Making the transition from school life to work life has more than a few complications. You have your degree and you’re ready to take the world by storm!
…Or are you? Consider the following:
- Is something as basic as your grammar up to snuff?
- Do you ever find yourself using passive voice, or worse yet, do you struggle to recognize it?
- Have you ever been confused as to who is responsible for performing, or has performed, an action?
I sent off an email that I thought made complete sense. In MY head it sounded correct. It simply said “The document has been uploaded” in response to a question. In this situation, I even had to ask where the passive voice was.
Passive voice is also something We are working on every single day. Similar to how a number/metric must always have a noun, “20” versus “20 apples”, all tasks and actions must also have a clear owner. “I moved this” versus “This was moved”. “Dennis and I are recording” vs “Recording is happening.”
“Call has already been booked.” vs. “I booked the call, it’s Thursday at 10.”
“This email is to confirm that this account is at inbox zero.” vs. “This is Bob confirming that this account is at inbox zero.”
“More updates to come as these get closed out.” vs. “I will provide more updates as these get closed out.”
“This thread was moved here” vs. “I moved the thread to here.”
About the Author
You can find him quoted in major publications and on television such as CNN, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, NPR, and LA Times. Clients have included Nike, Red Bull, the Golden State Warriors, Ashley Furniture, Quiznos-- down to local service businesses like real estate agents and dentists. He's spoken at over 750 conferences in 20 countries, having flown over 6 million miles in the last 30 years to train up young adults and business owners. He speaks for free as long as the organization believes in the job-creation mission and covers business class travel.
You can find him hiking tall mountains, eating chicken wings, and taking Kaqun oxygen baths-- likely in a city near you.