Here’s my writing about writing for this week. There were posts on how to get your writing done, 6 steps to becoming a good writer, advice from Ray Bradbury, and a look at David K. Waltz’ Treasury Café blog.

Getting that Writing Done
When you know you need to write, here are two practices that will make it more likely that you actually write.

6 Steps to Becoming a Good Writer
We call them good writers because they’ve mastered the craft of writing. If you want to be a good writer, that’s what you have to do.

Writing Advice from the Masters: Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury died at 91 after a lifetime of successful writing and sharing great advice with others. Here’s his advice on one thing it takes to be a great writer or a great businessperson.

Blogs I Like: David K. Waltz’ Treasury Café
Every week I highlight one business blog that I think sets a good example. This week, we’ll look at David K. Waltz’ Treasury Café.

You’ll find my writing about leadership and talent development on my Three Star Leadership Blog.

Current Client Projects

I’m writing blog posts for one client. I’m helping a strategy consultant write his book, and working on a book about what Professor Clay Christensen says could be “more important than disruption.” I’m also coaching two other authors through the process of writing and publishing their first book.

If you’re interested in writing a book, hiring someone to write for you, or just improving your own writing, you should read my Zero Draft blog about the writing that makes a business or career grow.

If you want to get a book done or improve your writing, let’s talk about options. My coaching calendar currently has space open.

Information Products

If you’re a boss, you should check out my Working Supervisor’s Support Kit.

You can learn a lot from a good example. That’s why I like to highlight great business blogs, like David K. Waltz’ Treasury Café.

You may have heard that “the numbers don’t lie.” That may be true, but you also have to understand what they’re saying, know how to ask them questions, and refine the answers you get. I like what David K. Waltz does with his Treasury Café blog because he helps me speak the language of numbers and wring the value out of what they’ve got to say.

Here are some representative posts from the last year or so. Read them with an eye toward what you can learn from the Treasury Café example.

Who Will Be in the Final Four? – Lessons from an Analytical Journey

Five Things You Can Do To Counteract Irrational Bias

Into the Belly of the Whale: Hedging and Credit Default Swaps

Working Capital Finance and Accounts Payable

Simply Character

Read, enjoy, and learn.

Was that helpful? If it was you may want to check the complete list of blogs I’ve reviewed.

You can learn a lot from a good example. That’s why every week I highlight one great business blog. This week, it’s Jesse Lyn Stoner’s blog.

She calls her blog, “My Blog.” That sounds pretty prosaic and maybe like someone who takes the easy way out. But that just goes to show that appearances can be deceiving. What you will find there are some of the most carefully crafted blog posts in the universe.

Jesse does only one post a week on “My Blog,” but I bet she spends more time and effort on that post than many other bloggers do on five. It’s so well done, that the posts just seem natural.

That’s not easy to do. Jesse writes about serious topics where nuance matters. I imagine her process as something like an archeologist, taking time to gently brush away everything that obscures her point and then very carefully holding it up and turning it so the rest of us can see it clearly.

Here are some representative posts from the last year or so. Read them with an eye toward what you can learn from Jesse Lyn Stoner’s example. As you read, pay attention to the careful way posts develop. Observe the phrasing, too. They’re so well done that they’re transparent most of the time, so to understand what’s going on, you need to look closely.

Charismatic Leaders vs Visionary Leaders: 7 Indicators

Are You a Team in Name Only?

7 Things I Learned About Goal-Setting in 1999

The Empty Carriage: A Leadership Lesson

When The Best Techniques Don’t Work

Boiled Frogs and Dreams

Read, enjoy, and learn.

Was that helpful? If it was you may want to check the complete list of blogs I’ve reviewed.

Here’s my writing about writing for this week. There were posts on three kinds of information products, writing advice from Anne McCaffrey, and my review of Tanveer Naseer’s blog.

Three Kinds of Information Products
There are three kinds of information products. You should have them all in your product portfolio.

Advice from the Masters: Anne McCaffrey
The author of the Dragonriders of Pern series says that the story is the most important thing.

Blogs I Like: Tanveer Naseer
Every week I highlight one business blog that I think sets a good example. This week, we’ll look at Tanveer Naseer’s blog and its superb, personal design.

You’ll find my writing about leadership and talent development on my Three Star Leadership Blog.

Current Client Projects

I’m writing blog posts for one client. I’m helping a strategy consultant write his book and coaching two other authors through the process of writing and publishing their first book.

If you’re interested in writing a book, hiring someone to write for you, or just improving your own writing, you should read my Zero Draft blog about the writing that makes a business or career grow.

If you want to get a book done or improve your writing, let’s talk about options. My coaching calendar currently has space open.

Information Products

If you’re a boss, you should check out my Working Supervisor’s Support Kit.

You can learn a lot from a good example. That’s why every week I highlight one great business blog. This week, it’s Tanveer Naseer’s blog.

If you want a great looking blog, there’s plenty of help available. There are templates you can purchase and clip art you can use. There are designers who stand ready to meet your desires.

Even so, you may have said to yourself, “I’d like a design that’s unique.” Tanveer Naseer’s blog design is unique, but it’s a lot more. First of all, it’s a good blog. Otherwise design wouldn’t matter much.

No one keeps reading a blog because the design is good. The design will impress you, but the content will keep you coming back. This isn’t just another pretty blog. You’ll come back for the content, but the design of Tanveer’s blog is exceptional.

The design is functional because blog has all the things you expect. There’s a search engine and categories that are just a click away. The design works and doesn’t get in the way.

The design is personal because it highlights things that are important to Tanveer. Look at the background. There are pictures of his children. I’m guessing he likes coffee and probably uses lots of Post-It Notes, since both are pictured on the page. He probably uses a smartphone, too, and checks his own site with it. Pretty neat.

Now scroll down. Look at how the sidebar is done. Scroll all the way down and you find a simple “About Me” that’s done in handwriting. And there’s my favorite graphic element: artwork by Tanveer’s children.

This is design that works on several levels. Technically it helps you use the blog and find the information that’s there. But it goes beyond that to give you a sense of who the author is and what’s important to him.

Check it out, enjoy, and learn.

Was that helpful? If it was you may want to check the complete list of blogs I’ve reviewed.

Here’s my writing about writing for this week. There were posts on writing how-to books, writing advice from Andy Rooney, and my review of Jon Ingham’s Strategic HCM blog.

How-to Books are like a Recipe
A good how-to book is like a good recipe. The reader should be able to take the book, follow the recipe, and get a good result.

Advice from the Masters: Andy Rooney
Andy Rooney was my favorite curmudgeon and it turns out that he had some good advice for writers.

Blogs I Like: Jon Ingham’s Strategic HCM Blog
Every week I highlight one business blog that I think sets a good example. This week, we’ll look at Jon Ingham’s Strategic HCM Blog.

You’ll find my writing about leadership and talent development on my Three Star Leadership Blog.

Current Client Projects

I’m writing blog posts for one client. I’m helping a strategy consultant write his book and coaching two other authors through the process of writing and publishing their first book.

If you’re interested in writing a book, hiring someone to write for you, or just improving your own writing, you should read my Zero Draft blog about the writing that makes a business or career grow.

If you want to get a book done or improve your writing, let’s talk about options. My coaching calendar currently has space open.

Information Products

If you’re a boss, you should check out my Working Supervisor’s Support Kit.

You can learn a lot from a good example. That’s why every week I highlight one great business blog. This week, it’s Jon Ingham’s Strategic HCM Blog.

Conferences are a great way to keep up with cutting edge ideas in your business, industry, or profession. The problem is that there are way too many conferences with way too much great information. It’s just impossible to attend them all.

Well if you’re in Human Capital Management (HCM) or almost any human resources field, you can expand your reach by reading Jon Ingham’s blog. One way that his blog offers value for readers is by summarizing important presentations from important conferences. He adds comment and interpretation to make the posts even more valuable.

I don’t know for sure, but I bet Jon gets three different kinds of value from the work he does on his blog. First, he leverages his effort. Time at a conference provides learning and the raw material for a blog post or two. Second, reviewing the material as part of the writing process improves his understanding of it. And, third, presenting a wide range of quality material along with his comments positions Jon as the expert he is.

Now, reporting on conferences may not be something you can or should do. But ask yourself the following questions.

What information do I gather as part of my work that could also help me create blog posts my readers will love?

What can I add to that information that will make it even more valuable?

Here are some representative posts from the last year or so. Read them with an eye toward what you can learn from Jon Ingham’s example.

#ECTalent: Setting a Talent Agenda

Reviewing 70-20-10 at HCI Learning and Leadership Development conference

Best global HR conferences

Read, enjoy, and learn.

Was that helpful? If it was you may want to check the complete list of blogs I’ve reviewed.

You can learn a lot from a good example. That’s why every week I highlight one great business blog. This week, it’s Dan Rockwell’s Leadership Freak.

There are a lot of business bloggers who post at least every business day. Most of them do super-short posts or mix in curated posts and pointers. Dan is one of very few bloggers who create a post every day, and I mean every day, not just every business day.

The motto for Dan’s blog is “Helping leaders reach higher in 300 words or less.” When I asked Dan who those “leaders” are, this is what he said.

“First are mid-levels in transition or hoping to move up. They’re looking to gain knowledge and insight. The second audience is leaders/business owners who realize leadership is important and want to grow. They love thinking about leadership. They may not be in transition but they value both learning and sharing what they know. The third audience is those who aren’t currently in leadership roles but want to be.”

So Dan writes 300 words for those people every day. Every day. That’s not all. He’s continued that pace even while recuperating from a severe auto accident.

Here are five of the most-viewed posts from Dan’s Leadership Freak blog. Read them with an eye toward what you can learn from Dan’s example.

Five Ways to Find Your Future

The Top 25 Ways to Win Arguments

Three Things Strong Leaders Do

12 True Behaviors that Expose Liars [I love the picture in this post.]

10 Power Tips for Leaders who Talk too Much

Read, enjoy, and learn.

Was that helpful? If it was you may want to check the complete list of blogs I’ve reviewed.

Here’s my writing about writing for this week. There were posts on whether you can write a book yourself, easy ways to write a book, learning from Peter Drucker, why stories should be the core of your book, and my review of Kurt Harden’s blog, Cultural Offering.

Do I really need your help to write my book?
A reader asks if he can write a book without help from me or anyone else. The answer is, “Yes, but.”

There is no shortcut to a great book
There are people and programs that promise an “easy way” to a great book. Don’t believe them.

Learning from the Masters: Peter Drucker
Peter Drucker was one of the most prolific, insightful and influential writers of the last century. Here’s what you can learn from the way he wrote.

What’s the story?
Stories are the way human beings have transferred knowledge since we first learned to talk. They should be the core of your book.

Blogs I Like: Cultural Offering
Every week I highlight one blog that I think sets a good example. This week, we’ll look at Kurt Harden’s Cultural Offering.

You’ll find my writing about leadership and talent development on my Three Star Leadership Blog.

Current Client Projects

I’m writing blog posts for one client. I’m helping a strategy consultant write his book and coaching two other authors through the process of writing and publishing their first book.

If you’re interested in writing a book, hiring someone to write for you, or just improving your own writing, you should read my Zero Draft blog about the writing that makes a business or career grow.

If you want to get a book done or improve your writing, let’s talk about options. My coaching calendar currently has space open.

Information Products

If you’re a boss, you should check out my Working Supervisor’s Support Kit.

You can learn a lot from a good example. That’s why every week I highlight one great blog. This week, it’s Kurt Harden’s Cultural Offering.

Can you say “eclectic” boys and girls? I knew you could. It’s a word I think of when I think of Cultural Offering.

Now, I’m sure there are people out there on the vast net who are eclectic but boring. And there are probably more than a few who share eclectic comments and posts on subject that I don’t care about at all. The reason I have Cultural Offering on my reader is that Kurt Harden’s choice of subjects and his take on them are perfect for me.

Kurt has what ad legend David Ogilvy called “a well-furnished mind,” which means that almost everything that shows up is interesting or challenging. It’s like reading spice and it perks up my days. When I asked Kurt to describe his blog, this is what he said.

“I refer to it as my sketchbook, my electronic filing cabinet. A blog of amusements and ideas about our culture.”

Usually I share representative posts from the last year or so to give you a sense of a blog I like. In this case, I’m simply going to point you to the home page so you can see what’s been posted in the last day or so. I’m betting you won’t scroll down more than once before you find something interesting.

Read, enjoy, and learn.

Was that helpful? If it was you may want to check the complete list of blogs I’ve reviewed.

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