I’ve written before about the importance of communicating like a human. And Seth Godin’s recent post points out that if you run a business and you put a sign up, that sign is speaking for you, so why not choose the words carefully?
When our Irvine, California office was tired of solicitors entering uninvited, we put a sign up on the door that read,
“Please, no solicitors—unless you’re giving away free cookies. If you’ve got cookies, c’mon in and meet the whole gang!”
Sure, when you’re writing an academic paper, a legal brief, or a proposal to present to a Fortune 500 company, you’ll probably need to write differently than you talk. But when you’re trying to communicate, do it like a human. If you wouldn’t say it to someone else, don’t write it.