Louis Biggie

About Louis Biggie

Louis Biggie is the interim Director of Talent Management and Organization Development at The Johns Hopkins University. His first job at Hopkins was as a senior analyst at the university's Applied Physics Laboratory. From 1997 to 1998, he worked for Jhpiego, where he helped form a team that developed e-learning. He left the university in 1998 to co-found an e-learning development company called LearnWare. He spends his free time fiddling with electronics, drinking wine, wearing white trousers, and listening to opera. He has too many annoying habits to mention, but his favorite is developing new ways to pronounce the word "beer."

Posts by Louis Biggie:

Verb-Style Writing

By in Communication, Language Tags: , , ,

Man_Writing

The key to better writing is often good editing. Good editors have little tricks. These tricks require them to have a knowledge of the common mistakes that can weaken a person’s writing. They get into the habit of hunting down these errors and systematically fixing them.

One common thing to look out for is verb-style writing. We can make our writing more vivid, direct, and clear by using strong verbs rather than nouns. Many writers, though, develop a habit of relying too much on nouns that contain hidden verbs. Often, they feel that the noun habit makes their work seem more formal and serious.

For example, pay is a perfectly good verb. It’s short, strong, and easily understood. Nevertheless, many writers use the more wordy, make a payment. Payment is a hidden verb and a hidden trap that can weaken your writing if you aren’t careful.

A good editor would make the following change in this sentence:

  • BEFORE:  You must make your payment on the first day of each month.
  • AFTER:  You must pay on the first day of each month.

Another example would be the following:

  • BEFORE: You should submit your complaints in writing to the area manager.
  • AFTER:  You should complain in writing to the area manager.

The following table lists verbs that are commonly hidden in nouns and waiting to come out.

Give this a try. In almost every case, you can make your writing shorter, snappier, and easier to understand with this simple trick.

HIDDEN VERB CONSIDER INSTEAD
Offer some advice Advise
Come to an agreement Agree
Perform an analysis Analyze
Make an appeal Appeal
Perform an assessment Assess
Make a purchase Purchase (or buy)
Do a calculation Calculate
Make a comment Comment
Register a complaint Complain
Come to a conclusion Conclude
Create a connection Connect
Make a contribution Contribute
Make a decision Decide
Complete delivery Deliver
Have a discussion Discuss
Derive enjoyment from Enjoy
Conduct (or hold) an enquiry Enquire
Provide an estimate Estimate
Perform an examination Examine
Have an expectation Expect
Conduct an investigation Investigate
Make an observation Observe
Make a payment Pay
Do a performance Perform
Have a reaction React
Cause a reduction Reduce
Put in a request Request (or ask)
Have a requirement Require
Have a resemblance Resemble (or look like)
Carry out a review Review
Enjoy success Succeed
Make a suggestion Suggest
Harbor a suspicion Suspect
Conduct a visit Visit

 

 

 

 

 

The High Cost of Email

By in Communication Tags: , , ,

Email

Ask almost any employee what the most expensive software is for a university. I think most people would respond by talking about our financial system, SAP. I disagree. I think email is where we spend the most money by far, but I wonder whether it’s where we derive the most value.

Roll the clock back about fifty years or so, and I think most people would agree that the typewriter was the most important piece of machinery in any office. Then I imagine a new employee’s reaction if a manager in the 1970s told the employee that a major responsibility of a new job was to use the typewriter to write letters to people in the same office and to respond to any letters a colleague happened to send. The new employee would probably decide that the office was crazy and walk off the job on the very first day!

As absurd as that situation sounds, we sometimes treat our computers in exactly this way. We spend large amounts of time either writing emails to one another or responding, often to the person sitting at a desk within shouting distance. It sometimes seems as if this daily correspondence with our colleagues has become a major part of our jobs — particularly if we think about the time we spend on these activities.

A 2012 report by McKinsey & Company suggests that 28 hours is the amount of time spent each week writing emails, searching for information, and collaborating internally. The report goes on to say that the solution to the problem is to make greater use of social technology and networks: “we find that the use of social networks to improve communication within and across enterprises could contribute two-thirds of the $900 billion to $1.3 trillion in value that we estimate can be created across the four commercial sectors [consumer packaged goods, consumer financial services, professional services, and advanced manufacturing] we study.” I am not certain that I agree with the conclusion, but it does seem as if there’s a better way. Personally, if I need to tell a colleague something, I am inclined to get off my chair and walk over and tell the person. People might argue that that is also a costly and time-consuming way of doing business. But I believe that:

  • It’s more friendly and provides the opportunity to engage with an employee in a meaningful way.
  • It’s more efficient. A human conversation is like parallel processing. Responses are instant and conclusions are more collaborative.
  • People don’t get offended as often because you have the opportunity to clear up misunderstandings on the spot.
  • It’s a lot more fun!

The magazine, Inc, published an infographic collected by a company called Contatta. Contatta has a product that claims to enable people to move toward greater collaboration than traditional email offers. Even when you consider that there must be a strong measure of self-interest behind Contatta’s data, it is nevertheless amazing. The assumption is that we spend 13 hours a week on email. This amounts to 637 hours per person a year, over $15,000 per employee per year, or almost $1.8 trillion for the whole country.

That number is:

  • Enough to hand out $5,637 to every single person in the country
  • More than 13.4 times the wealth of Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, and Warren Buffett combined
  • About the same as the GDP of every county in Africa
  • Enough to buy everyone in Austin, Texas, a $1.7 million Bugatti Veyron

Whether you believe these numbers or not, we can all agree that the cost of email is huge. The question is whether it is money well spent. I suspect that email is a luxury that we sometimes don’t like. And nor can we afford it!

Tell us what you think!

 

Writing to Impress. Don’t Do It!

By in Language Tags: , , ,

ConfusedReader

Obviously, the education we get in school and college is important, but some things simply get in the way. One obstacle to good writing is that once we leave school, we need to begin to write for completely different purposes, and old habits tend to die hard.

In our professional lives, we write to inform, to persuade, to document, to explain, and perhaps even to sell. In school, we tend to write to impress our professors to get the good grades we need to progress to the next chapter in our lives. The problem with a lot of professional writing is that many writers still write using the habits that seemed to earn the praise of educators.

So what’s the difference? I think there are three important ones: knowledge, sophistication, and assumption of shared knowledge.

  1. Knowledge. When we write an academic paper for a grade, we often try to demonstrate that we are thoroughly familiar with a topic. So we tend to write down everything we know about it. In our professional lives, our readers neither need nor want to know everything about a topic. Try to focus only on what your reader needs to know.
  2. Sophistication. Sophistication might or not impress a typical professor, but students often like to show off their sophistication believing that this will impress a professor and earn a better grade. This tempts writers to use long words, complex sentences, and “clever” arguments. In our professional lives, those are unlikely to be valued in the way they were when we were at school. In the workplace, keep your writing simple.
  3. Assumption of Shared Knowledge. When we are in school, we can (and should) make the assumption that our professor is thoroughly familiar with the topics we write about. You don’t need to explain technical terms, acronyms, and background information for your professor. But, if you are writing for your boss, the last thing you want is to confuse him/her by assuming thorough familiarity with the subject.

So, as you plan to write, focus on the purpose of what you’re writing. If it isn’t clear to you, it’s unlikely to be clear to the reader. Quite often, it’s a good idea to tell your reader your purpose in your first sentence. (“I am writing to you to ask you to approve my proposed trip to Honolulu.”)

But don’t be tempted to show off! You aren’t writing for a grade any more.

Let’s Stop These Viruses Together!

By in Living Well Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Virus

Most people like to be helpful! We like to help make our friends healthier, wealthier, and wiser.

This desire to be helpful can sometimes lead to painful consequences, though. For some bizarre reason that I can’t fathom, certain people invent stories about health and try to make them go viral on the Internet. Many of these messages cite Johns Hopkins University as the originator because our reputation in academic medicine gives credibility to these ideas.

For example, one viral email had the subject line, “CANCER UPDATE FROM JOHN HOPKINS.” Apart from the incorrect spelling of our name, the email was filled with false information. The gist of the message was that therapies for cancer (including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation) don’t work. Patients should adopt dietary strategies instead.

The information in the email was a hoax, and this is documented in a statement issued by The Sydney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. Click here to see the full text of the statement.

Other “helpful” advice attributed to Johns Hopkins concerns the use of plastic containers for food and water. The claim in these hoaxes is that freezing or heating bottles of water releases carcinogenic chemicals. Click here to see a refutation of this by Bloomberg School of Public Health at the university.

Other viral emails claim that they will teach you how to diagnose, treat, or prevent any number of diseases and conditions. Most of these “Please Share” messages on Facebook are only partly true or completely false, and sometimes dangerous.

My advice is not to spread this kind of health “information.” Employees of Johns Hopkins should be especially wary because our association with the institution may make these hoaxes more believable.

The consequences of such hoaxes are sad. They might scare people unnecessarily; they might give false hope to someone living with an illness; and they might even lead someone in the direction of a therapy that doesn’t work.

Spreading false health information can cause serious harm, so people should view all advice they see on the Internet with healthy skepticism. And we should never forward or share information unless we are certain that it is truly helpful — and has no possibility of causing harm.

 

Starting Sentences With And or But

By in Language Tags: , , , ,

Child_Writing

They often say that you learn most of what you need to know at a very early age. Successful people are very small when they learn to share their toys, play fair, clean up their own messes, flush the toilet, and say they’re sorry.

But one thing that teachers often tell us very early in life is just plain wrong. Children are sometimes told never to start sentences with “and” or “but.” The truth is that it’s perfectly fine to do so, and it can often be quite effective in your writing. It’s a pretty good idea, with any turn of phrase or sentence structure, to ask yourself why you’re doing it that way.

That’s the whole story. And I am sticking to it.

Click here for an interesting discussion of this grammatical superstition. This site, an Oxford University Press blog, also discusses other grammar myths and aspects of language usage.

 

Writing: Putting Yourself in the Reader’s Seat

By in Language Tags: , , ,

Reader

It’s often said that the first step to writing well is to imagine yourself as the reader. Whether you’re writing an article for a magazine, a memo for your colleagues, or a short advertisement on Craigslist, before you start, stop and think about your typical reader. Picture your reader actually reading the piece you are planning to write. Ask yourself questions like these:

  1. What does your reader want from your article? What kind of information is essential and what might be unnecessary?
  2. Does the reader need anything explained? Think particularly about things that might seem obvious to you. (Acronyms and technical items can often confuse a reader who may not be specialized in your area of expertise.)
  3. How much time does your reader have to read your article? Typically, your reader is in a hurry!
  4. What kind of tone will appeal to this reader? Does your reader appreciate formal language or informal language? Is your reader likely to be familiar with American culture and values? How old are your readers? What kind of education do you expect them to have?
  5. What does your typical reader care about? What kind of things will turn your reader off? Does your typical reader think logically and rationally? Perhaps you should consider appealing to your reader’s ethics and values? How does this differ from the way you approach information? Most importantly, remember you’re writing for your reader and not for yourself!

Go through this exercise more than once because you’re likely to have more than one reader! If you’re writing a piece that you want several of your colleagues to read, pick three of them. Once you’ve been through this exercise, then think about the purpose of your writing. (If it isn’t clear to you, it’s unlikely to be clear to the reader.) That’s the next step to writing well!

 

Active or Passive

By in Communication, Language Tags: ,

Active_Passive

Many people suggest all sorts of ways to sharpen your writing. A lot of the advice is about simplification. Replace long words with short ones. Keep your sentences short. Delete words whenever possible. Use white space. Use adjectives and adverbs sparingly. And, of course, use the active voice. All of this is good advice.

If you search the web, you will find some people who suggest that this preference for the active voice is one of those grammar myths. That, however, is misleading. In business writing, the passive voice is used far too often, and a useful editing exercise involves searching your text for the passive voice and changing it to the active voice.

For example, consider these instructions:

All applications must be submitted before the deadline. Applications submitted after the deadline will not be considered.

It is probably better to use the active voice and say the following:

You must submit your application before the deadline. Otherwise, we won’t consider it.

The second version is not just clearer. It’s also friendlier. (Note how useful “you” and “we” can be to communicate rules and regulations clearly.)

But, like many grammar rules, you shouldn’t take this one too literally. Sometimes there’s an excellent case for using the passive voice. When you are not sure who performed the action or it’s somehow irrelevant, the passive voice can be very useful. Let’s imagine a conversation about a car. The issue is about the country of manufacture. Someone might ask:

Where was your car made?

The answer might be:

It was made in Japan.

The focus of the conversation is the car. We aren’t interested in the people who made it, although I am sure they’re very nice! It simply isn’t the topic of conversation.

It would be silly to ask:

Where did people make your car?

So, the answer to the active versus passive debate is that it’s usually a good idea to use the active voice. But sometimes it isn’t. The moral of the story is that there are very few hard and fast writing rules. The context usually provides the best answer!

 

Forgotten Attachments in Outlook 2013

By in Microsoft Office Tags: , , ,

Oops2

I suspect that many people are like me. We prepare a document. When it’s ready, we compose a quick email explaining the purpose of the document, we attach the document, and finally we send it.

But, if you’re really like me, quite often we forget to send the attachment. We realize what we’ve done five minutes later and send another email saying, “Oops, I forgot the attachment.” I know I am not the only one who does this because I often get these “oops” emails.

Outlook 2013 notices your mistake! It politely reminds you if it “thinks” you have forgotten an attachment. You can turn off the feature, but who’d want to do that?

 

Inspiration From the Only U.S. President With a PhD

By in Leadership, Quotations Tags: , ,

Wilson

Many people who work here at Johns Hopkins know the answer to the common trivia question, “Who was the only U.S. president with a doctorate?”

The answer is, of course, Woodrow Wilson.

Woodrow Wilson received his doctorate in 1886 from The Johns Hopkins University (where else?), and his dissertation was entitled Congressional Government: A Study in American Politics.

Woodrow Wilson was also the first of only three American presidents to receive a Nobel Prize. (The others were Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama.) He received his prize in 1920 for his efforts in ending World War I and for forming the League of Nations.

Today’s quotation from Woodrow Wilson should resonate with everyone who works at the university, and should inspire everyone to help to make the world a better place:

“You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.”

 

«‹ 2 3 4 5›»