The Importance of Good Writing
Good Writing is often times a joy to read... and a pain to write. The pain associated with Writing Well is undeniably worth it, as Good Writing provides much pleasure and joy to its readers.
Good Writing informs, entertains, and enchants its reader while providing insights and perspectives in a stimulating, enjoyable way. Good Writing makes reading an enjoyable and agreeable journey, not a bumpy, bruising ride. Who wants to be bumped around and bruised through reading?
Good Writing captivates the Reader and draws him in, rendering the Reader an active, involved, engaged agent, forming his thoughts and refining & reframing his opinions along the way. Readers who themselves write well usually absolutely detest Bad Writing.
In Leadership, for Leadership, it is essential that one understands and appreciates the necessity and importance of Good Writing. Writing is a proxy for Thinking, and Good Writing is a proxy for Good Thinking. Exceptionally Strong Writing is a proxy for Exceptionally Strong Thinking, especially if Language is used eloquently as a Best Friend & Trusted Ally.
If as Leaders we want our Followers to really know our aspirations, our dreams, our goals for our teams, organizations, societies and countries, we need to write in our "own voice" and with our "own words" and lessen the use of professional speech writers and officers tasked with crafting our speeches. As Leaders, we need to write well, clearly, persuasively and with conviction & eloquence. Only then will our passion, aspirations, dreams, and goals for our teams, organizations, societies and countries emerge strong, authentic, real, and unbridled, fully inspiring and compelling our Followers to move forward jointly with us, alongside us, supporting us.
If you are a Leader struggling with Good Writing, it's time to get really serious with improving. It's going to take effort, focus and discipline on your end, and as the journey may be long and difficult, all the more you should commence this important & necessary journey... by taking the first step... now.
Good Writing transforms data points into information into insight. Good Writing (like Eloquence and the Art of the Rhetoric in Speaking and Communication) persuades, cajoles, encourages, propels and moves people into action by clearly articulating the Why? the Why Not? the How? the What? and the Who With? of moving forward.
How to improve our Writing? How to begin to write better?
I think a good first step will be to pick a subject/topic which is close to your heart, which you are personally deeply passionate about, such that you are Wise about the subject/topic and can wax eloquently on it. We recall that Wisdom = Intelligence + Good Judgement + Eloquence. Next pick a language which you are most comfortable with. Then in your own voice with your own words, let the writing fly and the words flow. Treat Time as your Best Friend & Trusted Ally when you write, writing as often as you need, as often as you want, for as long as you want, until you are happy and fully satisfied with your final product, until you feel confident and convinced that the piece of Writing you've completed will not only bring new perspectives and insight to your reader, but make their ride whilst reading it deeply enjoyable, rendering them anticipative and sincerely looking forward to your next piece of Writing.
Let me conclude this bog post on The Importance of Good Writing with a wonderful piece of Writing which I recently came across. It's a Newsweek article entitled The Center Holds by Fareed Zakaria. You can find it here http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/11/the-center-holds.html .
Read it and see if you agree with me that it's Good Writing. It's only one-page long (in the 11 July 2010 International Edition of Newsweek), yet it provides lots of insight about Politics globally and sets its readers actively thinking about the Craft of State, Art of Society and Science of Economy as they relate to their own countries individually, and it does so in a meaningful, coherent, masterful way.
