Publisher’s remembrance
Jeff Swystun has been a trusted and entertaining source on branding and marketing issues in Winnipeg and across North America for three decades. He was miles ahead of the curve on branding – informing us that a brand was a relationship based on trust – back when most of us thought it was nothing more than a logo.
“Swys” has been a valued contributor to Manitoba Inc. for a couple of years, both in the magazine and on our podcast. He loved to hear ideas about the magazine’s growth and future and provided invaluable insight on those ideas. He was prolific and loved to tell the stories of iconic companies and would-be iconic companies.
Jeff died unexpectedly in September, shortly after filing a number of columns for our magazine and our website.
He was a uniquely funny and knowledgeable guy and utterly unforgettable. We will miss him immensely.
Geoff Kirbyson, publisher, Manitoba Inc.
WRITING is a skill. It affects every function of a business because it shapes how people understand, trust and act. Strong writing is not just a communications skill, it is a business performance skill. Every email, proposal, website, report, advertisement, presentation or strategy document either moves an idea forward or slows it down.
Poor writing is expensive. Josh Bernoff wrote an article in The Daily Beast that reported it costs nearly $400 billion annually in wasted time in the United States. Employees struggle through unclear emails, jargon-filled reports and documents that never arrive at the point. We have all sat through meetings that existed only because a document failed to communicate clearly in the first place or were subject to a presentation that had no point or logical flow.
The problem is not simply grammar or spelling. Most bad business writing is really evidence of unclear thinking. Writers bury their main point beneath paragraphs of corporate clichés and impressive-sounding language. Somewhere in the middle is a simple idea struggling to escape.
Consider this executive job description, “The Area Vice President, Enterprise Customers will develop and manage a sustainable strategic relationship that transforms the current commercial model by creating joint value that results in the ongoing reduction of costs, continuous process improvement, growth and profitability for both partners with the ability to export key learnings.”
The sentence sounds important without saying anything. Business writing is full of phrases like futureproofing, leveraging synergies, sustainable ecosystems and omnichannel solutions. They are substitutes for clarity rather than examples of it. Poor writing results in unnecessary meetings, duplicate work, slower decision-making, project delays, customer confusion, inconsistent execution and employee frustration. The cost rarely appears as a line item in the budget, but it is paid every day.
Businesses often believe they have communicated simply. They assume they have been heard and, more importantly, understood. Often neither has happened. The presentation was delivered, the report distributed, the email sent but the message never landed.
Good writing respects the reader. That means making the point early, organizing ideas logically and removing anything that distracts from the message. Every unnecessary sentence asks the reader to do more work. Every paragraph should earn its place.
Attention is scarce and fleeting. We spend much of our working day reading on laptops and phones while interruptions constantly compete for our focus. Length is not the enemy, irrelevance is. A long document can be compelling if every page advances the argument. An email can feel endless if it wanders.
None of this means business writing should become sterile or reliant on dispassionate AI tools. I part company with those who believe brevity alone is the objective. Clarity is essential, but clarity should not come at the expense of personality. Facts persuade the mind; stories persuade people. The strongest communicators combine precision with humanity. They explain complex ideas in plain language without stripping away style, rhythm or imagination.
Like any professional skill, writing improves with practice. Think before you write. Make your point early. Cut unnecessary words. Avoid jargon. Read your work aloud. Edit with the reader in mind rather than your ego. The first draft is never the final draft.
Advertising great David Ogilvy captured it, “People who think well, write well.” I would add that good writing is not simply about choosing better words. It is about respecting the time, attention and intelligence of the person reading them.
