Why I Read J.K. Rowling's NYT Piece Twice?!

"All good writing is alike in that it is truer than if it had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you: the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was. If you can get so that you can give that to people, then you are a writer." - Ernest Hemingway's definition of a writer.*

*(From the original Hemmingway quote the noun “books” is replaced by the gerund “writing” in the above quote with the verbs changed to singular from their original plural form.) 

In the December 24 New York Times there is an Op Ed piece by the famous J.K. Rowling, titled On Magic of Things. Each edition of the Times is too big for me to read through it—even scan through it—so I scan the first page and vector in on those articles that look interesting. Then I speed read them in about two minutes to get the gist of what the author’s point is and move on. 

However, when I scanned what J.K. Rowling had penned, as are all her other writings, it struck me as magical. The reason for this appraisal of her piece in the Times is because of late I have been searching for the definition and examples of exceptional writing and storytelling to learn about how to write better and how to show my clients how important good writing is. 

Most of my clients come to me because they face some challenges in their careers. From the rookies, who emerged with their freshly minted college degrees, all the way to the CEOs, the problem appears to have a common theme: How to articulate their challenge in an actionable way and how to communicate the action cogently (Greek Kairos). The other three elements (in Greek, Ethos, Pathos, and Logos) in everyday vernacular are Chemistry, Compatibility, and Competency respectively—the 3Cs. In my experience most of this reduces to writing something down that the client owns to galvanize their action plan. In almost all such cases how you frame and tell your story to embody these four elements is what it is all about. Yes, story. Your story!

As I engage with my clients to help them with their career challenges one of the most common starting points is how they present themselves in their résumé—or a bio—and in their LinkedIn Profile. It is not so much about writing a résumé or a bio, but it is much more about how they see themselves. What is their leadership narrative that can intrigue someone interested in their juicy story to invite further discovery; be that a job interview, a partnership, or even a start-up venture for them to join as a cofounder. The same logic applies when they write their cover letter, Annual Performance Reviews (APRs), or even emails that matter.  For most, their job is their life, and their story is their projects they are assigned to in their jobs, and their beef is what is obstructing them and who. They do not see a string of some of their more compelling stories stitched together well making a strong leadership narrative that defines who they really are as a leader or a professional.  

Unless they learn to tell their own hero story—and we all have one—they stay a commodity and undifferentiated from the masses. The only way out of this cycle of getting trapped in an everyday existence is to find the uniqueness in how you see yourself and translating that into a relatable story that is shared with others. The importance of one’s story is epitomized by what Barack Obama said in these nine words, Learn to tell your story and change the world!

Of course, being able to develop your own story in how you convey your accomplishments is not the only “use case” of good writing skill. It pervades almost everything that happens to you as you grow in your own career. 

As Hemmingway has so artfully stated, good writing is hard. Just to highlight the importance of good writing, even at Amazon’s highest levels, for example, meetings start with everyone silently reading what is front of each participant as the main agenda item for that meeting. Whoever the author is of that narrative gets to either make their case for furthering the discussion in that meeting or getting it nixed because the author did not tell their story in a compelling way enough to sustain participant interest and to pique their curiosity.

So, one’s ability to know how to structure their narrative and to tell their story is what it boils down to. Résumé, bio, LinkedIn Profile, cover letter, business case, data analysis, are just some more prevalent use cases that professionals encounter in their lives at critical times, where how to capture their story and convey it in a compelling way can make or break their prospects for what they want to do and achieve next. 

So, over the years as I’ve seen a common pattern of my clients’ struggle with writing, especially when it comes to telling their story or making their case for any winnable argument, I came to realize that good writing is the most underrated skill in our repertoire of professional skills inventory. In a more general way, it transcends into a strong communication and verbal skill, all of which can be developed by diligent application of your efforts to master it. 

So, what are some of the avenues of improving your writing, communication, and verbal skills? Here is a partial list:

1.     Learn to appreciate what good writing is and read something every day that makes you appreciate good writing. Read the J.K. Rowling’s OpEd in the Times by clicking on the link at the top of this blog and savor her talent! In your own work milieu, find out who writes well and learn from them.  

2.     Write something every day, no matter how little, but with some purpose. Even writing about how your day went can help you get into storytelling by converting the seemingly “mundane” events of your everyday life into something that you want to make it interesting for those around you for them to read and critique. 

3.     Don’t just make a list of your tasks in each job when writing your résumé; instead, tell a compelling story on the tasks that should matter in your next transition. So, instead of posting a bullet: In the first year, increased sales 15% by hard work; craft a new bullet that tells a story about your struggles and how you got there. Try saying: Despite a tanked economy and anxious customers helped boost sales 15% by repositioning the same products that highlighted their business value in a down economy.

4.     Take time to edit what you write. Normally writing something is easy; editing it is hard! Good editing can take much longer (sometimes 2-3X) than what it takes to write that text. Remember, you do not think to write; you write to think, instead!

5.     Read good books from authors who are known for their writing. See if you can develop your own voice in your writing and start with circulating what you write among your loved ones, friends, and colleagues. Then graduate to posting blogs on social media such as LinkedIn and other professional sites. Request your friends to comment and respond to your postings. Start small. This is how you build your writing confidence, muscle, and verbal abilities. 

If you want to make a simple resolution for the new year, start with committing yourself to improve your writing. See how easy it is to improve that skill each day you work at it and learn to write like J.K. Rowling!

Good luck and Happy New Year!