

Insights from
It is not enough to be right. You must also convince others of the correctness of your thinking. A capable manager might find an idea passed over simply because it was not communicated in the best manner possible. In a world where time is the most precious of commodities and you may have someone’s attention for just one moment, brevity becomes critical. The ability to be clear, complete and concise is, therefore, vital to effective management.
While true for all communication, the need to be clear, complete and concise is perhaps most important for written communication and for analytic writing in particular — writing that conveys a specific conclusion or recommendation arrived at from critical analysis. The approach outlined in this note emphasizes objectivity, clarity and efficiency. The guiding principle is to write to the needs and expectations of the reader.
These seven deadly sins are not presented in order of importance (no such order exists); they are not exclusive (one can easily err in multiple ways); and they are intended to be humorous (though this is no laughing matter):
Clearly, avoiding the seven deadly sins of analytic writing requires some degree of judgment given that these rules often seem to be in opposition. For example, you do not want to make your reader work to understand what you have said (sloth), but at the same time, you don’t want to waste the reader’s time with overly detailed descriptions (pride). You want to use style and structure to make the document a good tool, but you do not want to overdo it. In the end, though, always strive to be concise. Achieve the most with the least.
The preceding is excerpted from Darden Professor Marc L. Lipson’s technical note Clear, Complete and Concise: Avoiding the Seven Deadly Sins of Analytic Writing (Darden Business Publishing).
For three simple principles of analytic writing that are straightforward yet often overlooked, please see this article’s companion piece, "Beyond the Alphabet: The ABCs of Analytic Writing."
An expert in equity market trading and institutional investing, Lipson focuses his research on market microstructure — the study of how market design and organization affect price formation and liquidity.
He has served as a visiting scholar at the New York Stock Exchange and on the NASDAQ Economic Advisory Board. Widely published, Lipson has also served as co-editor-in-chief of the journal Financial Management and is currently an associate editor for both the Journal of Financial Markets and the Journal of Corporate Finance. Prior to joining the Darden faculty, he taught finance at the University of Georgia.
B.A., M.S., University of Virginia; Ph.D., University of Michigan