Josh Bowen

When you have trouble writing, it’s usually because you don’t know what you’re trying to say. Most writing problems are actually thinking problems. And you can't copyedit your way out of poor thinking.

Advertising adds value to a product by changing our perception of it. An example I love that is not mentioned in the book: for years, few people bought “death insurance.” Then some genius changed the name to life insurance and grew the industry by many billions of dollars. After all, life insurance sounds so much better than death insurance.

The best way to get a powerful person’s attention: offer to help them.

As chief of staff, I reviewed thousands of requests for Reid’s time/attention/money. It was stunning how few requesters actually offered to help him on something. Amusingly, many requests were framed as if the asking party were doing Reid a favor by giving him the opportunity to... See more

Instead of asking: "Do you have any questions?", ask "What questions do you have?" The first almost always results in silence, while the second helps people feel comfortable asking questions.