Pfizer eliminates bad corporate writing

The drug maker rewrites and redesigns its compensation report to appeal to all readers, while avoiding pitfalls that plague communicators charged with writing legal, public documents

Pfizer, long a governance leader in the drug industry, has decided to make its compensation report readable—by anyone. It has rewritten and redesigned its 2006 executive pay report to reflect the principles of plain English. This rewritten “mock-up” will be used as an example that the SEC will eventually make available to other companies interested in writing their compensation reports in plain English.

Pfizer has been assisted in its effort to rewrite its compensation document by William Lutz, professor emeritus of English at Rutgers and writing consultant.

Recently Ragan.com interviewed Mr. Lutz about the steps he and Pfizer went though to produce a readable report.

No bad examples exist for the writer to imitate

Lutz told us that the compensation reports are a new requirement of the SEC: “There are very few previous reports to imitate, probably a good thing.”