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One key to effective business writing is getting your "stuff" together at the planning stage, deciding what you want to say before you say it. Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus, in their classic book Leaders: The Strategies for Taking Charge, offer a powerful tool for deciding what you want to say: "Successful leaders, we have found, are great askers."



One "great asker" was Ben Duffy, former head of the ad agency Batten, Barton, Durstine and Osborn. According to businessman Peter Hay, Duffy "landed his largest accounts by putting himself into the client's position." Once when Duffy was preparing for a meeting with American Tobacco Company president Vincent Riggio, he listed the questions he would ask were he in Riggio's shoes, along with the answers Duffy would give in response. According to Hay,

When the time for the interview came, Duffy presented his answers and waited. Riggio reached for a drawer and pulled out a list of questions he had prepared. When he glanced through them he realized that they had all been answered. The two of them went to lunch to celebrate the deal.

This week, work on being a great asker. Before you start to draft a message, ask yourself what questions your reader will want answered. Then make sure you answer them.

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