My old boss told me to stop sounding like a robot, best career advice I ever got

I used to write emails and reports with all this corporate jargon, stuff like 'leverage synergies' and 'circle back'. My manager at the time, this old guy named Dave who ran a print shop in Cleveland, pulled me aside and asked if I was secretly a customer service bot. He said, 'Just write like you talk to me at the bar after work, people trust that more.' Now I keep every message plain and short, even when I talk to vendors or my own staff. Has anyone else had a boss give them advice that was more about being human than being professional?

2 comments

2 Comments

tessa_kelly26d ago

The print shop detail is the only part of this that feels real to me. Every boss I've had who gave that kind of folksy advice was usually just tired of reading long emails themselves, not actually trying to make me a better communicator. And honestly, "write like we're at a bar" would get you fired at most places if you took it literally. There's a big gap between dropping the buzzwords and being too casual with a vendor who's paying you for a contract. I've seen people swing too far the other way and sound sloppy or unprofessional, missing deadlines because they thought being "human" meant never following a format. Dave's advice probably worked for you because you already had the basics down, but it's not a universal rule.

claire6426d ago

Take Dave's advice with a grain of salt and a cold beer, but I'd still proofread before hitting send. Being human doesn't mean turning every contract negotiation into happy hour small talk. The real trick is dropping the fluffy words without dropping your pants, so to speak.