What Does Your Business Writing Say About You?
I've previously discussed how business writing can facilitate the human-to-human exchange that’s vital to successful client relationships.
An exchange is a two-way proposition.
Just as you need to learn about their issues, concerns and goals, your clients need to learn about you – the you that exists beyond your professional credentials and experience. This doesn’t mean that you spill all the details of your personal life. Rather, you offer appropriate anecdotes and insights that convey who you are as a person, thinker and collaborator.
Writing provides a solid platform for infusing your self into your business relationships. Susan Cartier Liebel nicely illustrates this point in a post about standing by the decision to start a solo law practice.
Through her writing, she depicts the emotions she felt while transitioning from solo law practice to her current work as a consultant, educator and blogger. She also acknowledges the feelings that lawyers often experience in going solo. I regularly read Liebel’s posts. But, given this new snapshot of the human behind the writer, I now have a heightened interest in her blog and other business offerings.
Many people resist, and even resent, the idea that self-expression is a business asset because it raises the specter of people pejoratively described as:
- Self-absorbed
- Selfish
- Self-Centered
- Self–Aggrandizing
While I understand why they make this connection, I think it’s a faulty one.
Certainly, self-expression can be taken to an unhealthy extreme. When that happens, there’s no room for give and take. So, there’s little to no chance of creating mutually rewarding and lasting relationships in business or elsewhere.
But, the same poor odds hold when we try to cultivate business connections without putting our selves into play.
