So a professor at APU made a comment to me at the July commencement ceremony about my emails. He said that I have a distinct style to my writing that he’s noticed from my emails…
I was intrigued.
I’ve never been a good writer. Communication of thought does not come easy to me in written form. I’ve erased this garble about twenty times and retyped it in order to be more succinct and clear and it’s still not great.
So obviously I was quite curious (even though a couple of weeks have passed since the comment was made) to find out what this professor meant with his comment about my style.
To my total surprise, he paid me a huge compliment. Since this is the place where my self-pats-on-the-back will live on forever in the interwebs of time and space, I’ll post the email train here. Warning: his answer was so brilliant that I had to read it several times in order to comprehend it fully…
read:
(Daniel’s email to professor)
I am curious. Learner is one of my TOP 5 Strengths
according to the StrengthsQuest test I took a year or so ago. You mentioned in
passing at the July commencement ceremony that I have a distinct writing style
that you’ve seen in my emails. I would love to hear your thoughts on this
subject.
I was never a great writer during my
undergraduate education, (or even a good one, for that matter). In the time
since I completed my undergraduate degree, I have become increasingly aware of
my grammatical insufficiencies and spelling blunders due to the fact that I am
often surrounded by comrades that excel in expressing their thoughts in written
form. I am continually learning.
I am not overly obsessive about my
faults (or potential faults), nor am I digging for a compliment here. However, I
AM curious to hear your thoughts on my writing style—even if they are brief.
I understand this is somewhat of a
personal question, but I’d love to become a better business professional, and I
believe that the ability to write well is an important part of my job.
I also understand if you are
incredibly busy preparing for the fall semester. I’m in no
rush.
(Response from professor)
Writing is, always, problem solving.
Clear thinking leads to clear writing. Effective writing, however, comes from
not only solving problems but also from realizing the social implications of the
problems themselves AND the steps one takes in solving them. What caught my
attention about your writing was and is your ability to articulate the problem
clearly and your ingenuity in suggesting steps to the solution of the problem
that are persuasive, effective, and compassionate. Correctness is an aspect of
clarity, but it is what we in the field call a “local” concern. Cogent
thinking, on the other hand, we call a “global’ concern. Local and global
concerns are both important, but global concerns need be addressed first. It’s
the difference between knowing which tie to wear with which shirt and knowing
when to wear clothes.
Needless to say, I was pretty shocked. Not because I have a weird false humility thing going on, but because I’ve never considered myself to be any good at writing. Never. Ever.
I think I really do have Chuck to thank for inspiring me to be a better leader. I read more books on leadership than ever when I was at Midway. It really sparked a love for it and for developing it in myself. Part of the reason I am at all persuasive about anything is because I learned how to sell vision while I was at Midway (the first time, hahaha). Part of the reason I got a promotion recently is because I learned how to sell myself…That is a wonderful skill…thanks, Chuck for starting the fire and stoking the flame in me during that time!!! And thank you LORD for the way You’ve moved in my life and the people you’ve brought along the way to help me grow and learn.
So, I was thinking about my wife and my journey in LA over the last 1 1/2 years and how the Lord guided us to be where we are right now. It is awesome to look back with hindsight and see God’s work through the time…but that is another story for another time…
