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March 29, 2007

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LOL! I work in reinsurance, and they make me write "customer-centric" and "leveraging our core competencies", simply because the audience knows the code and finds it reassuring - kind of like typing "LOL" on the internet (another phrase I don't like to use). It generally is a snooze, though, which is why I read your blog.

The Mr.Buffett's point regarding putting one mistake in Annual Report is interesting.I like this kind of ingenuity.

Bye!

Makes me want to buy some shares...Thanks for these pointers to good writing in unexpected places.

Thanks for the great tips!
Warren Buffett wrote the Preface to "A Plain English Handbook: How to create clear SEC disclosure documents" for the SEC. He writes:

"One unoriginal but useful tip: Write with a specific person in mind. When writing Berkshire Hathaway’s annual report, I pretend that I’m talking to my sisters. I have no trouble picturing them: Though highly intelligent, they are not experts in accounting or finance. They will understand plain English, but jargon may puzzle them. My goal is simply to give them the information I would wish them to supply me
if our positions were reversed. To succeed, I don’t need to be Shakespeare; I must, though, have a sincere desire to inform.

"No siblings to write to? Borrow mine: Just begin with 'Dear Doris and Bertie.'"


The full text is at http://www.sec.gov/pdf/handbook.pdf

>I can't honestly recommend any of my output as bedside reading

Oh, on the contrary, it's probably just the thing to keep handy for those bouts of insomnia. :-)

Signed,

-- Written Plenty of That

Anastasia--Thanks for pointing all of us to the SEC writing manual! And thanks for dropping by -- you write a great blog yourself.

Very interesting.

Posted it on my blog.

Thanks,
SG

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