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Knowledge bank
A collection of experiences and research showing Do The Words in practice.
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How tension keeps attention
How delaying some information keeps audiences engaged (if you don’t overdo it)
Why reading our writing aloud improves our grammar (and our flow)
When we use speaking to test writing, so that every sentence feels and sounds “right”, the grammar tends to just work.
A crucial question to ask in one-on-ones (and when to ask it)
The space near the end of a meeting is something to cultivate.
Slides need headlines, not labels
Slides often collect undigested information. Headline sentences drive clear thinking and action.
Great writers use this trick with sentence lengths
Vary the lengths of your sentences. The rhythms keep your writing interesting and easy to absorb.
Surprise in style can rouse our brains
Playing with language keeps your audience switched on (even at work).
How skim-reading may have sealed the fate of a space shuttle
We all skim when reading; we have to with all the information coming at us. But skimming can cost us time, hurt working relationships, and occasionally even have tragic consequences.
In emails, the cheap trick of numbering points still keeps the audience glued
This one’s as simple as it sounds: number points to get them each read. This case shows a couple of ways it works.
An engineer got his white paper unstuck by figuring out the story
Do you ever get stuck writing in an unfamiliar format? Drop the template for a while and concentrate on saying something interesting.
A salesperson misread a government agency, or didn’t listen at all
A hard sell of tech sank a consulting opportunity.
For Intuit, perceiving users’ real needs as a “Job To Be Done” helped the product succeed
The real job that their users needed done was not the one that the company had assumed.
A curious boss made me think in turn
Our manager kept finding out more, then pushing us to learn and adapt. It kept us thinking.
