Writing For Entrepreneurs: Engage Through Clarity

Much of the popular writing entrepreneurs turn to for guidance is flim-flam. Popular entrepreneurship books and articles have a foundation built from the experiences–often impressive experiences–of their authors. This writing falls into what I call the Richard Branson, “grow long hair and you, too, can own a private island,” genre of business advice.

So why hasn’t evidence-based writing made its way into the entrepreneurial community as it has in social psychology, history, political science, and other fields?

There are two reasons. First, management researchers do great research, but on topics that are largely irrelevant for working managers and entrepreneurs. In my recent article for EIX.org, Writing For Entrepreneurs: Engage Through Clarity, though, I tackle the second reason for the lack of interest in evidence-based writing. It’s hard to read.

I’m not referring to scientific articles, mind you. They’re expected to be hard to read. I’m referring to prose written for practitioners by academics. To make prose more widely digestible, in the linked article I recommend to

• Start strong,
• Offer a clear so what?,
• Don’t dumb down your message, and
• End by delivering for your reader.

If we write with clarity and explore topics of relevance, we can have an impact on working entrepreneurs and save them from growing their hair long in hopes they’ll someday own a private island.

(See Writing For Entrepreneurs: Engage Through Clarity on EIX.org for the full article.)