by Sue Horner | May 24, 2017 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
“Never assume anybody knows anything.” That’s Lesterism #1, a truth about communications from Les Potter, ABC, International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Fellow, and a senior lecturer at Towson University in Maryland. Les explains, “Organizations are...
by Sue Horner | Mar 8, 2017 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Whether your organization has five people or 50,000, there is no “silver bullet” that will solve all your communication challenges. And despite the shiny toys of the digital age, panelists at an IABC event on Feb. 28 agreed that old-school listening, talking to...
by Sue Horner | Aug 23, 2016 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
One of the best mission statements I’ve ever run across was framed as instructions in the managing editor’s office of the Rocky Mountain News (which folded in 2009): “Get the news. Tell the truth. Don’t be dull.” Companies spend serious...
by Sue Horner | Jun 1, 2016 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
A campaign described in The New York Times last week got me thinking about how writers can contribute to safety awareness. The article reported that roadway deaths are on the rise, and we need to stop calling the reason accidents. Writer Matt Richtel quotes “safety...
by Sue Horner | Apr 19, 2016 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
What I write for employee newsletters and other content often involves explaining dense, complicated and potentially boring subjects. Yet a client once paid me this huge compliment: that among my strengths is the “ability to find the human angle in any...
by Sue Horner | Mar 25, 2015 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
How do companies communicate with their employees these days, when so many don’t have a desk or a computer? How do you reach those who work in a mine, in the cab of a delivery van, on the sales floor? Since it’s been a long time since I’ve been in a...
by Sue Horner | Aug 19, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn had the communicators at the IABC conference in San Francisco in June in the palm of his hand, as I mentioned talking about highlights of the conference. He sealed the deal in an interview in the The New York Times published August 15. One of...
by Sue Horner | Aug 10, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
It’s so refreshing when a CEO sends out something that actually sounds like a human being might have said/written it. That was the case when Zappos’ CEO, Tony Hsieh, issued an announcement about Amazon buying Zappos. I liked that he apologized “for...
by Sue Horner | Jul 28, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
If you write for a company, its lawyers may have LOTS to say about what you can and cannot say. Here are some suggestions for avoiding approval problems with lawyers: 1. Consider what’s going on. In a time when lawyers are super-super-sensitive, like a lawsuit...
