This is the ninth in a 12-pack of simple, short and useful tips to help you write more better today.
Tool Nine: Critical Opinions and How to Have Them
Last time, I urged you to be not afraid of standing up to clients, digging deeper, and respectfully telling them what you really think's in their best interest. I did so under the assumption you intuitively knew what's, in fact, in their best interest.
Have you worked on your critical thinking? Do you practice it?
It helps.
And
criticism doesn't simply mean saying something "sucks." It means understanding why something doesn't
or does work.
Let me clarify:
-
Buy another little notebook.
-
Read a short story, listen to a radio advertisement, watch a television show, peruse a website.
-
In your little notebook, articulate
WHY you feel it works or it doesn't.
Understand? You need not share or publish these critical opinions, but you need to have them.
You'll think it'll be easy, but I betcha you'll discover it's surprisingly difficult at first to articulate your thoughts, but as you progress, you'll find yourself ever gaining confidence in meetings with your clients. Even better? You'll amass a nice canon of your own critical thoughts and statements of your own writing principles.
Don't worry others may disagree with you. It's not about sharing these moments with others - it's merely practice to
improve your ability to parse what works, what doesn't, and why.
Just bleating out loud that something "sucks" quickly makes you a bore. Why does it suck? Why was it awesome? Answering those questions well will prove harder than you might suspect.
Consider this excerpt on a recent Super Bowl ad (reprinted with permission of the author):
Here are the major problems with the ad:
- The ad clearly illustrates that Joel was right; you
can judge things by their name.
- The people arguing that FedEx Ground is fast “despite the name” appear bizarre and ridiculous. Joel is the only normal person in the room. We identify with Joel, not with the others.
- “For less than you think” is ambiguous ad-speak. Specifics are always more powerful than generalities. “For as little as $2 a package” is specific. And far more impressive.
- The ending of the ad is soft and unfocused. We’re not yet convinced that FedEx Ground is a worthy alternative to UPS, and it seems that FedEx isn't completely convinced either. In the end, the company wants to be sure that we realize there are at least three other FedEx options: FedEx Express, FedEx Kinkos and FedEx Freight.
You'll find the full text - including a critique of what the author feels was the smartest ad - in Roy H. Williams' new column at Entrepreneur.
Quietly practice having a critical opinion.
Don't stop at suck.
Tool One: Listen.
Tool Two: Use Better Verbs.
Tool Three: Study Great Writers.
Tool Four: Three Shots of Adrenaline
Tool Five: Embrace Notebook Moments.
Tool Five Redux: Notebook Moment Hall of Fame
Tool Six: Write in the Language of the Customer.
Tool Seven: Show. Don't Tell.
Tool Eight: Call Courage Your Friend.
 Read About Tim Miles
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