this hurdle I have to jump over each time I write: How can I say this more crisply? When I write (which is really just to say: when I think) it all boils down to one simple, but utterly excruciating question: What am I really trying to say here?

1. Pick a word to examine. As you comb through a management text, a magazine article, or your freewriting, or as you work your way through a business day, you’ll come across words whose definitions seem taken for granted, words that are used as a way to stop thinking rather than start it. These are the words to pay attention to.