1 Why Read this Book?

If you’re reading this, chances are you’re not an English major or planning to be technical writer (but both are great fields of study if you are interested). Chances are, you’re an undergraduate student in a different field, such as computer engineering, aviation, business management or logistics, accounting, health, or some other field where communication and writing are essential skills, even if it isn’t the focus of your program.

Anyone who has worked as a server at a restaurant will share that better communication with guests usually means better tips. Being a doctor or nurse is more than memorizing every body part, every disease, and every drug known; diagnosis and treatment depend heavily on listening to patients and communicating with them clearly. Their lives depend on it. The same can be true in many other contexts.

Every year, human resource, higher education, and talent search sites publish lists of the top skills employers look for when hiring employees and recent college graduates. While these lists certainly change a bit over time, one thing remains consistent: employers want good communicators. Indeed.com and the Society for Human Resource Management both state that communication also involves more than how you speak to colleagues, clients, stakeholders, or friends. It also includes your ability to share your thoughts via text and visuals. With hybrid work introducing more communication channels and generational diversity increasing, this is an even more crucial skill than it was a couple years ago. A recent survey shows:

• 96 percent of business leaders agree that effective communication is essential for delivering the results they expect of their teams, but nearly three in four (74 percent) say their company underestimates the cost of poor communication.
• Employees spend nearly half of a 40-hour workweek on written communication alone, and business leaders (88%) and employees (63%) alike wish their company had better tools to communicate effectively.
• Three in four business leaders (75%) say they spend too much time and energy resolving miscommunications.

This book is designed to improve your professional written communication skills, which you will need to succeed in your future career, whatever that may be. Perhaps, more importantly, it will also help you earn promotions. As the information above indicates, the higher up you go in your career, the more time you spend writing.