Own Your Ideas

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Del curso dictado por University of Colorado Boulder

Business Writing

603 calificaciones

University of Colorado Boulder

Business Writing

603 calificaciones

Curso 1 de 4 en SpecializationEffective Communication: Writing, Design, and Presentation

Writing well is one of the most important skills you can learn for success in the business world. Knowing how to write well allows you to deliver your ideas with the power they deserve. Good writing also conveys a sense of your professional excellence to the world around you. In this course, you'll master the simple, effective skills that drive all successful business writing. You'll create impactful documents that not only showcase your ideas, but showcase your own professionalism to your audience. The principles you learn in this course enable you to become a great business writer. They also provide the foundation for moving into Graphic Design and Successful Presentation, so that you can unleash your best professional self whenever--and however--you present your ideas in the workplace.

De la lección

Building Great Business Writing

The first lesson in this module introduces the Effective Communication specialization, the capstone project, and the Business Writing course. You'll meet the writing instructor, Dr. Quentin McAndrew, and her counterparts Dave Underwood and Professor William Kuskin, who teach Graphic Design and Successful Presentation. Dave and William join Quentin to offer insights into how writing, design, and presentation relate to a process of continuous personal branding that we call Effective Communication. In this module, you'll discover the simple principles that inform all great business writing and that serve as the foundation of this course. These lessons set the stage for the deeper exploration and specific techniques that follow, not just in Business Writing, but in Graphic Design and Successful Presentation as well. Let's get started!

Be the Windowpane3:01

Waste No Time2:55

Don't Sound Smart; Be Smart4:25

Own Your Ideas3:46

Everyone Needs an Editor; or, the Story of My Failure5:04

Conoce a los instructores

Dr. Quentin McAndrew
Instructor
Department of English, University of Colorado Boulder

Okay, I love this idea about being smart versus sounding smart.

So what about confidence?

How does confidence play in?

>> Well, you're right.

We do have to worry about confidence when we write.

I call that concept, owning your ideas.

It fits with our third best writing practice, be the authority.

Let's talk about what that means.

A lot of writers have trouble putting their ideas out there

without qualifying them with the language that they choose.

So, instead of saying something like, the retail market provided our

best opportunity for growth, they might say, in my opinion,

the retail market might provide a potential opportunity for growth.

You see the problem?

First of all, the second version adds words to the sentence,

which adds complexity and wastes your reader's time.

We know that's bad.

But more importantly, the second version robs the writer of their authority and

their confidence.

There are too many indefinite statements in the second sentence.

Now I, as the reader, have to do extra work.

Is the retail market the place we really want to be, or not?

I don't know, this is frustrating.

It wastes my time.

Your audience, your co-workers, and

your bosses want to work with someone who's an authority.

Who understands the situation and offers well reasoned, well presented solutions,

analysis, and conclusion, and who does it efficiently.

In this specialization, we're going to teach you how to translate your smarts and

your ideas to the page in this way.

Remember, your audience wants to work with someone who's smart and capable.

Their rooting for you to succeed.

They don't want to have to do the extra work that it takes to root out

your meaning if you don't seem confident.

You're an accomplished professional, you're smart, these are your ideas,

you have done the thinking, you should own them, you should give yourself the credit

that you deserve in the way that you choose to present your ideas in writing.

Here's a very practical tip for how to do it.

You want to avoid wishy-washy words like should, maybe, could, might, or

think, when you write, as in this example.

We think these changes might create the growth we need.

That's not authoritative.

>> That's not confident at all.

Who wants to take advice from somebody who doesn't sound confident?

>> That's exactly right.

Instead, get comfortable with the idea that you're smart and capable.

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

Let's try an example.

Identify the wishy-washy words in this sentence.

We think these changes might create the efficiency

we could use to further improve our supply chain.

Think, might, and could, are all culprits here that rob this statement of authority.

Also, the term further improve is really too soft.

What does that mean?

Surrounded by other wishy-washy words in the sentence,

it doesn't seem to mean very much.

There's zero authority in this sentence.

So, let's cut, we think, and change might to will.

Let's change could use to need.

Now we have, these changes will create the efficiency

we need to further improve our supply chain.

That's better.

If we cut further, it gets even better.

These changes will create the efficiency we need to improve our supply chain.

Bam!

You see how much more direct and confident that sentence is?

It's also shorter.

So, we've been authoritative, and we've saved our reader time.

It's a win-win.

The optional quiz that follows gives you a chance to practice cutting wishy-washy

words from sentences, and learning how to add authority to your writing.

Give it a little practice.

Own the contributions that you have to make.

You deserve it.

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