Herman's notes on Business Writing

Don't sell your idea short with your word choices.

If you could eliminate the verbs to be and to have, it will immediately elevate your writing.

Write in active voice whenever you can to add energy, excitement, and clarity to your writing. This is one of the best tricks you can do to craft better sentences. Don't forget to eliminate the verbs to be and to have. Cut propositional chains whenever you can to subtract words and add clarity.

Grammar rules exist to enhance the reading experience for your audience.

Your first sentence states your purpose and everything else that follows has to be in service to that purpose.

Good writing without good organization is a waste of time. Follow the scaffold.

Believe in yourself, you deserve it. Wish your words from your writing and be the expert that you are and the expert that your audience want you to be.

don't write to sound smart, write to be smart. If you write to sound smart, you'll overwrite. You'll obscure your ideas and irritate your reader. Don't make your document about your writing. Make your document about your ideas.

Your audience is busy, like you. You must spend time to save them time. Simplify, design, organize and write.

Your writing should be the transparent, crystal clear glass that lets your ideas shine through.