer, yes. Long-answer, no.  They are hiring you – the person with the face, the person who wrote the proposal, the person who persuaded the client to trust them. In the end, people hire people.

Clients do not pay consulting firms $1M to look over their shoulder the whole time. Yes, there are executive status reports – but clients have a day job. They hired you because your proposal said that you were credible, hungry and professional. 

Be, do, say. Be that good. Do great work. Then – and only then – can you say that you’re that good. 

Business writing should persuade without over-promising or misleading. Effective executives want you to answer the question, “So What” succinctly. Show the logic, assumptions, and options. Help them decide.

What else makes for good business writing?

• Show your sources (WW)