Writing Without Bullshit with Josh Bernoff

Cut the Crap

Josh Bernoff is on a mission to rid the world of bullshit in business writing.

Since leaving his job as a Senior Vice President for Idea Development and Analyst at Forrester Research, where he worked for 20 years, Josh has been calling out bullshit in writing on an almost daily basis through his Without Bullshit blog, where he analyzes emails, reports, and other missives that fail to state clearly what they mean.

He is a strong supporter of cutting the fat from your writing and whittling it down to the minimum amount of words needed to have the most powerful impact on the audience. More meaningful communication begets deeper relationships and has the added bonus of more efficient time consumption for everybody.

Listen in as we discuss how and why bullshit creeps into your writing and what to do about it.

In This Episode

• How the meaning ratio leads to clear, brief, fascinating communication
• The dangerously tempting application of weasel words that dilute your message
• Why the Iron Imperative means putting your reader ahead of your writing
• How the ROAM approach ensures your writing rises above the collegiate level and makes an impact
• Why bullshit-free writing means slapping yourself

Quotes From This Episode

“In order to be effective, communication should be at least 70% meaningful words.” —@jbernoff

“Meaningful communication is communication that is made up of facts that you can do something about.” —@jbernoff

[Tweet ““We’re all immersed in this crap all the time and nobody even notices it.” —@jbernoff”]

“When it comes to press releases, corporate communication, and what we see in our inboxes… There is way more bullshit than there outta be.” —@jbernoff

“I am helping people to communicate in a very noisy world.” —@jbernoff

[Tweet ““Treat your reader’s time as more valuable than your own.” —@jbernoff”]

“Most of the problems with communication are not associated with one medium, they are associated with people’s unwillingness to put in the effort.” —@jbernoff

[Tweet ““The creative part comes from your ideas, not your words.” —@jbernoff”]

“Everytime you use passive voice you need to slap yourself.” —@jbernoff

Resources

• Josh Bernoff on Twitter: @jbernoff
• Without Bullshit
• Writing Without Bullshit
• Everybody Writes