Yes, I write about writing. But I also occasionally write about the field of work-life,* one of my areas of content expertise. Those who don’t come to this blog to read about work-life might still enjoy this post, as it’s really about communication. (Frankly, to my mind most everything comes down to communication.) But I […]
10 Great-Place-to-Work Conference Takeaways
I’m still relatively new to this blogging business but regular readers will have already figured out my dual (and not unrelated) professional commitments: writing that communicates in the most powerful and effective way possible and organizations that are fabulous places to work. Today’s brief post centers on the latter. Here are ten things I took […]
Beware the Adjective!
Remember “show, don’t tell?” Generations of creative writing teachers have imparted this bit of wisdom, but if you’re like many harried communications professionals, you probably haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about how it applies to the writing you do every day. In fact, “show, don’t tell” can be a surprisingly useful bit of […]
You Know You’ve Got a Great Place to Work. So How Do You Get on That List?
On Tuesday, I’m heading to Atlanta, where for two-plus days I’ll barely step out of the Hyatt Regency. Am I excited at the prospect? You bet! That’s because I’ll be spending those two days at the Great Place to Work Conference, run by the institute that developed and administers all the Fortune “Best Companies to […]
Making It Easy
At school, my kids see a “Do Now” on the board when they walk into class. At meetings, the agenda ends with “Deliverables.” But so many communications I’ve seen leave me scratching my head: when and where is this event, what am I supposed to do to sign up for this program, how can I […]
There’s No Rule Against Interesting
I once attended a talk on the subject of employee communications by this wonderful Ragan Communications guy; I wish I could remember his name. He had us imagine a tableau I’ve carried in my head ever since: It’s lunchtime at your office. A mid-level employee takes a sandwich back to her desk and reaches for […]
The Making of an Un-Conference: An Interview with Kathie Lingle
In April, the Alliance for Work-Life Progress (AWLP) is holding a Work-Life Forumin Arizona that’s being billed as an “un-conference.” Since many of my readers are interested or intimately involved in the work-life field, I thought I’d devote this blog post to an interview with Kathie Lingle, Executive Director of AWLP. I asked her to […]
Saying More With Less: Winning the Word Count War
Around about now, you might be trying to write your Working Mother or NAFE “Best Companies” essay and despairing of cramming everything you want to say into 2,500 words. Admittedly, twenty-five hundred words probably sounded like a lot when you began. You might even have wondered if you could find enough to say. But you […]
This Just In
I just came across an entertaining and dead-on article about corporate speak. He’s talking about external communications, not internal, but it comes to the same thing. Check it out!
Eschew Jargon
Don’t you love that word: eschew? English is rich with so many quirky, wonderful words. One of the great joys of reading great literature is savoring the writer’s word choices like a dish cooked by a master chef. (Sometimes I just stop reading to wonder at the word a writer has used. How did he/she […]
