Master the Key Business Writing Skills in Six Weeks: PREMIUM WITH COACHING
Transform Your Written Communications to Boost Your Impact in the Workplace
Do you struggle with writing in the workplace or in managing personal business affairs? Does poor writing hold you back with your career? Would you like to improve the way you communicate in emails, reports, proposals, and other documents but are short of time and do not know where to look for help? If so, this part-time online course is for you.
What You Will Learn
By the end of this course, you will understand parts of speech, grammar, style, and usage not as “rules” or conventions that you must follow. Instead, you will gain control over the language and be able to choose your words strategically to deliver your message clearly and persuasively. Writing should no longer be a matter of drudgery and pain. Instead, it should be a challenge that helps you achieve career or personal goals, and brings you satisfaction, perhaps even fun. You will also learn:
- How to write in simple, vivid language to engage readers instead of putting them off with abstractions and generalities
- How to translate jargon and technical terminology into plain language your audience can understand
- Processes to break complicated projects into manageable chunks, prevent “writer’s block,” work efficiently, stay focussed
- How to find a logical structure so ideas flow smoothly
- How to write in clear, concise, convincing, and engaging language that your associates, clients, and customers can understand and act upon
Business professionals who have taken this course say they now look upon writing in a more savvy way. You will get plenty of practice doing challenging exercises with model answers.
The course covers the key ingredients of good writing of all genres, as relevant to tweets, emails, listicles, social media, and other modern formats as they have been to the classics of fiction and non-fiction and today’s best-selling books.
Premium versus Basic Course?
The premium course content is identical to “Master the Key Business Writing Skills in Six Weeks.” But the premium course offers individualised feedback from the instructor on each of the written exercises. This feedback I estimate will require a minimum of about eight hours and as many as 12 hours per student for the course. The premium course also offers 60-90 minutes of coaching on any document you want to work on, up to the first 800 words. When you take the £240 difference between the premium and basic course, and divide by the number of hours I will spend with you, you will see that this amounts to less than half the fee I would charge for coaching outside of this course.
Why choose this course over others online or in a classroom? Why not simply buy a book?
- More content than possible in a classroom
- Cost-effective as you pay the course creator directly, with few overhead costs
- Plenty of exercises, with model answers
- Option of coaching at reasonable added price
Benefits of This Course
Is learning to write in plain language worth the effort? Absolutely. The struggle to understand badly written material consumes 22 percent of American work time, costing hundreds of billions of dollars each year, according to one study.
Jargon became so rife at SpaceX and Tesla, that Elon Musk ordered staff to stop using made-up acronyms because people in his companies could no longer understand each other. He threatened “drastic action” against those who did not fall in line with his efforts to dismantle this Tower of Babel.
This crisis in communications provides opportunities for those able to write in concise, plain language that anyone can understand.
“By writing well, you can stand out from the crowd. There is too much poor writing in the business world," says Dr. Andrew Sentance, Senior Economic Adviser Pricewaterhousecoopers LLP.
“The one easy way to become worth 50 percent more than you are now — at least — is to hone your communication skills — both written and verbal,” says Warren Buffett, chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway.
Your Instructor
John has worked as a financial and political news correspondent and editor at Reuters, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, Globe and Mail, Asia Inc., Sunday Times of London, South China Morning Post, and other publications. He has a master's in management from London Business School, with Distinction, and was General Manager, East Asia for Granada TV's Chinese joint venture "Joy Luck Street." He worked as a consultant for Channel 4 Television in the UK, as well as Granada, now part of ITV. His education includes a BA degree in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University, Summa Cum Laude, and an MSc in Chinese Politics from SOAS, part of London University. John is a Canadian citizen and permanent resident of the UK. He lives in London.
Running through John’s academic and professional life is a belief in the importance of clear, precise, transparent, accurate, and truthful communications as the foundations of good business, democratic government, respect for personal rights, and good corporate and individual citizenship.
"This is the first writing course I've done so I wasn't sure what to expect. It's full of content which is all extremely helpful, interesting and insightful. Each section is very informative and made me aware of the importance of writing in a concise manner. For those who write a lot for their job/business, this course is invaluable.
"I found it extremely interesting and very helpful. I now take a different approach to writing, which in itself will make a big difference.
"I thought the course was presented really well and very clearly. It's really made me think about articles I read now and how important it is to get your point across with no jargon or clutter."
Lynda Raftery,
Interior Designer
"John’s course provides a thorough analysis of writing styles and the traps we fall into. The course is filled with useful examples taken from current affairs and the exercises challenge you to apply this knowledge while benefiting from John’s individual feedback.
"I would highly recommend the course if you are serious about developing a clear and effective communication style.
"My writing has definitely improved as I am more aware of choice of words and how they read in a sentence. I was also particularly interested in the deliberate use of obfuscation in business communication. If you pay attention to the way the writing is constructed you can gain insights into the author’s likely intentions."
Nick von Bromsen
Design and Project Manager
Practitioner of the Prince2 structured project management method
Jed Perez
Community Outreach Support Officer
Courses Included with Purchase
Original Price: £160
Course Curriculum
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PreviewLecture 1: Video Introducing Business Writing Course (11:56)
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PreviewLecture 2: Introduction: Business Writing Definition, Skills, Course Aims
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StartLecture 3: Causes of Poor Written Business Communications
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StartLecture 4: An Insider’s View of Business Writing Mistakes
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StartLecture 5: Video Myths and Misconceptions (11:18)
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StartLecture 6: Contractions, POV, Grammar, Nuance, and Formal Register
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StartLecture 7: Business vs Academic Writing, Words Big and Small
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PreviewLecture 8: What Good Business Writing Requires
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StartQuiz: Introduction to Written Business Communications
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StartInstructions for Exercises: Your Responses, Peer Feedback, My Analyses
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StartExercise 1: Example of a Cover Letter and Register Issues
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StartExercise 1: Cover Letter Formality, Instructor’s Analysis
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StartExercise 2: Correcting Principal's Email for Formal Register
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StartExercise 2: Principal's Email, Instructor's Analysis
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StartExercise 3: Edit Estate Agent Brochure for Conciseness and Clarity
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StartExercise 3: Estate Agent, Instructor's Response
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StartCOMMENTS, QUESTIONS, DISCUSSION for instructor or the class
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StartReading: Karl Popper, Against Big Words
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StartLecture 1: Video on Jargon and Why Avoid It in Communications (10:11)
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PreviewLecture 2: Jargon, Terminology, and Big Words in Business Writing
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StartQuiz A: Jargon in Writing for the Workplace
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StartLecture 3: Examples of Jargon in Poor Communications
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PreviewLecture 4: Video on Plain Language (9:49)
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StartLecture 5: Why Plain Language is Important to Improve Business Writing
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StartLecture 6: Jargon to Plain Language—Example
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StartLecture 7: Why Buzzwords Do Not Belong in Business Communications
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StartQuiz B: Plain Language and Written Communications
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StartLecture 6: Translating Jargon Into Plain Language
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StartReading and Discussion: "Weasel Words"
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StartExercise 1: The International Dyslexia Association®
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StartExercise 1: Dyslexia, Instructor’s Response
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StartExercise 2: Terminology in Report on Energy Insurance Market
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StartExercise 2: Terminology in Energy Insurance Market Report, Instructor’s Analysis
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StartExercise 3: Another Insurance Market Report With Jargon
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StartExercise 3: Another Insurance Market Report, Instructor’s Analysis
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StartExercise 4: Analyse and Rewrite a Consultancy Extract
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StartExercise 4: Rewrite a Consultancy Extract, Instructor’s Analysis
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StartCOMMENTS, QUESTIONS, DISCUSSION for the instructor or the class
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PreviewLecture 1: Video Introducing Word Clutter (8:38)
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PreviewLecture 2: Word Clutter—Pompous, Ugly, Inaccurate
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StartQuiz A: Zinsser and Orwell on Writing
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StartLecture 3: Vandals at the Gates of Finchley Road Underground Station
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StartLecture 4: Types of Word Clutter in Business Writing
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StartLecture 5: How Word Clutter Undermines Communications
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StartQuiz B: Cluttered Business Writing
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StartLecture 6: How to Declutter Business Writing for Persuasive Communications
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StartExercise1: United Airlines
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StartExercise 1: United Airlines, Instructor's Response
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StartExercise 2: Tillman Trust
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StartExercise 2: Tillman Trust, Instructor's Analysis
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StartExercise 3: Vocare
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StartQuestion 3: Vocare, Instructor's Response
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StartExercise 4: Asos
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StartExercise 4: Asos, Instructor’s Analysis
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StartCOMMENTS, QUESTIONS, DISCUSSION for the instructor or the class
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StartReading and Discussion: Jargon in the Time of Pandemic
Frequently Asked Questions
Thank you for enrolling.
John Kohut
London, 2021-