“The reason business writing is horrible is that people are afraid. Afraid to say what they mean, because they might be criticized for it…to be misunderstood, accused of saying what they didn’t mean, because they might be criticized for it… If the goal is to communicate, then say what you mean.”
– Seth Godin @ www.sethgodin.com
“I hate rude behavior in a man. Won’t tolerate it.”
– Captain Woodrow Call, in “Lonesome Dove” (circa 1989), after beating a rude-behaving man who needed beatin’…
I love me some Lonesome Dove. Yet another reminder that I was born about 153 years too late…
Cap’n Call said what he meant and he meant what he said, long before Dr. Seuss popularized the concept, and LONG before Seth captured it in his blog post.
Think about our workaday lives. Presentations are too long. There are too many words on each slide. Meetings are too long and we’re WAY careful during them. E-mails are too frequent and too long and don’t often say much.
Let’s don’t be afraid.
“It is better to have that and not need it that to need it and not have it.”
– Cap’n Call, after giving Newt his first gun
I bet Newt knew what Woodrow meant.
Just sayin’…
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