Think Fast Talk Smart: Communication Techniques - 26. Writing to Win: How to Quickly Capture Readers and Keep Them Engaged

Episode Date: January 8, 2021

“The reader is impatient,” says Glenn Kramon, Stanford GSB lecturer in management and editor at the New York Times. “Start with the most important conclusion and then explain how you got there.”On the latest episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, lecturer and podcast host Matt Abrahams sits down with Glenn Kramon to talk about just how important our writing is — from a lengthy report to the opening line of an email. Listen as they discuss tips on improving your writing skills and share examples of what not to do.  Connect:Premium Signup >>>> Think Fast Talk Smart PremiumEmail Questions & Feedback >>> [e-mail] Transcripts >>> Think Fast Talk Smart WebsiteNewsletter Signup + English Language Learning >>> FasterSmarter.ioThink Fast Talk Smart >>> LinkedIn,  Instagram, YouTubeMatt Abrahams >>> LinkedIn ********Thank you to our sponsors.  These partnerships support the ongoing production of the podcast, allowing us to bring it to you at no cost.Strawberry.me. Get 50% off your first coaching session today at Strawberry.me/smartJoin our Think Fast Talk Smart Learning Community and become the communicator you want to be. 

Hi, Matt here. I wanted to remind you that for each episode, we provide English language learning support, where we share useful information to help you develop your English skills. Check out these English language learning and other resources, along with our newsletter and deep dive videos at FasterSmartre.O under Resources. Now a word from our sponsors. Their support covers the cost of production, allowing us to bring you this episode free of charge. know that I only recommend products I truly believe in. If you've listened to the show for a while, you know I am all about clear, effective communication, especially in writing, emails, and documents. All of these influence how we show up professionally. But writing well, consistently, isn't always easy, especially when you're moving fast.

To help me communicate more clearly and efficiently, I've been a longtime user of superhuman email and grammarly. So I was genuinely excited to see them come together as part of superhuman. Superhuman is an AI productivity suite that brings together Grammarly, Coda, and Superhuman Mail. So the support you need shows up right where you're already working. It helps you refine your tone, sharpen your message, and sound like your best self without all the effort or second guessing. It's a powerful way to elevate both your communication and your presence.

Unleash your superhuman potential with AI that meets you. where you work. Learn more at superhuman.com. That's superhuman.com. Emails, slack messages, technical documentation, memos, pitches, the ability to write well is critical to business success. Yet many of us feel insecure about our writing ability, while others simply don't spend any time thinking about it. I'm Matt Abrams, and I teach strategic communication at Stanford Graduate School of business. Welcome to Think Fast, Talk Smart, the podcast. Today we are so fortunate to be joined by Glenn Kramon. Glenn has been an editor at the New York Times for close to 35 years. He also teaches an incredibly popular class at the GSB called Winning Writing. Glenn really understands what makes

for good writing and is a master at helping others hone and improve theirs. In fact, GSP students honored Glenn by awarding him their annual Distinguished Teaching Award. Welcome, Glenn. Thank you, Matt. Great to be here with the Master Communicator. Well, you're too kind. Hey, before we dive in, I'm curious, if you have a pet peeve or two when it comes to others writing,

what gets your hackles up? Beginning an email with hope you are well. Everyone does that. Avoid it. It's a cliche. and it's implied. Hope you are well waste space, particularly for those in a hurry reading on their phones.

If you want to begin with a greeting like that, at least be more clever. Recently, I heard, hope you are feeling positive and testing negative. That's just right for a pandemic, Matt, and it makes you one in a million instead of one of a million. Another pet peeve is starting slowly,

before getting to the point. My boss at the New York Times, Fred Andrews, used to call this type of writing, organ music before the church service begins. Wow. Start fast. Get to the point. As my students from the military say about responding to an officer,

bottom line up front. It's a sign of respect not to waste an officer's time or anyone else's. I've definitely heard of bluff before, bottom line up front. And I have to admit, Glenn, I am now totally nervous that I might have invited you to be on this podcast by starting with, I hope you are well. I will never do that again. My students, after they graduate, they always send me that and then cross it out. I see. Good. Lesson learned, and they're demonstrating that. Any guidance on how we should approach writing for business? Yes, the first rule in all my class,

is know as much as you can about your audience. Then you can make them laugh and cry and act on what you want them to do. My favorite example of this comes from a commencement speech right here at Stanford a couple of years ago by the actor Sterling K. Brown. Right. So we know he's on This Is Us and Black Panther, but he knew his audience. and he knew the largest group in that audience in Stanford Stadium that day was the parents. Most of them had never heard of Sterling K. Brown, and they were saying,

who the heck is this guy to be our graduation speaker? I want Bill Gates. I want Oprah. So Sterling knew that while graduation celebrates the students, the real celebrities are the parents who work their butts off to get their kids to where they are today. Sure. So right at the start, he told the parents, His goal that day was to make them say, what a nice young man. I think I'll go home and watch his show. And so they did.

He won us all over. I'd never heard of him. I admitted it. He won us all over. Then, okay, that was his largest constituency to parents. Now, the second largest constituency in the audience was students themselves. So as a Stanford grad himself, Sterling told the students, I've sat where you sat. what a connection.

Always want to make a connection like that. They were transfixed. Google Sterling K. Brown's Stanford commencement speech. That should be your top takeaway from Matt's podcast today. And you know what, Glenn? The idea about knowing your audience has surfaced so many times in this podcast, and it is critical. And I was actually in the audience when Sterling K. Brown spoke in not only did he know his

audience well, but he delivered it in such an engagement. engaging and conversational manner, it made it really easy to connect. The way he delivers it is as important as the words themselves. I had a couple more tips. Sure. One is speak succinctly and simply. Avoid convoluted jargon. Some people think complicated words and sentences make them sound smarter.

They don't. Remember the words of Kurt Vonnegut. He said, I trust my writing most, and others seem to trust it most when I sound most like a person from Indianapolis, which is what I am. Be yourself. So why say utilize when you can say use? Why say incentivize when you can say encourage or motivate? Silicon Valley, by the way, boast some of the worst defenders. A good friend of mine has compiled a, list of his favorite nonsensical jargon. And I'm going to give you two examples, Matt.

So here's one. Yes. This is about scaling, emerging solutions to pivot the frame to embracing what's possible. I'm going to give you another. I'm particularly excited about their interest in pivoting more toward a solutions frame as they step into this next season of storytelling. as Tebja the Dairy Man from Fiddler on the Roof would say, that's not talking, that's babbling.

No one understands it. It's pretentious and so alienating. So just speak English. And then the third one I had, Matt, was tell stories. So much of business writing reads like term papers. And I want to write something closer to scripts for Hollywood movies. with vivid scenes, with dialogue, with humor. My friend at the New York Times, Nick Christoff, reminds us you can write about millions starving in Africa, and readers won't respond.

But if you tell the story of one stick-thin girl reduced to eating clay with the buzzards waiting for her to die, then readers respond. I call it the power of one in a story. One personal example makes such a difference. I'm curious, what role does structure in emotion play in business writing? Emotion is huge. Our Stanford Business School colleague, Jennifer Ocker, shows how readers are far more likely to remember a story than to remember a statistic, particularly a story with emotion like, the one about the little girl in Africa. And I always ask my students, raise your hands if you're more affected by stories and statistics.

Everybody raises their hands except for a few. I, by the way, am more affected by statistics. And I tell the few others, we are in the minority. We have to remember in the audience. They care more about stories. As for structure, I would suggest writing as journalists do with the most important facts and the takeaway right at the start. Not at the end, as so many people do in term papers.

It's something we must have learned in high school. You have your most important words at the end. I would say right on the assumption that the reader will not finish your wonderful piece, even if you are Shakespeare. That's sad, but likely very true. So we were very fortunate to have Jennifer on this podcast where she talked about story

and her new adventures into humor. And Glenn, as a former high school teacher, I taught high school for two years when I left high tech before I came to academe, and you're right. We do teach students in high school to build up to the most important point, and in fact, that sounds exactly opposite

of what you're recommending. That's also what academics do all too often, and I know editors of the New York Times who are using pieces by academics, spend a bunch of time telling them, no, the reader is impatient. Start with the most important conclusion and then explain how you got there. Humor, you mentioned humor, it's so important in any kind of writing. I've been told that the admissions officers at Stanford fairly cry when they read an application essay that has humor,

because everyone is so earnest. and when you're seeing 40,000 earnest application essays, you are thrilled when someone says something funny, and it's true of any kind of writing and speaking. Glenn, you've just given away part of the secret sauce about what to do to apply at Stanford. I think people will be listening eagerly to hear that advice. I'm curious to understand what process you recommend

that writers follow in terms of how they write. You've mentioned thinking about your audience, putting your bottom line up front. Is there anything else involved in the process you suggest? There is, Matt, but I would start again with picture your audience. Perhaps you're a friend or a colleague. Think of a person you're writing to or a reader. Then pretend you're telling them a story. Relax.

Play, this is what I do. I play, don't worry, be happy. by Bobby McFerrin. Huh. Move with your laptop to an appealing place. A lot of people, a lot of the students that are going outdoors. So your creative juices flow.

Don't just sit there and stare at the computer saying, oh my God, how am I going to start? Now, the one thing, you need to know your main point before you start writing. And I would write it at the top of the document. This is, in newspapers, we call this the headline thought. You could call it the web summary. It's just the main thesis.

And that way, you keep looking up to it and it keeps you moving in the right direction. Then outline what you want to say, and that's so important, particularly for a longer piece, but don't feel compelled to write the first paragraph first. My friend David Barstow, he's the only reporter on the planet to have won four Pulitzer Prizes. Wow. He says he wrote the first few paragraphs of his blockbuster on Donald Trump's dubious tax avoidance. This was the first of the big stories about Trump playing games with his taxes. He wrote those first few paragraphs only after he'd written much of the story.

And I think the story was about 13,000 words. It was one of the longest stories the times has ever run. And we were amazed when he said, no, no, I didn't, I knew what my main point was going to be. His point is you don't have to start at the beginning. Just start putting down what you know is going to be in the story. And that's the beauty of computers, is you don't have to, you can cut in pace so easily. And then when you finish writing, try to cut it by at least a third. Wow, a third.

I'm serious, Matt, that most people, it's even more. excise unnecessary words, sentences, even paragraphs. I always say it's like a dentist cleaning teeth. I get satisfaction out of it, although I'm not sure I've ever found as do-to-do does. But just it looks so much cleaner when you finish. And all the charter is gone. And then replace the jargon with conversational English. Go through it and look at words and say,

is that just jargon for my little community? Will the intelligent generalist understand it or think it's pretentious? And then one more tip is that I find that reading your writing aloud is a great way to find improvements, thinking, well, I don't need those three words. Why don't I even have those? And speaking is different. Sometimes people, when they speak, they add words just as they put their thoughts together. But you have no excuse to do that when you're writing. Make it as concise as you can.

So, Glenn, many of us feel that writing is like pulling teeth, but I've never heard anybody say it's like cleaning teeth. But I like that analogy. I could steal that, Matt. I like that. There you go. There you go. Glad I could help you as much as you're helping all of us.

Can you provide me with two or three other best writing practices that you suggest? Yeah, I'm going to say, and I always say when you're giving speeches, you got to repeat the thought if it's really going to sink in. So I'm going to say, one, know as much as you can about your audience. Two, write simply and succinctly. Three, tell stories. Don't write essays. Do you recommend specific tools you encourage your students to use to help them with their writing?

Yes, for me it is keep a daily journal. I've kept one for 57 years, and Matt, I am striving for the world record 91 years. That means I'll have to live to be 103 to break the record, but I'm determined to do it. Nothing else has so improved my writing. Practice makes perfect, just as with playing the piano or running or climbing mountains, the more you do it, the easier it gets. And I always tell the student, there's an added benefit where we live in Silicon Valley. It is great therapy, and it is a lot cheaper than going to a therapist. Some therapists charge 500 bucks an hour around here, Matt. Not worth it. I mean,

I'm quite serious when I say, you learn so much about yourself, about what's important and what isn't. It was Nora Roberts who said that when you're juggling a lot of balls as we all are, you have to remember which of the balls are plastic and which of the balls are glass. And keeping a journal is such a great way to do this. As you read back on it, you realize, why did I make such a big deal out of that? It was so unimportant. And oh, my God, I didn't realize how important this other thing was going to be. And you learn then to be a better person and to live your life, you could say, more efficiently, more effectively. And then one more thing I tell them is read The Economists.

If you can only, you're going to say, oh, that's just the business magazine. It isn't. It's written for the intelligent generalists, particularly I commend its obituaries on the back page. They are works of art, such great writing. They write about people you probably never heard. of and will wish you want to see a movie about them after you read the obituary. And write as the economist does. It's clever, it's fair, concise.

Obviously, I say read the New York Times too. But I think a lot of people know to read the New York Times. I think the economist is a secret that more people should know about. I have certainly learned a lot from reading The Economist. And I think it's really awesome that writing. Writing can help others to understand us, but also writing can help us understand ourselves. We'll be right back to finish our conversation. But first, a quick word from one of our sponsors.

Their support allows us to bring you this show free of charge. This podcast is brought to you by Squarespace. One pattern I see a lot, especially with people who have strong ideas, is that the hardest part isn't the idea itself. It's getting started. Turning something in your head into something real that others can actually see and engage with. That's where tools really matter. Squarespace makes it much easier to take that first step. It's an all-in-one platform where you can build a professional website, claim your domain, and create a clear home for what you're offering.

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land. We had such a practical, wide-ranging conversation that I wanted to share it with you here, so please take a listen. And then, tune in every week to Masters of Scale to learn more about the strategies and mindsets behind extraordinary growth. Find Masters of Scale wherever you get your podcasts. And now, back to our conversation. Before we end, I'd like to ask you the same three questions I ask everyone. Are you up for that? Yep. All right. Number one, if you were to capture the best communication advice you ever received as a five to seven word presentation slide title, what would it be? Well, say what you like and what you would like, not what you don't like. Oh, wait a minute. Sorry, Matt, that's 14 words. Yeah, you know, but okay, no, I'm going to, I got to

practice what I preach. I was just going to say. Okay, okay. How about this? Praise and be constructive, not destructive. Six words, cut my work in half. So praise and be constructive, not destructive, is the best communication advice I can offer because people will be willing to listen if they think you're on their side. If they think you're out to get them, They will shut down, turn the other way, try to go over your head. I like that advice a lot. And so much of the communication in the world today feels destructive. And I like the idea of starting with praise.

So I'm going to be very curious how you answer question number two. Who is a communicator that you admire and why? Steve Jobs. I love the guy. when he was dying 10 years ago, he visited us at the Times, probably against doctor's orders, to talk about how we could improve NYTimes.com. He knew we were slow to accept that computer screens would replace print newspapers. He could have called us chimpanzees.

But he followed that fundamental rule of writing and speaking with influence. Say what you like and what you would like, not what you don't like. So Steve started by saying what he liked. He told us that the nation needed the New York Times, that he and his family were such avid readers that they would fight over the Sunday print sections in their living room. We were so flattered, Matt.

We would have followed him off a cliff after that. And then he said what he would like. For example, he told us the Times needed to make it easier for people to sign up on the United States. line and offered his own iTunes as a model. He never said what he didn't like, that the Times was still in the Stone Age and wouldn't survive unless we move forward in time. You know what, Matt, he was so passionate. He so clearly loved his work and his life, and that is contagious. R.I.P. Steve Jobs. And speaking of amazing commencement speakers at Stanford, Steve Jobs delivered quite an impressive commencement speech.

My favorite line was, love what you're doing. Find what you love and stick to it. Question number three, what are the first three ingredients that go into a successful communication recipe? Oh, good. So I get to repeat my most important points at the end. Number one, know as much as you can about your audience. Two, write simply and succinctly. And three, tell stories, don't write essays. Glenn, how we write is a direct reflection of who we are. And we all must take time to develop and hone our writing.

And thanks to you and the tips and advice you've given us, I believe all of us can be better writers. Thank you for your time, your insight, and your health. humor. Thank you, Matt. It's my pleasure. Thank you for listening to Think Fast, Talk Smart, the podcast, a production of Stanford Graduate School of Business. To learn more, go to gsb.comford.com Please download other episodes wherever you find your podcasts. Before we wrap up, I just want to say thank you for listening. It really means a lot to hear how people all over the world are using these ideas in their own lives. It inspires me and the whole team that brings you this show. If you want more episodes

and resources, feel free to follow, subscribe, and explore past conversations. We're grateful for your support of Think Fast Talk Smart.