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Want To Be Taken Seriously? Become a Better Writer – LinkedIn Today
Tired of articles about the importance of writing? Sorry. I like this piece because, well, I agree with it. It has a few obvious points, such as the idea that even if you’re not a writer by trade, you are still “publishing” material every day – whether it’s an email, work memo, or even Facebook post. People judge others based on their writing. I know I do. Is that fair? If someone sends an email with typos, does that mean they’re careless and not detail-oriented? If someone takes a roundabout way to make a point, making your head spin, does that mean they’re disorganized?
Put That Resentment to Good Use – Wall Street Journal – It’s no secret that social media causes a lot people depression, insecurity, and envy. While some post banal updates of their lives, such as “Going to Home Depot to buy a hammer,” most people prefer to share only their best moments. (It seems like I’ve had at least one friend vacationing in Hawaii for about three consecutive years.) This Wall Street Journal article offers a way to deal by suggesting you put any envy and resentment to good use. Psychologists have identified two kinds of envy: malicious and benign. With malicious envy, a person is happy to see their envied “friend” cut down. In contrast, someone who experiences benign envy becomes motivated to match someone else’s success.
This is part two of a series offering practical tips to help you chart your career course with confidence – view the entire series
It’s no mystery there are fewer opportunities the higher you advance in an organization. Politics aside, the people who get those positions have usually been successful at growing their value over time. Whether you aspire to an executive position or have a more modest career target in mind, you’ll likely compete with others for those positions.
In this article, we’ll explore practical tips to help you build career capital. Invest in these four areas – reputation, connections, knowledge, and experience – and you will differentiate yourself from your peers, increase your capabilities, and position yourself well for a promotion.
Note: This is the first installment of a two-part series offering practical tips on how to chart your career course with confidence. Follow us for updates:
In a recent poll, we asked participants in a workshop entitled “Career Confidence” to identify their biggest obstacles to career growth. The number one response? Lack of opportunity.
Since my role in Talent Management gives me a chance to chat with employees about their career paths, I often hear about this obstacle. Certainly, higher level positions are scarcer than entry level positions, and it sure doesn’t hurt to be in the right place at the right time. But could some of the perceived lack of opportunity be caused by Cinderella thinking? You be the judge. Here are three examples of Cinderella thinking I’ve encountered:
You know in your heart of hearts that you’ve got the goods. You’re smart, you’re passionate, and doggone it, you have great ideas. Where is that fairy godmother to turn all this budding potential into stunning realization?
The last Friday of the month could not have come at a better time! Although it does usually come at the same time, at least monthly — or so we’ve been led to believe. Regardless, it’s time for the second installment of our tongue-planted-firmly-in-cheek instructional series.
No, I’m not aping the hyperbolic headlines you see in social media just to get you to read, although I’ve been meaning to write about that. I really mean it about this piece. The writer is a copywriter by trade, and he laments the overly complex and lofty language used in advertising and other marketing. He argues that if a company can’t describe its product and its benefits, then even a talented writer won’t be able to do it. And that’s when you end up describing something like accounting software as a “complete suite of solutions” or a “holistic, cross-platform experience.” And there’s that word – “experience.” Marketers often talk about selling an experience or an emotion. Or they describe a product as being “aspirational.” There’s a place for those things, of course, but I get impatient when I’m being sold a cleaning product with the promise that if I use it, I’ll have more time to live a more awesome life. I’d prefer more straightforward messaging, like: “decreases cleaning time by 30%,” even if the claim is a little dubious.
For Complex Products, Using Simple Language is a Value-Added Solution
