Excerpt from Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
Great Writers
If you are trying to decide among a few people to fill a position, hire the best writer. It doesn’t matter if that person is a marketer, salesperson, designer, programmer, or whatever; their writing skills will pay off. That’s because being a good writer is about more than writing. Clear writing is a sign of clear thinking. Great writers know how to communicate. They make things easy to understand. They can put themselves in someone else’s shoes. They know what to omit. And those are qualities you want in any candidate. Writing is making a comeback all over our society. Look at how much people e-mail and text-message now rather than talk on the phone. Look at how much communication happens via instant messaging and blogging. Writing is today’s currency for good ideas.
Also check out the article in Inc. Magazine – Why is Business Writing so Awful?
What do you think?
Is writing making a comeback in society?
We are proud to announce that this March’s First Tuesday event will be hosted by Lyall Bush, the executive director of Northwest Film Forum. The discussion will focus on the film SYNECHDOCHE, NEW YORK, and the eccentric storytelling style of Charlie Kaufman. We will explore how Kaufman plays jump rope with traditional story structure while thriving in loose ends and messiness. This film (starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Catherine Keener) is a virtuoso writing display with stories that veer and branch into other stories that branch again (and don’t resolve). What he achieves is mesmerizing, and certainly worth a discussion. First Tuesday is completely free and open to the public.