Jumat, 15 Agustus 2008

Don’t Forget to Write



If you have a secretary and can dictate, write instead of telephoning people outside your company. A letter can take a minute or less to dictate; phone calls require chitchat and tend to expand. Keep your letters short, especially to important people. Liz Smith, the syndicated columnist, keeps up with a network of friends through short notes. We all think we’re on her mind constantly, and maybe we are, but she doesn’t squander time on phone calls.Write few office memos, however. They tend to bore everybody and the long ones are usually written by time-wasting, defensive people. Write to corroborate instructions, to say that you’re working on a project that’s due (the small interim report) or to submit original ideas so you have a record. Keep whatever you write short, with lots of paragraphs and white space.

Cardinal rule of business and social life: Never say bad, cruel, crummy, unhappy, unpleasant, critical things in a letter. If they must be said, try to say them in person or at least by telephone. Put the good things in writing.
This is an important rule I never deviate from. If you do have to say something unpleasant in writing, couch it in the most reasonable, conciliatory, understanding terms. Compliment while you complain. Cosmo has a valued contributor who writes four- (six-? eight-?) page handwritten letters, full of diatribe and criticism. She is a fabulous human being, but who wants to destroy one’s morning or entire day by reading this hate stuff? Some of her letters I have never read; others I tuck underneath the phone book for several days until I get the courage.
Do you want people doing that with your letters?

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