Welcome to the GPDF blog. This features blogs based on each year’s Global Peter Drucker Forum topic, beginning each year with a blog from Richard Straub, President.
We look forward to beginning a lively and stimulating dialogue on the future of management and to share with you any interesting news. Please join the discussion.
Blog Policy
To foster a meaningful and constructive discussion, we follow these guiding principles:
- We will provide unique, individual perspectives on hot topics in management;
- We will post comments, except for spam and remarks that are off-topic, denigrating, offensive or abuse the comment function as an advertising space for websites or services.
- We will reply to comments promptly, when appropriate;
- We will respect proprietary information and confidentiality;
- We will be respectful when disagreeing with others’ opinions.
Guidelines for guest blogs:
- Blog should be around 800-1000 words
- There should be no self-promotion
- There is no assumption that all posts put forward will be published, or when they might be published
- We may or may not provide feedback prior to publication
- We may or may not explain our decision to publish
- All posts will be moderated
Pointers towards a better blog
You want to be read
Blogs are not academic papers and should not read like them. No one has to read your blog, so you need to make the blog interesting and be clear what point you are making from the start through each paragraph or section until the finish. People are busy. So are you. You have put time, effort and thought into this, and you want readers to read to the end.
Passive voice
Try and avoid too much of the passive voice, which is often the default way of writing. Most businesses reports often lack clarity and impact because they contain a lot of passive voice. If you struggle with this, try moving the subject of the sentence to the front and rewriting it, and try and avoid variations of the verb to be – here are some examples, and here is a blog describing when you might use the passive voice. You will notice that the active voice often produces shorter sentences, which may help your word count.
Topic
Introduce the topic right at the beginning of your blog, so that the reader is clear what you want to discuss. You might start with a question or statement, and then answer it.
Lose the fillers
Many people write like they speak, with filler words. We tend to speak quicker than our brain can absorb the words, so the filler words are helpful for us in formulating our thoughts, and gives a listener time to understand what we are saying. When we read though, we read much slower so we do not need the filler words which then slow down the pace of the blog and impact can be lost.
Subheadings
Use subheadings wherever possible. Large chunks of text are daunting to read, and even more difficult to understand the point that you are trying to make. Give the reader a clue what the next section is about, and structure your blog so the sense flow from one point to another linking the topic. It is a courtesy to the reader and aids their comprehension.
Footnotes
Long or many footnotes also lose the reader. Most readers will read the piece, but may not read the footnotes and if there are meaty points there they will be missed. Put anything substantive in the body of the blog.
Hyperlinks
It is easier for the reader if you reference web pages or documents on the Internet as hyperlinks in the text rather than writing out the name and web address. If you put large references in the middle of your text, your blog loses pace and impact. Also, the hyperlink enables you to highlight the important part of the sentence.
Examples
Use no more than 3 examples to illustrate your point. You need to keep the pace of the blog high to keep interest.
Lastly, however you structure it, readers need to hear your authentic voice. A high paced, authentic blog with a good story will always be read. We look forward to reading it.
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