Improve Your Business Writing

HBR IdeaCast

Harvard Business Review

Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Communication, Marketing, Business, Business/management, Management, Business/marketing, Business/entrepreneurship, Innovation, Hbr, Strategy, Economics, Finance, Teams, Harvard

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 28 February 2013

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Bryan Garner, editor in chief of Black's Law Dictionary and author of the "HBR Guide to Better Business Writing."

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everyone it's Kurt we need your help with our annual survey this is your last chance to help us get to know you so we can make idea cast even better for you
0:09.8	it's easy just go to HBR.org
0:13.0	podcast survey.
0:15.0	Again, that's HBR.org.
0:17.0	And thanks for listening. Welcome to the H Idea Cast from Harvard Business Review. I'm Sarah Green.
0:37.0	I'm talking today with Brian Garner, one of the leading authorities on writing, grammar, and style.
0:42.0	He's the author of the best-selling reference work. leading authorities on writing, grammar, and style.
0:43.2	He's the author of the best-selling reference work Garner's Modern American
0:46.5	usage, editor-in-chief of Black's Law Dictionary,
0:50.2	and author of the very brand-new HPR Guide to Better Business Writing.
0:54.2	Brian, thanks much for joining us.
0:55.7	Glad to be here.
0:57.2	So I'd like to start off with a conundrum, which is, I think most people think they are
1:01.7	good writers, but as an editor who has seen a lot of writing, I think that's
1:05.6	kind of like the way most people think they're good drivers.
1:08.6	It's just not possible that we're all above average.
1:11.6	So what are some suggestions you have for how people might
1:14.8	recognize the signs that they might not be as skilled with writing as they might
1:19.4	assume they are? Well this this is a big problem.
1:24.6	Some psychologists a few years ago named Dunning and Krueger came up with what they call
1:29.6	the Dunning Krueger effect or what has since been termed the Dunning
1:32.6	Kruger effect which basically finds that people who are the least
	...

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