Talent vs. training: Where good writing begins

Corporate writers and editors debate whether or not it’s worth it to teach non-writers how to write well.

Corporate writers and editors debate whether or not it’s worth it to teach non-writers how to write well

Writing comes (more or less) naturally to the corporate editor—after all, that’s why they hired you. However, the people who routinely bring you copy for your intranet, company newsletter and collateral publications may or may not have the same natural talents you do, which raises the question of how hard you should work to draw out these skills.

If you sense that one of your contributors is a diamond in the rough, should you invest the time into developing his or her writing talents? Or is your time better spent doing a polish job on the writing yourself? Corporate editors generally believe that while you can teach the mechanical elements of writing—where to put the periods, putting the news up top, and so on—you can’t turn non-writers into Hemingways.

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