On Clarity
Photo by matthew Feeney on Unsplash
Clarity, parity, you just might be a rarity… Biz blab reigns supreme!
Imagine a world...
A world where emails reveal their purpose within seconds.
A world where privacy policies are a joy to read.
A world where annual reports are captivating stories.
This is the promise of... drum roll... clarity.
Even after 20 years of professional writing, I still find ways to write with clarity. Here’s what I’ve been clarifying lately:
What the business world gets wrong about clarity
Don’t: “ABC Company is pleased to present this comprehensive proposal for your consideration at this time. The organization believes that its solution will provide optimal outcomes for the client’s requirements.“
Do: “We’re excited about this project. Here’s how we’ll solve your problem and why we’re the right team to do it.“
I once wrote, “We’re going bananas!“ in a Chiquita proposal. It was a seminal moment for me.
Years later, a different boss demanded I transform all first-person references to third-person in corporate documents. “The Company is pleased“ instead of “We’re excited.“ I had fought for years to kill the biz blab, only to watch it creep back through arbitrary rules. I no longer enjoyed the writing because writing “it“ constantly felt disconnected. Authority can’t be inferred through these simple tricks. Buyers see past these obfuscations and are probably just as annoyed reading as I was when writing these proposals.
“We’re“ connects. The “Company“ alienates. Where clarity looks for shared language, everything else is just noise.
Clarity creates shared understanding, not uniform interpretation
Don’t: “The purpose of this document is to provide a thorough explanation of the project scope, with specific attention to deliverables, timelines, and success metrics, enabling all stakeholders to have a comprehensive understanding.“
Do: “This plan outlines what we’re building, when you’ll have it, and how we’ll know it’s working. You’ll find your questions answered on page 2.“
Writing is a process of building thinking and logic. We craft pathways through ideas, offering our experiences and perspectives and inviting the reader in.
In a Vanity Fair video, Jordan Peele watches fans develop elaborate theories about his film Get Out. One fan constructs deep meaning around a ukulele scene where Peele had simply told the actor, “Just play anything.“ Peele doesn’t correct them. He laughs and calls it “the power of marijuana,“ appreciating how viewers found their own significance.
When communication is clear, it enables interpretation. Respect your audience’s intelligence and agency. Instead of trying to micromanage every aspect of interpretation (which is impossible anyway), focus on creating something substantial enough that people can connect with it in ways that matter to them.
The work beneath the surface
Derrida: “The différance manifest in the textual interplay between signifier and signified creates a destabilizing aporia wherein meaning is simultaneously constructed and deferred, revealing the fundamental undecidability at the core of linguistic presence.“
Molina: “Language never quite captures what it refers to, creating a gap that affects how we understand things.“
On one philosophy paper in grad school, I spent hours crafting sentences that sounded like Derrida rather than explaining his concepts. The irony isn’t lost on me, using dense language to explain a philosopher who argued that perfect clarity is impossible. Even as I strive for clarity in this piece, Derrida would remind us that all communication contains inherent gaps and slippages.
Yet the pursuit of clarity still matters. True clarity demands humility, refinement after refinement after refinement.
A clear sentence looks simple. Getting there isn’t.
Sometimes clarity wears a disguise
Don’t: “Our solution provides enhanced productivity capabilities through streamlined workflows.“
Do: “Our platform shaves three hours off your weekly report process. Three hours you get back every week.“
In creative contexts, the indirect path sometimes creates more clarity than the direct one. A powerful metaphor. A provocative number. An unexpected image. All three. These can bypass our analytical defenses and deliver meaning more effectively than straightforward statements.
Source: The Drum
KPMG’s award-winning campaign created a fictional supermarket product line. Instead of bombarding retail executives with another white paper on consumer insights, they simply showed they “got it” by mimicking the very packaging language these businesses use every day.
The campaign delivered click-through rates 480% higher than industry benchmarks. Why? Because sometimes the clearest way to communicate isn’t to explain your value but to show it through language and imagery that resonates in your audience's world.
Breaking arbitrary rules
Don’t: “We are quite enthusiastic about the opportunity to collaborate with your team on this exciting new initiative.“
Do: “We can’t wait to work with you on this!“
Clarity can include exclamation points. Fragments. One-sentence paragraphs.
The formal writing style I learned in 1998 would never permit these creative flourishes. Yet sometimes, they create an immediate understanding where “proper“ writing would stumble. Sometimes clarity looks like:
ALL CAPS
emoji 🔥
slang
Clarity: It works if you work it!
Clarity connects more deeply
Don’t: “As per our previous communication, the deliverables were transmitted to the client as scheduled, and acknowledgment of receipt is hereby requested.“
Do: “I sent you the files yesterday. Did you get them?“
We forget that writing is one person trying to reach another. The clearest business writing has a pulse. You feel the human behind it.
This requires vulnerability. Not the strategic kind corporations practice when admitting small flaws to appear transparent. Real vulnerability. Writing like someone who can be touched.
Recognizing the role of precision
Precision and clarity work together.
Sometimes additional words aren’t about sounding impressive but about eliminating potential misinterpretation. There’s a difference between unnecessary complexity and necessary precision.
Not every point requires the same detail, reference level, or format. Clarity isn’t about oversimplification but about purpose-driven communication. Even in scholarly or technical fields, clarity remains essential.
A physicist needs “quantum superposition“ because no simpler term captures that precise concept. A lawyer needs “fiduciary duty“ because it references a specific legal standard. Technical language serves clarity when it efficiently communicates exactly what readers need to know.
But even in these specialized fields, human connection matters. The skilled expert knows when technical language is necessary and when it’s just habit. They use complexity as a tool for understanding, not proof of expertise.
The goal isn’t writing that a fifth-grader could understand. It’s writing where every word—whether simple or complex—serves the reader’s understanding rather than the writer’s ego.
In the mind, not on the page
Don’t: “This comprehensive framework has been developed to ensure maximum knowledge transfer with minimal ambiguity.“
Do: “This guide helps you learn the basics quickly. Start at the beginning, or jump to the section you need most.“
Clarity exists not in your writing but in your reader’s understanding. Words craft worlds in the spaces between readers. Some will take away exactly what you intended. Others will find meanings you never consciously planted.
Clarity exists when the world you build is worth living in.
