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    An Accidental Life
    An Accidental Life
    An Accidental Life
    Ebook334 pages4 hours

    An Accidental Life

    By Pete Geissler

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    About this ebook

    When I bounced the idea of an accidental life off Jim Browne, my financial manager with a keen understanding of the human condition, he said that all of us benefit from serendipity, from the accidental life. (We in fact met by happy accident.) He added that my life was and is typical, or perhaps a tad off the norm. Surely he’s correct in that we all benefit from fortuitous events, but I think he’s incorrect in  that such events in my life are typical or normal.  I feel quite strongly, and without a scintilla of evidence, that I outrank most other people in both number and impact of life-changing events, or, perhaps, I am just more aware of them. I’m betting that you’ll agree after you read about the many accidental happenings that shaped my life and, by extension, my writings.

    Enjoy and, I hope, relate.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherThe Expressive Press
    Release dateApr 25, 2016
    ISBN9781515215158
    An Accidental Life
    Author

    Pete Geissler

    Pete Geissler is an outspoken advocate of good communications and behavior. His eight books, and hundreds of articles, speeches, and classes examine why and how to be articulate, to write well, and to treat people respectfully and ethically. His accomplishments include authorship of a publisher's best seller and a finalist in best books 2014, and writing more than three million words that have been published or spoken in formal settings. Pete is founder and CEO of The Expressive Press, a publisher of books in several genre. He also teaches and coaches engineers, scientists, and business persons how to write and to use writing to boost their productivity, value, and careers. He serves on the Board of Directors, Opera Theater Pittsburgh, and chairs its planned giving committee.

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      Book preview

      An Accidental Life - Pete Geissler

      OVERTURE: SETTING THE STAGE, EXPLAINING THE PLOT.

      A friend, professor of creative writing and sometimes mentor, Dr. Joe Lisowski, commented on my autography thus: You like the word and notion of serendipity; it keeps cropping up in your prose. Well, yes, I do and it does, not so often I hope to be tedious, but often enough to make the point.

      The reason for my happy addiction to the word and concept is clear to me: It shaped my life.  I discovered as I was writing the story of my life−a vehicle that typically reveals nothing about the writer except his fading or skewed memory−that I was repeatedly the beneficiary of being in the right place at the right time without any forethought whatsoever. Some disbelievers and doubters might call it dumb luck. I prefer to call it fortuitous, and I'll accept its benefits without guilt. I also call it accidental, and add that if i had planned or predicted those glad (mostly) happenings I would be a genius and perhaps the greatest sage the world has ever known.

      I'm not.  But I am insightful enough to have discovered how serendipity happens, at least to me, and I surely am not the first to experience this minor epiphany. I'll explain if you'll excuse the circular reasoning: I found that I can be in the right place at the right time by being in the right place at the right time, and that requires the simple idea of being at the convergence of two or more events that may or may not be related. To examine that notion from its backside, you can't be at the right place if you're at home watching TV, playing solitaire, or reading a book, including this one.

      When I bounced the idea of an accidental life off Jim Browne, my financial manager with a keen understanding of the human condition, he said that all of us benefit from serendipity, from the accidental life. (We in fact met by happy accident.) He added that my life was and is typical, or perhaps a tad off the norm. Surely he's correct in that we all benefit from fortuitous events, but I think he's incorrect in  that such events in my life are typical or normal.  I feel quite strongly, and without a scintilla of evidence, that I outrank most other people in both number and impact of life−changing events, or, perhaps, I am just more aware of them. I'm betting that you'll agree after you read about the many accidental happenings that shaped my life and, by extension, my writings.

      Enjoy and, I hope, relate.

      Pete Geissler

      ACT I: WRITING AND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

      OVERTURE: STUMBLING INTO THE WRITER'S LIFE

      I became a professional writer at the whim of George Klingelhoffer, the wonderfully generous and charitable CEO of Pittsburgh Bridge and Iron where I toiled unhappily and quite unsuccessfully as Sales Manager. One day in the late 1960s George got an itch to advertise and scratched it by appointing me Advertising Manager as well as Sales Manager. Then, in a stroke of amazing serendipity, he asked me to work with Hax McCullough, the owner of an advertising agency and a former classmate of George's at Yale. Hax was also the brother of David McCullough, the famous and best−selling historian and biographer.

      Working with Hax was so much fun that I asked him to let me try writing a few small brochures; he did−perhaps he recognized a budding talent or perhaps he was humoring a client−and he paid me what in retrospect was a pittance for my words. Hey, I thought, being paid for fun is the way to go, and the accidental happenings went into high gear: Hax handed me more work, but I wanted even more−I was drunk on the fun and cash. So, at Hax's suggestion, I talked to the VP of a large ad agency who suggested that I talk to Ada Brandegee, a writer who was starting her small boutique with her husband, Rob.

      Then the unbelievable accident: I read an article in the Sunday newspaper about Ada and called her the next day. We met, and the work, checks, and fun piled in. At the same time, Pittsburgh Bridge ran into financial trouble and I was laid off with a few months' pay, more money than I had ever seen in one place−a happy accident for me but an unhappy one for my peers. I immediately called Ada and she promoted me from freelance to employee.

      A year or so later I reverted to freelance and became so busy that I reveled quite gleefully in the praise and cash. The serendipity accelerated: I wrote a speech for a Westinghouse executive in Michigan and a communications manager in Philadelphia−Bob Mink− heard it and became one of my four most active clients. He spread the word and Gary Forcey, still another communications manager at Westinghouse, became a favored client. He was followed by Jim Westerberg, an advertising manager at J &L Steel and later at PPG who I met through my lady friend, Abby Frich; and Bill Moorhead , VP of marketing at Industrial Appraisal Company, who I met through Ada  Brandegee. Those four became the core of my client base, aka, facetiously, my fan club. 

      All this hoopla, all this accidental good fortune, was ignited when I wrote a gangbusters speech. It led me to study the relationships between good writing/ communications, wealth, happiness, and competitive advantage for individuals and firms. Then I found some bare− bones supporting data at  a consulting firm in Boston. But I created my own evidence for the most part, and wrote about it extensively  in two books: The Power of Being Articulate and The Power of Writing Well, and in many articles and essays, some of which follow. 

      1.  LOOKING FOR UNFAIR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE? TRY ARTICULATE EMPLOYEES

      Throughout my decades−long career as a professional writer and teacher, I noticed that folks with a superior command of language are more successful financially and socially and their firms more profitable. Being articulate is their unfair competitive advantage.

      I soon supported my observations with a paper and a book, The Power of Being Articulate, and now with this short conversation with five former students in my writing classes. All are happily and successfully employed by consulting firms, and all agreed to discuss the importance of language to advancing their careers and raising the profitability/sustainability of their firms. They arrived at three fundamental truths:

      Employees who are better communicators are more productive, their firms more profitable.

      The ability to communicate clearly, concisely, and purposefully—both writing and speaking, with writing the core competency—is one of a few skills that is guaranteed to raise productivity across the board, said Jason Jesso, COO of Gateway Engineers. He expounded Our companies could save heaps of money if we could eliminate poor communications, and the savings would go directly to the bottom line.

      How much is heaps? asked Gary Van Balen, Engineering Manager at Sci−Tek Consultants.

      Jason replied: According to a paper that Pete wrote a few years ago, 'heaps' is one to ten percent of sales

      I think that reversing all bad communications to good is wishful thinking. I can buy ‘some’ or ‘most’. But, I’m quibbling. Any improvement in efficiency is a step in the right direction, responded Gary.

      Jason added: Close relationships with clients—relationships that enable us to align their needs with our capabilities−are as important as our formal communications, perhaps more so.

      Matt Myers, Environmental Scientist at Michael Baker, noted: True, but consider that close relationships depend on continuous communications to keep in touch, in my case via phone calls and e−mails.

      Bottom line #1: Communications dressed as documents, speeches, casual conversations, and relationships are more successful if they are clear, concise, and on−point. When they are, they lower costs and increase profits via higher productivity and hit rates.

      Universities either don’t teach communications or touch on it lightly Yet, it’s needed to thrive in business.

      Matt talked about his college experience: I have degrees in science. I wasn’t told in either undergraduate or graduate school that I would be more of a communicator than scientist when I went to work. I took one very cursory class in writing in my freshman year. Yet, I now I spend eighty, ninety percent of my time communicating, most of it writing and most of that writing emails. I was fortunate to have taken a writing course in grad school that stressed its importance and taught me useful techniques.

      I spend about seventy−five percent of my time communicating, forty percent writing,, said Keri Cimarolli, Environmental Scientist at Gateway Engineers. Like Matt, I wasn’t offered a class in writing in undergrad school but took the same course he did in grad school. It opened my eyes to the importance of communications skills, and I apply what I learned every day.

      David Larson, Project Manager at Civil & Environmental Consultants, said that he spends half his time writing reports related to environmental laws and regulations.

      I spend a great deal of my time writing, said Gary, "including editing of emails, letters, proposals, and reports that we send to customers. On any given day, I spend far more of my time writing than engineering. And, like others here, most of what I know about good writing I learned after finishing my formal education—the engineering curriculum at Pitt was very light on the soft stuff. Based on the writing of many of our less experienced folks with whom I’ve worked, I suspect that things haven’t improved much in schools here or abroad.

      And I’m more of a communicator than landscape architect, and becoming more so as I take on more management responsibilities, said Jason.

      Keri added: That unfortunate gap in our formal education continues in our careers and is reflected in the training we’re offered. I see several reasons, the first being the technical nature of the business that pressures educators to teach technical subjects. Face it, there’s no reason to communicate if we don’t understand, for example, the latest regulations. Are we in a chicken−and−the−egg conundrum?

      She continued: Like many engineers and scientists, I hated to write, and maybe became a scientist to avoid it. No confidence. Now, after taking a course in grad school, I almost look forward to writing so I can show off my skills. A major turnaround for me.

      Bottom line #2: The dean of a local grad school of business told me that the most frequent and forceful complaint about graduates is that they can’t communicate, especially write. No wonder: The curriculum includes one course in communications, with only six hours of instruction in writing .It’s typical.

      HR, financial, training, and other top managers could be more aware of the need for clear communications, its tangible benefits, and the value of practitioners.

      David added: I think that most managers don’t or won’t relate communications directly to profits, and few if any know the magnitude of the opportunity. Their understanding is totally intuitive.

      Jason said: I want to expand on the notion that, all other factors being close or equal, the better written proposal gets the job. The same is true for candidates for promotion. I know that I will stagnate if my writing doesn’t improve so I’m working to make that happen, and challenge others to do the same.

      Gary said: "During my many years in the business I wrote countless documents, inevitably honing my writing skills along the way. As a result, I am asked often to edit documents written by others, which helps them improve their writing. I also retained Pete for training of our staff; it was money and time well spent.

      Have we eliminated all bad writing? No, but we’ve eliminated much of it, which, as I said earlier, is a giant step in the right direction.

      Bottom line #3: Good communicators are more promotable than others simply because they add more value. Clear, concise, on−point words yield impressive gains in productivity.

      Furthering the conversation: connecting the dots from better writing to improved productivity, profitability, and promotability.

      David said: My writing has been instrumental in CEC meeting its objectives for revenue and profits... clients appreciate proposals that clearly define the scope of work and reward the writer with higher hit rates ... they appreciate reports that clearly state our findings and recommendations and they inevitably lead to RFPs for subsequent contracts ... both lower sales costs.

      Keri added: My better writing has raised my productivity and the productivity of my managers, who not long ago reviewed all my letters and so on that I wrote. Now we are all more confident that I am conveying the right messages, and reviews aren’t needed.

      David responded: Along similar lines, I’m able to add value to the documents written by others through judicious editing. I accidently became the editor of many documents written by others in my group. I critiqued a document written by a senior manager, and he congratulated me for my help and asked me to rewrite. The die was cast, and I now am privileged to edit a larger volume of initial drafts.

      Matt said: My better writing has raised productivity at Baker in several ways. First, I can’t remember when a client last contacted me to clarify a document, eliminating those pesky tag games to answer questions that should have been answered in the original document, and raising my and my clients’ productivity and satisfaction. Since we are ultimately in the business of retaining clients, we can count on the repeat business that lowers sales costs. Second, and largely because of the first, I can manage a larger workload, which ultimately brings in more revenue and profit.

      Moving on to promotability, David said: Our writing is evaluated informally every day, and formally as part of our annual performance reviews. My managers have noticed that the quality of my documents has improved steadily, a big reason I have been promoted twice in a two−year span.

      Keri added: My story is simply this: higher confidence in my improved writing encouraged me to find a more satisfying job in a company that appreciates clear, concise communications.

      Bottom line #4: Business guru Peter Drucker correctly said that being able to communicate is the one skill needed for success in business. The five panelists prove his point. Writing is the core communications skill; improve it and speaking, thinking, and creativity improve as well.

      2.  THE DEEPER REASONS TO WRITE WELL

      Writing well enriches every human interaction, and it’s a skill that everyone can learn.

      Before we can reap the many rewards of good writing, we must reject the sad truth that in today’s society we have neglected the habit of writing clear, concise, purposeful prose—my definition of ‘good’.  Perhaps the main reason for our neglect is our addiction to so many other media that  have replaced good writing, led by the ease of voice communications via telephone, Skype, and voice−recognition software that translates our ramblings to text that is laden with grammatical and syntactical meanderings that our fifth−grade teachers would never condone. Then the computer and smart phones have blessed shorthand, now called texting, and emails that are ‘good enough’.  All have created the feeling, the conviction, that careful crafting of words is no longer necessary.

      It is, as any person can attest who has lost a contract because of a murky proposal ... lost an opportunity for employment because of an indecipherable resume ... been sued because of a muddy, ambiguous sentence in a proposal or contract ... contested a murky will ... lost a friend because of an insensitive email ... and so on.

      The negative consequences of bad writing dig their destructive tentacles into our business, financial, and personal lives. The positive consequences of good writing are as endemic.

      Yes, people are still hired because they can craft language that reflects intelligence, simply because many of us in this age of information sell nothing but our intelligence. Contracts are won because the proposal can be evaluated precisely, friendships are created because people find common ground via their language, and lawsuits are avoided when contractual obligations are stated clearly.

      The benefits of good writing continue and extend well beyond transmitting information.

      Good writing creates information, and, therefore, good writing creates intelligence and literally forces that elusive human talent that we have labeled creativity.

      The methodical, evolving process of writing actually forces new thoughts to emerge from our minds, allowing us to make sense of our surroundings, our lives, and, on a smaller scale, the document that we are composing at the moment. 

      In essence, good writing gives our minds a disciplined means of expression and conjuring up that great idea that separates the ordinary from the extraordinary. It is a way to discover what we are thinking. Perhaps E. M. Forster said it best:How do I know what I think until I see what I say?

      3. THE HIGH COSTS OF BAD WRITING

      Bad writing can significantly erode revenues, profits, and stock prices for any business. good writing is the other side of that coin, and could be an untapped asset of major proportions

      I’ve never met a manager of any stripe or discipline who didn’t wish that his or her employees could write ‘better’. Strangely, not one of these managers could answer with any substance the simple question of Why? What will be the impact on your business if your wish were granted?

      So I set out to answer the question for them, and the result is this paper, the first, as far as I know, to do so.

      The fundamental conclusion is that bad writing can cost a business one to ten percent of sales. The corollary conclusions are that those costs, if eliminated, drop immediately and wholly to profits, and that profits can increase stock prices and improve bond ratings.

      Each reader who finds my argument compelling must decide if a ‘fix’ is in order. The reasons to do nothing are powerful psychological forces that lie within each of us; they must be recognized and exorcised before setting off on a course of action that transforms ‘bad’ to ‘good’ and costs to profits.

      To justify my  actions, I cited an article in the Harvard Business Review  that starts with these disheartening words: "What do businessmen answer when they are asked: `What's the most troublesome problem you have to live with?' Frequently they reply: 'People just can't write.  What do they learn in college now?'

      The former president of a major manufacturer peered at me across his desk confirmed, in a roundabout way, that college graduates, even those with higher degrees, haven't learned to communicate, especially to write.  He told me that the most frequent and vehement negative criticism from customers, and others, too, about employees at all levels is that they can't communicate!  They can't talk in cohesive coherent sentences.  More important, they can't write, can't express their ideas paper. We may have trained a brilliant technical or analytical mind, but how could anyone know?

      So what? I asked, playing the role of devil's advocate.  How does your employees' inability to communicate, mainly to write, impact the revenues and profits of a business, which are the only things that managers seem to care about these days.

      I don't know, he said, but it must be big bucks.

      So I set out to find out how many bucks equals big.  I first searched the libraries and the net for any prior research, and came up empty.  Then I surveyed the people I know who might have a handle on the answer.

      I asked a dozen managers of communications and other functions this question:  How much, in your opinion, does poor writing cost your company, or at least the part of the company that you manage?  Then I defined 'poor' as any communication that needs to be clarified by the receiver, igniting the telephone and other tag games with which we are so familiar, and which all of us have perpetrated many times in our careers.  I defined 'poor' further as any communication that initiates actions that weren't intended by the sender, and any communication that alienates or loses a customer, requiring extra−ordinary sales efforts to either bring a customer back into the fold or develop a new one to fill in the gap.  (I've said often that it costs ten times more to develop a new customer than it does to keep an existing one.  I'm now convinced that ten times is far too low, and fifty to one−hundred times is more realistic, as several of the following anecdotes will confirm.)

      Then I defined 'poor' even further: any writing by any employee that must be routinely edited or rewritten by a higher authority.  In other words, writing that can't be trusted to be clear, concise, and sensitive to the needs and feelings of readers, and that doesn’t fulfill the purposes of writers or readers. [All writing in business has a job to do, a purpose that extends far beyond 'to inform': persuasion, justification, recording for later use such as in a lawsuit, changing attitudes, increasing productivity, improving perceptions...and so on, all to increase revenues, profits, and stock prices.]

      Amazingly Consistent Survey Responses

      All the managers I approached considered the question carefully for a few minutes to several days before responding.  Most thought about the tag games and unproductive efforts they had witnessed recently, then went to their calculators to determine the numbers and costs of wasted man−hours and dollars.

      The bottom line of their responses: poor writing costs their businesses one to 10 percent of sales, at least.  One said:  Certainly poor writing as you define it costs us more than our gross profits.  If we could eliminate all poor writing, we could double our earnings.!  Another stared into his coffee as he swirled it in his cup, and said:  Poor writing has cost us contracts, which we can get over, painful as it might be.  It's also cost us customers, raising the pain level much higher.  I fear sometimes that poor writing could cost us our business!  So the answer to your question is:  surely more dollars than I'm willing to admit to.

      The director of internal communications at a Fortune 500 company said flatly that poor communications cost his company at least 10 percent of sales, that 10 percent seems optimistic.  He then said that he could relate countless examples of communications from top executives that misdirected entire divisions, with staggering drops in productivity and profitability.  And the director of a nationwide consulting firm said that poor writing has lost contracts and lost opportunities to negotiate premium prices on contracts already in house.  He focused on loss of revenue and profits, not cost.

      Do These Anecdotes Sound Familiar?

      Then I asked my interviewees to support their conclusions with a few examples, and heard some horror stories that put the numbers in some perspective:

      Our engineering manager, said one, wrote to all of our customers − we have only 18 of them, so losing one is a major setback − to explain a small defect in our product and how to repair it.  Unfortunately, he worded his letter in a way that pinned the blame for the defect and the cost of fixing it on the customer.  Very insensitive, and certainly not our intent.  Our customers, justifiably furious, called our president, who, also justifiably furious, set in motion a fix that surely cost the company tens of thousands of dollars more then it should have: he sent our engineering and sales managers to visit each customer and personally apologize for the letter, and then to supervise the repair of our product.

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