So I Told Hemmingway, “Write On, Bro”

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTITIONER

Title: To Writes Make a Wrong

Competencies: written communication, oral presentation

Who benefits: the grammatically challenged (or at least stretched), public speakers seeking self-insight

Consultant Usage: those who write proposals and/or reports for clients

What’s it about? If you think “grammar” is an elderly relative two levels above you on your family leaderboard, then I have some important references for you.

Ditto if you get butterflies in your stomach before presentations and want to learn how to make them to fly in formation.

First, about your grammar (rest her soul).  How many errors can you find in this sentence:  “Mr. Wright trys too right his last writes, rite?”  Did you come up with at least five misteaks (okay, now six)?  Any number less than six and you might want to take a look at Why Grammar Counts At Work. The author points out several good reasons for assessing your grammar skills.

Getting a head of myself here, she also points out some that in public speaking, your grammar speaks volumes about how you project your level of intelligence and thoughtfulness.

Another Forbes writer writes in a similar and eloquent vein when she gently suggests: “Grammar is going all to hell, even in the office.”  (I again take pains to point out she is not referring to your relative’s final resting place.)   In Your Bad Grammar at Work: What’s the Problem? she advises against getting ahead of the grammar curve.  She warns that the natural evolution of language cannot and should not be used to dismiss all grammar mistakes.

Let’s get real.  Email, texting and Twitter do not good grammar make.

And there can be real penalties as a CEO writes in I Won’t Hire People Who Use Poor Grammar. Here’s Why.  His opening paragraph (see below) is hilarious and seriously to the point.  If you can’t write right, you don’t get hired:

“If you think an apostrophe was one of the 12 disciples of Jesus, you will never work for me. If you think a semicolon is a regular colon with an identity crisis, I will not hire you. If you scatter commas into a sentence with all the discrimination of a shotgun, you might make it to the foyer before we politely escort you from the building.”

Now about those butterflies in your stomach.  In an unusual approach to understanding the fear of public speaking, Jane Praeger, a teacher (Columbia University) and public speaking trainer/coach, says those butterflies in your stomach are all in your head.  She teaches the usual stuff about public speaking.  But her real interest in the psychology relate to the fear of public speaking.

She suggests that to know yourself is to send your butterflies flying away.  I always thought speakers were better off with the butterflies flying in formation, but she has an interesting point in Why Public Speaking Scares You And How To Overcome Your Fear.  So if the psychology of public speaking is your thing, give it a read.

Catch you later.

Bill Bradley

Bill Bradley (mostly) retired after 35 years in organizational consulting, training and management development. During those years he worked internally with seven organizations and trained and consulted externally with more than 90 large and small businesses, government agencies, hospitals and schools.