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I used to send emails like I was writing 5-paragraph essays... because schooling required me to write 5-paragraph essays.

Not useful for business emails that have to be concise to stand any hope of being read and understood.

It took years to rewire myself.




I had a CEO once who would only really read the first two sentences of any email …

taught me a thing or two about leading with what matters.


I have a client like this. More than 2 sentences results in a “call me”.

Frustrating.


I didn’t find it frustrating. He’s the CEO of a startup.

Everybody in the company wants him to be effective.

Least we can do is to make our point in the first sentence.


When it’s a startup you’re all pulling in the same direction.

When it’s a client it’s important to establish service standards and boundaries, otherwise they become your boss, not a client.


Dear Sir or Madam, I hope this letter finds you well…

Is something I saw my coworker type out in full when starting an internal email to a colleague the could have been confined to just the subject.


Respectfully yours,

The person whose full name is in the "From:" field of this email




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