Welcome to the blog – advice, opinions and musings on how to make words work
AI is already transforming how many of us write. But evidence is beginning to emerge that it may also be harming our organisations in a way that could be hard to undo. The tech definitely has the potential to be a huge help for hard-pressed knowledge workers, who...
I’ll never forget the first time I was asked to write a report. I had recently graduated and was two months into a new job with the Environmental...
Simplicity is often misunderstood and underrated. One of the biggest myths in business writing is that complex topics need complex documents. The...
Years ago, not long after I started Emphasis, I found myself in conversation with a young training manager for one of the UK’s biggest companies. We...
Many of us are still hoovering up pine needles from the living room carpet. There may even be a lone chocolate rattling around the Quality Street...
Disappointingly, the good people at the Oxford English Dictionary have chosen not to name Documentese as their 2024 Word of the Year. But as their...
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There’s one critical problem with most articles and videos on ChatGPT. And it’s glaringly obvious to anyone who works in a sizeable organisation....
I faced a slightly awkward moment in a meeting recently. Some consultants were presenting their ideas to me, but I stopped them five seconds into...
A colleague had a bizarre experience recently. While browsing the website of a well-known electrical-goods company, she idly clicked the Get Help...
Some rules are made to be broken – even ones that I laid down just a few weeks ago. You know how I said recently that it's usually best to put your...
Like so much else, most formal learning right now is happening online. And the virtual classroom is key to making it possible. But what the heck...
I didn’t sleep well last Thursday night. The media images of the previous few days had been playing on an endless loop in my mind, so what little...
Our consultants reveal how they make remote courses every bit as engaging as those in the real world. 2020 is changing us. Working from home,...
No matter where you are as you read this, you spend most of your time living in the same place as I do: in your screen. We all live in our screens...
You know the story. An innocent chat over email or instant messaging turns fraught and ends, if not in tears, then in a tense exchange that leaves...
What is the one activity that unites all desk-based jobs? Here’s a clue: you probably do this as soon as you get into the office (if not before). In...
It's not every day that a style guide becomes worldwide news. Word of the guidelines that Jacob Rees-Mogg – the newly appointed leader of the House...
Fifty years ago today, three men were sitting on top of a missile, hurtling up into the inky void, travelling the 240,000 miles (384,400 kilometres)...
There’s one thing about reports that people never seem to talk about. Even after 21 years, and training more than 50,000 people to write well, I...
Mention writing skills to most people and they will roll their eyes before launching into a confession about how spelling/grammar/punctuation/all...
Word counts are a feature common to business and academic writing alike. ITTs (invitations to tender) commonly specify a word limit for key...
It’s a sad fact that most business documents simply don’t hit their mark. Too often they fail to make vital messages clear, prompt action or even...
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