Don’t be such a smarty-pants
The author argues that sounding smart might impress your peers in the PR and marketing world, but it likely won’t inspire the general to act.
If there’s one consistent mistake I’ve made over the years, it’s trying to be too smart. How does “great” thought or complicated writing help anyone if they can’t understand it?
See, I believe in original thought, and want to make marketing and communications a better profession. I told Valeria Maltoni years ago that I believe that I can make businesses and nonprofits better global citizens by improving communications. Unless my concepts and ideas are too complicated for the general practitioner.
We all like to come off as smart people. God knows everyone wants to be respected by his or her peers.
It reminds me of Umberto Eco and Neal Stephenson‘s writings. I love both authors’ early works, in particular “The Name of the Rose,” “Snow Crash,” and “The Diamond Age.”
As Eco and Stephenson progressed in their careers, I sense they achieved more license with topics and editing. Their works became cumbersome and lost in eddies of thought and complicated diction. So I stopped reading them.
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